Working for Balance - Results-Only Work Environment
Monday, September 01, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: How would you like to work in a place where there are no schedules, no mandatory meetings, and you have the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want as long as you get your work done? Well, that's the policy at Best Buy (BBY), thanks to the pioneering work of Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, former employees of the consumer electronics firm. They created a workplace culture called "results-only work environment," or "ROWE," and detailed the concept in their book titled "Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It." When I met with them, I began by asking Cali why companies should adopt this revolutionary organization model.
CALI RESSLER, CO-AUTHOR, "WHY WORK SUCKS AND HOW TO FIX IT": The biggest reason that companies should implement a results-only work environment today is for increased productivity. If you're looking to get the most out of your employees, a results-only work environment has been shown to increase productivity in a team an average of 41 percent.
GHARIB: But, Jody, how does work really get done if people are coming in at different times of the day, meetings are optional, and you can take vacation whenever you feel like it? It sounds pretty chaotic.
JODY THOMPSON, CO-AUTHOR, "WHY WORK SUCKS AND HOW TO FIX IT": It does sound chaotic, but it's actually a new order. People are focused on getting the work done, and they're doing it from wherever they need to do it, whether it be in a coffee shop, in the office, wherever. And if you look at Gen.-Y, they're doing work all the time, texting, you know, IMing, they're already collaborating and they don't need to go into the office.
GHARIB: So, Cali, what do you say is the hardest part of making the transition from a traditional workplace environment to something like what you're proposing?
RESSLER: The hardest part about results-only work environment is that it's focused on results on the work, not focused on face time or physical presence. Today we live under this assumption that physical presence equates to productivity...
GHARIB: Right.
RESSLER: . when, in fact, that's not the case at all. So the hardest thing is for managers to understand that having an employee physically present in a cube doesn't mean they're working at all.
GHARIB: Jody, what's the best part?
THOMPSON: The best part is really the liberation people feel for finally being treated like adults in a work environment, being able to make those decisions about how they spend their time and having control over that without being judged, it's liberating.
GHARIB: Cali, it sounds like employees love this idea, but managers are frustrated, would be frustrated by it. What is the feedback you're getting?
RESSLER: You're exactly right. Employees do love this idea. They see it as an opportunity to finally live the lives that they've wanted to live. Managers, on the other hand, are wary. They're anxious about what this environment will bring because they are used to having their employees at their beck and call. They're used to monitoring the hallways and expecting that they can just walk out of their office and have someone there to answer their question right away.
GHARIB: What comes to my mind is that this can't work for every single company. One size does not fit all, maybe good for small businesses, not so good for big companies. What has been your experience?
THOMPSON: Well, actually, Best Buy, which is a Fortune 100 company, has over 3,000 employees working in a results-only work environment. If you work in an office, whether it's small or large or medium, or anywhere in the world, a results-only work environment will work for you.
GHARIB: If a company wants to adopt this, or some employees want to propose it, what's the first step?
RESSLER: For an employee, the first step toward a results-only work environment would be to find one leader, just one leader in your company that is progressive, forward-thinking, that you can get on board with this. Don't try to spread it to all the leadership at once, because that won't happen. If you are a manager and you want to start taking some steps toward being a
ROWE, you can stop rewarding time. Stop rewarding long hours and working weekends, and just start focusing on the good work that your employees are doing.
GHARIB: Jody, how long does it take for a company to get comfortable with this change?
THOMPSON: It takes about six to nine months, and sometimes...
GHARIB: That's all?
THOMPSON: Well, yes. And sometimes up to a year, because you're really shifting your paradigm. One of the main things that has to happen is removing sludge from the work environment. It's that toxic language that judges how people are spending their time, like, boy, I wish I could leave at 4:00 every day, or I wish I could come in late, I wish I had a kid that I had to take to day care. Bankers' hours? It's that stuff that we say to people that's judging not the work, but how they're spending time. And removing that is amazing.
GHARIB: Cali, it would seem to me that at a time when the U.S. is trying to be competitive with countries like China, where workers are so hardworking and disciplined, that maybe the U.S. cannot afford to go soft. What do you think?
RESSLER: We think that the U.S., if more companies instituted a results- only work environment, would not be "going soft," but would instead be showing the rest of the world, we're here to focus on results.
GHARIB: Do you agree with that, Jody?
THOMPSON: Absolutely. We have to stop putting in time and actually focus on work. That's what's important. GHARIB: Jody, Cali, thank you so much for your time. It has been fascinating talking with you. RESSLER: Thank you. THOMPSON: Thank you.
