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So, you think you’re in a ROWE?

Dec 19, 2011 » by Cali & Jody

[Our guest post today is from Michael Reynolds. In addition to being a ROWE Consultant, Michael is President/CEO of SpinWeb – one of the first small businesses to become a ROWE. He is a speaker, trainer, and entrepreneur who has had extensive experience helping both business and non-profit clients utilize marketing and technology to become more productive.]

SpinWeb became a Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) a few years ago. Since then, we have enjoyed a happier workplace, more balanced lives, and dramatically improved productivity. From my perspective, ROWE is to the traditional workplace as the Renaissance is to the Dark Ages. I look back on our pre-ROWE work environment and I actually feel embarrassment at how we ran things. I feel the need to apologize to my employees for the senseless way we ran the company. Unfortunately, it happens to be the way most companies still do things today.

The good news is, we are now in a ROWE and life is good. However, when I describe our company and ROWE to others, I sometimes get interesting reactions. Aside from all the many “That would never work in my company” reactions, I sometimes hear things like “Oh, that sounds like my company… we’re already a ROWE.”

Really?

It’s easy to hear a few things about ROWE and then declare that your company is already a ROWE, but in most cases that’s not quite the case. When people claim they are already in a ROWE, it’s usually because they have a “flexible schedule,” or the option to telecommute. This does not mean that your company is a ROWE. Let’s look at a few indicators. These apply to all employees in the organization.

If you have to ask permission or even notify someone when you work from home or will not be in the office, you are not in a ROWE.

If you get the evil eye from your boss or from co-workers when you don’t come into the office for a while, you are not in a ROWE.

If you don’t feel like you can decline a meeting with your boss or with co-workers, you are not in a ROWE.

If the freedoms of a ROWE are only available to management or a select few, then you are not in a ROWE.

If you don’t feel like you can leave at 2 pm for a matinee movie without asking permission, you are not in a ROWE.

If any of these apply to your company, then I would encourage you to re-think your work environment. Are you really in a ROWE? If so, great! If not, contact the team at CultureRx. We have proven training methods and implementation processes to fit your organization.

As always, comments are welcome. Are you in a ROWE?

  • Patty Tanji

    Thanks for the reminders.  Decoupling our time from our results is a tough habit to break even for me…..who is a big fan of ROWE.  I just hired someone on an hourly basis to perform a task.  Yikes.  What I ought to have done was offered a flat fee for the expected results/outcome.  Note to self!

    • http://twitter.com/JodyROWE Jody Thompson

      Patty – great note to self! It’s easy to fall into the ‘pay by the hour’ trap, isn’t it?

    • Anonymous

      Was it a babysitter, Patty? :)

      It’s easy to imagine roles that don’t fit nicely into the ROWE model. But for most professional work, we need to be looking at the work we produce and how we produce it, not the time that has passed.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s be clear, though, a ROWE is not a license to be disrespectful. Just because a ROWE is focused on results and not face time, you shouldn’t just blow off a meeting. If you set an appointment, you should go to it. Or, you should let people know that you need to reschedule.

    It’s also the case that ROWE only works under normal conditions. People do get sick and people also benefit from taking time off, but most of us want to spend a consistent amount of time working. However, If you experience an unexpected and serious long-term illness, you aren’t going to be able to meet your pre-determined results any longer. New arrangements must be made.

    I do think it’s okay to delay the start of ROWE for new employee. Michael is right about comparing the traditional work environment to the dark ages. I’d suggest that new employees just come in for 40 hours a week and work for an hourly rate for a little while—perhaps a month or two at most—in a ROWE. No need to jump into the deep end.

    Unless you have total confidence that you are completely respected by your colleagues, you’re not in a ROWE. I know the “R” stands for results, but I also like to think it stands for “Respect.” Most work environments belittle people. When you treat others like responsible adults, suddenly the value of work floats to the surface.

    • http://twitter.com/JodyROWE Jody Thompson

      You’re right. There is a lot of crap that goes on in a workplace that isn’t respectful -either to people or to the work. And it’s important to remember that a ROWE is not a time-off or flexibility program.  ROWE is about getting results. Period. So even new employees should be expected to deliver results, not just ‘put in time’. 

    • Dave Needham

      Some really good point Robby. I am curious as to what is meant by “normal conditions”. Can you expand? I would think ROWE still applies in long-term situations…it’s just the expected and communicated results that might need to be revisited (if legally required to do so – ie.: ADAA, FMLA, USERRA, etc.) Are there conditions where Results (or Respect for that matter) shouldn’t be the focus?

      • Anonymous

        Dave, thanks for the comment.

        I just mean that any model based on results needs to be adjusted when your ability or interest in producing results changes. This could be unintentional (such as with a medical condition) or on purpose (because of family needs.)

