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A Day in the ROWE Life

Apr 21, 2010 » by Cali

You may wonder what it is like to work in a Results-Only Work Environment from a practical standpoint (particularly if you are the skeptical management/HR type who assumes no work gets done, despite evidence to the contrary…). I thought I would share what a typical day looked like for me this week.

I woke up around 9:00 am. I actually “made” my breakfast instead of “had” my breakfast – a nice change from the way my days used to look. I did some exercise and spent about a half hour reading a book.

I set to working at 11:30 am. I worked until about 3:30 pm, and then decided to surprise my wife by bringing lunch to her job (she runs 2 independent retail stores). After lunch with Angela, I came home, went for a walk, and took a nap (taking walks and napping are unprecedented for me). About 6:30 pm, I sat down to work again until 8:30 pm. Angela came home then, and we made dinner which, again, was distinctly more pleasurable and healthy than “getting” or “buying” dinner, our usual custom until now. We watched an episode of “Heroes” while we ate. I enjoyed time with Angie until she went to bed at 11:00 pm.

I worked again from 11:00 pm until 2:00 am, then went to sleep (and did not have to set an alarm!).

All in all, I had a full day of work (9 hours by my count) but here is the thing… I was totally relaxed and enjoyed time with my wife; I ate when I was hungry and slept when I was tired.

What my day used to look like was conflicting schedules, constant snacking, little or no time together, too much fast food, and too little rest. What a difference when I own my time! What a difference!

I can not imagine that I ever lived another way. I wish this kind of freedom for everybody.

If you ask me, ROWE is the only way to go.

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  • http://charleshbaker.wordpress.com/ Charles

    This is awesome. I wanted this when I started working in the high tech field. I was inspired long ago by these commercials that helped change the direction of my life:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb0avfQme8&NR=1

    This ad campaign was on television in 1993!

    • Michael Salamey

      Those commercials are great. Possibilities are endless now. It is a lot of fun to dream up what tomorrow may look like…

  • http://www.kannaglassstudios.blogspot.com Jenn

    Oh, don’t torture me! Seriously…that kind of work schedule makes total sense to me.

    Question: how do you go about finding companies that embrace ROWE?

    • Michael Salamey

      Great question, Jenn. Some companies openly share that they have Results-Only Work Environments (Best Buy, The Gap, Fairview, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, for example). Some are still in the pilot phase of implementing ROWE and some, for whatever reason, choose not to openly disclose themselves yet (they may, for example, not want to be deluged with even more applicants if they are a highly “in-demand” company like most of the Fortune 100).

      Many companies are not official ROWE companies but offer progressive benefits (that are often cool, but not really ROWE even though they may think so–but that’s for another post). The best way to find out is to check their recruitment website or contact them directly.

      We may have more on this, and possibly some ways to help you spotlight those companies soon, so keep in touch.

      There is one more option, of course… rather than trying to find companies that are ROWE, create one.

  • Maru

    On the other hand, I guess if you managed to do everything people expect of you in one fell swoop of three or four hours, with intermittent proddings and answers per email, IM and phone for the rest of the day, keeping everything up in the air, supporting the team when they need you, and delivering your part of the results, nobody would complain in a ROWE, would they?

    Never mind the four, seven, or nine hours. Hours don’t count. Results do.

    Right?

    • Michael Salamey

      “Hours don’t count; results do” is exactly right.

      The example in this post illustrates what a typical day was like for me that week. I honestly can not tell you how many hours I worked yesterday, for example. Part of my work happened while helping facilitate a session with Jody and Michael B. Part of it happened while we played pool the night before, and part of it happened when we hung out at Starbucks yesterday morning (and I spilled a latte all over myself, which they were quick to replace for free–thanks Starbucks!). Work is no longer “work” to me. It is just part of what I am doing when I am out with friends, completing chores, or between naps. I am not tracking hours when I respond to your comments or when I create new posts. (I am not even sure how I would; I do not write in consistent “time slots” or allot myself only X minutes to come up with a good idea…) Plus, is it “work” to share this conversation with you? This is what I enjoy doing. It messes with your mind if you think about it too long.

      I can not speak for every person in every Results-Only Work Environment, of course, but here at CultureRx, the only complaining that goes on is when we share frustrations over people still stuck in traditional work environments.

  • damom

    Sounds like a dream….now to find a place to work that embraces ROWE!

  • http://www.whatmakesagoodleader.com/swot_analysis.html Ian Pratt

    Flexibility is critical to the workplace, I run a contact centre but try to accommodate every employees preferred work hours. Whilst it is not always possible and people’s needs change we would meet the needs of about 80% of people 80% of the time.

  • Dev

    I would love ROWE at my job. I work as the IT and Information Systems Manager for a local solar company, and often I find myself unable to sleep and having great ideas about work, but I just stay in bed, because I’m not getting paid. I hope I remember them in the morning when I have to drag myself out of bed and get to work, to spend half the day bored or tired or wishing to be out in the nice weather.

    I was very ill one week and stayed home, where I was able to work. I found that I met all of my weekly goals, got a jump start on the next week’s, and I was much happier, relaxed, and able to do everything I wanted to.

    My company may allow me to open an office in another part of the state, and I’ve floated the idea of having that office try the ROWE concept for the office employees… we’ll see.