The ultimate workplace benefit: a concierge to run your errands

Need a massage therapist for your dog? Or someone to be home when the repairman comes while you're stuck at work? Or maybe, you've forgotten that parking ticket on the dashboard for way too long. And it just has to be paid today.

Dealing with such everyday problems can cause aggrevation and stress for many busy workers, but staff at Andersen Consulting's Ottawa office can solve them in a snap.

They can just call, fax or email Linda Yeung, the on-site "corporate concierge."

For a subsidized fee of just $5 an hour (or $2.50 if it takes a half-hour or less) she will run errands, research holidays, take the dog to the kennel and do just about anything else that's legal, moral, and can be done during a Monday-to-Friday workday schedule.

Ms. Yeung will, for instance, buy the paint and supplies and find someone to paint her client's house. But her employer - 2 Places At 1 Time - draws the line at having their concierges don overalls and do the painting themselves.

They might, however, go to the home to supervise the painting job, if that's what the clients require.

"It's more like a peace of mind service then really what you'd call a luxury service," says Ms. Yeung, who began the job at Andersen Consulting slightly more than a year ago.

"What I do is let people concentrate on the job at hand, instead of worrying that - oh my god, I've got to get out of here to get my dry cleaning. It's been three days and I have nothing clean to wear."