SPG Blog

Treat people like children and they’ll act like children.

It’s a truism that few would dispute. Why, then, are most of our workplaces set up precisely to deny employees the rights and responsibilities that adults should enjoy?

It’s a question that Cali Ressler and Jodi Thompson, the dynamic duo responsible for revolutionizing the way work is done at Best Buy head office, ask in their book Why Work Sucks. Not only do they ask the question, but they provide an answer. They call it the Results-Only Work Environment, or ROWE.

A ROWE begins with a culture audit, to provide a quick snapshot of the status quo: how work gets done and what it looks like in any given organization, department or team. What is the organization’s attitude towards risk and change? What is the basis for employee recognition or reward? Is the organization proactive or reactive? What are workplace attitudes towards time? The culture audit provides a baseline and a way of measuring progress.

From this point, Ressler and Thompson engage their leadership champions and start training the entire team in the “13 Guideposts for a Results-only Workplace.”

The first thing they tackle is time. Arriving at the workplace at 2:00 p.m. is not considered coming in late and leaving at 2:00 p.m. is not considered leaving early. You can grocery shop, take a nap, or catch a movie during what is, in most workplaces, the 9 to 5 grind. You can take unlimited “time off” as long as your work gets done. And there are no work schedules. In a ROWE, time is never used to judge your performance or that of your co-workers or direct reports. The ability to control your time is not a perk or reward for the select few.

The next area of focus is how work gets done. In a ROWE, work isn’t a place you go, but a thing you do. You have the freedom to work any way you want. People stop doing anything that is a waste of time: for themselves, their company, or their customers. And, one of the most controversial aspects of the ROWE program and hardest for management to swallow: every meeting is optional.

A third area of focus is what work should feel like. No one makes snide comments about the way others use their time. No one talks about how many hours they work. No one feels guilty, overworked, or stressed out because they have to account for their time and relinquish control over their day. And every day feels like Saturday.

A ROWE does not mean that anything goes. If you don’t accomplish your work, you don’t keep your job. Performance is judged on the quality of results attained, not on whether you arrive early, stay late, or never take a lunch.

Every job I have had since leaving university has conformed, at least in part, to the ROWE model. I get to set my own hours. I get to work when I like, and from the place that I choose. I get to decide whether my presence is needed at a meeting. No one makes me feel guilty for coming into the office late, choosing not to work on a particular day, or leaving the office early. My performance is evaluated on the quality of my work, rather than being a bum in a chair looking busy. I’ve been lucky to have managers who have been willing to try this uncommon work arrangement, even if they had not initially suggested the idea themselves.

I’ve paid a price for this flexibility, however. I have never had a job as an “employee.” I have never had health benefits, pension contributions, paid vacation, job security, or a promotion.

Ressler and Thompson’s ROWE is revolutionary precisely because they have made it work in an otherwise traditional corporate setting, with people who are employees rather than contractors, consultants, or freelancers. Not only do the Best Buy ROWE employees get to make adult decisions about when and how they will work, but they also have job stability, benefits, and the opportunity to move up.

Looking to change the way your employees work and are rewarded? Sage Portfolio Group offers culture audit services, coaching programs, and can help you re-define your relationship with the adults in your workplace.