www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, January 23, 2013 · 16 Artscene submitted photos before and after: Oakville resident and president of Orkin Canada, Gary Muldoon (left), went undercover at his company (right) for an episode of Undercover Boss Canada, which airs tomorrow on W Network at 9 p.m. Gary Muldoon goes undercover at his own company By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF As the president of the largest pest control company in Canada with $100 million in revenue expected this year and 750 employees, Gary Muldoon spends much of his workday in the office managing the business. But, for a week he went back to where he had started with Orkin Canada more than 30 years ago. He was back on the service route among his employees, only they didn't know he was their boss. "It was fun. It was a neat experience and I learned a lot." Muldoon said of his adventure. The Oakville resident is the latest executive to go incognito for the W Network's premier television show, Undercover Boss Canada. The episode airs tomorrow (Thursday) at 9 p.m. The married father of three grown children started on the service route in Sudbury, until he moved his way up to becoming president of the Mississauga-based company, a subsidiary of Orkin, headquartered in Atlanta. Prior to now, there had been significant time spent in the office since his last time on the route. "I haven't been on a route in 25 years. Every bone in my body told me that after we finished filming," Muldoon said. "It's changed dramatically. The procedures are different, the product, equipment, all of that stuff is dramatically different. Some of the key things, like the people skills, are still the same and you're still driving around in a truck to get to your various homes." Muldoon was contacted by the producers, interviewed and later told the show would like to feature Orkin. The Undercover Boss producers looked at various parts of the business all across Canada and its various divisions, such as its residential, business and canine units and met with workers in each of those divisions. When the filming was set to begin, Muldoon was given a disguise, using makeup and a change of hairstyle. His suit was substituted for an Orkin pest control officer's uniform. He was given a new name Michael and a backstory. Then, Muldoon was flown around the country to the various divisions of his company, from Alberta to Newfoundland, where he went into the field. He was staged in five of his divisions and partnered with five technicians. The technicians he partnered with were told the film crews were producing a documentary about pest management and that Michael was an actor, who should be treated as a trainee. "We pulled it off in all five," Muldoon said. "I had one employee that said to me, `You look a little bit like one of my bosses.' I said, `who's that?' and he said `Gary Muldoon,' and then looks at me and says, `but, you're a lot younger.'" spective on what's going on, how the customers are reacting, what they're saying, what the employees feel about the business and ideas they might have." Muldoon said in his long years in management with the company, he's never had that opportunity. "Sometimes in an office like this, you get very focused on the numbers and the forecast and you tend to forget a little bit how those numbers got there," he said. For the eight days of filming, the workdays were long, starting at 5:45 a.m. to get Muldoon in his disguise and taken to his destination. On one location, Muldoon and his partner were in an apartment that was severely infected by bedbugs and the residents were waiting a long time for a technician. A technician is scheduled for 30 minutes per apartment and the technician in this instance realized there was no way to complete the job in half an hour. "As president, I'm hoping she sticks to her schedule, but as a person, she said, `No. We're going to let these people sleep tonight. We're going to do what's right,'" Muldoon said. The technician ended up spending a few hours in the apartment. As she was leaving, the resident called her an angel. "I've been in this business a long time. I just look at it as she just did a bedbug job and moved on. But there's a lot of personal touch going on out there. I found that very moving. Not only from my employees perspective but also from the customers' perspective," Muldoon said, Muldoon has already made some changes to the company since the filming of this show. He realized the pest control officers were scheduled too tight in the day, leaving them no room for locations that needed extended treatment. Now, the company has hired more workers and intends to hire even more, so the officers won't have such tight schedules. He spent time with his employees talking about equipment and vehicles, to learn if they are designed properly for what they need. Technicians are bending down a lot, and he realized padding is necessary for the knees. "It's very physically demanding. You're bending, and stooping and walking all day long. Up and down stairs. In an apartment building, you do 25, 30 units. Up and down stairs. You have to flip furniture, you have to flip the couches, flip the chairs over," he said. "I had one employee that said to me, 'You look a little bit like one of my bosses.' I said, 'who's that?' and he said, 'Gary Muldoon,' and then looks at me and says, 'but, you're a lot younger.'" Gary Muldoon, president Orkin Canada This experience gave Muldoon a new insight into his company. "One of the challenges in our business is our people are scattered all over Canada. We have 30 branches. So, it's very hard to get belly to belly with your employees and get a feel for what's really going on out there," he said. "Doing this show, you're spending a whole day with a technician that has no idea who you are and you're getting a much better per-