        People who hear about the ROWE approach on sick time (“there is no sick time”) sometimes get panicky. The point is that no one is measuring when you are out of the office, just your results. As long as you are being responsible and responsive, you’ll be fine. And if you need more time away from work than is already available within the context of your work, you need to refine your expectations.

        Make sense?

      • KellyK

        I would agree with this.  I think that it’s the expected results themselves that will change.  I honestly think that working in a real ROWE should give you better ability to deal with illnesses and injuries and other life issues than the bare minimum set by government requirements like ADA or FMLA (though those protections are a good bare minimum to have, don’t get me wrong!)

        Let’s say I get pregnant.  In a traditional environment, I have PTO that I can use for doctor’s appointments during pregnancy, and to actually take care of the infant and recover from childbirth.  There’s usually maternity leave, which in my company is an additional paid week off. Then there’s FMLA, which would entitle me to another 12 weeks of *unpaid* leave.  So I have to try to be as frugal with that time off as I can, especially if I can’t afford to take unpaid leave, or to take much unpaid leave. I might spend several mornings throwing up in the company bathroom because I don’t have the sick time to just stay home.

        In a ROWE, it’s possible that I can meet all my results throughout the pregnancy and not *have* to take time off.  If I’m more productive working mostly from home, I can do that.  If I need to stop working in the middle of the day to go to the doctor’s office, or soak my feet, or take a nap, I can do that without having to track and make up the time. 

        I’d probably be mostly out of commission for several weeks after having the baby, but that can be planned around.  Maybe I get the same coworker to cover for me who I covered for when she had to fly to California for a family emergency.  Maybe I get a bunch of things done beforehand so I can go off the grid for a while without hurting my results.  Maybe I don’t take that whole stretch “off” but keep up with the major high-priority tasks from home. 

        Results might need to be adjusted in this situation, especially if I’m planning on primarily caring for the baby long-term rather than having them in daycare or have a baby-sitter. (I’m good at multitasking, but I would bet against my ability to perform all the responsibilities of my current job while caring for an infant.) 

        I think the real difference with ROWE is that things only need to be renegotiated if the situation is so major that you can’t get your expected results done, over an extended period of time, while things like FMLA kick in as soon as you need “time off.”

    • http://twitter.com/PersephoneK PersephoneK

      I respectfully disagree with you about new employees.  I think that sets a bad tone from the start, especially if one of the reasons an employee took a job is because of ROWE.  If you can’t manage results from the beginning, its only going to get worse.  I once had a relatively flexible job (granted, not remotely a ROWE, but as close as most come without actually being a ROWE). I took the job largely based on how I understood their culture of results mattering far more than time.  My questions during the extensive interview process focused largely on understanding this about their culture.  But when I actually started, they were very heavily focused on managing tasks and time, and basically told me that despite what they’d told me during the interviews, their style was to micromanage newbies for a few months.  This resulted in a significant disconnect between me and my manager, and frankly, I was miserable.  

      The culture needs to set the expectation from the start of what the work experience will be like.  After all, one of the things that makes a ROWE a ROWE is that it applies to all employees.  That includes those on their first day.

      • Anonymous

        Hi PK, thanks for your response.

        With respect to your comment, it sounds like you were deceived in the interview process. I think it’s great to ease people into a ROWE, but of course that means explaining up front the concept of  an interim period.

        Your story sounds like one I recently heard from a jobseeker. She explained how she had taken a job at a prominent local firm precisely because of the “benefits” they outlined, including “flexible work hours” and the ability to “work from home one or two days a week.” But the promise never materialized and she ended up being miserable for over a year. That sounds like a pretty clear case to me: they lied.

        I like to think of an interim period as a paid, extended mutual interview process.. And it doesn’t need to be a requirement, it can just be helpful for people who’ve never worked anywhere except a soul-sucking, face-time job. 

    • Christy Runningen

      Hi Robby,
      You are absolutely correct that ROWE is not a license to be disrespectful!  In fact, we stress that in our sessions that you COMMUNICATE your intentions to others involved (i.e. attending a meeting, going to an appointment, etc.)  ROWE does not equal ‘just don’t show up.”  It is a mindset that is focused on results, so that obviously includes informing others of how you will get results.

      I would like to challenge you on the delaying a new employee’s entrance into a ROWE, however.  This whole 40-hour-a-week mentality is arbitrary in today’s world of work.  It is widely known that people will just fill their time, and waste time doing non-value-add tasks just to show they are putting in their time, and a number of other crazy things when the focus is on how long they look like they are working!  Of course, new employees will need support from their new workplace and co-workers to know what a ROWE is and what is expected. But if your new employee is an adult when they are hired on, they should be able to work in the adult workplace.  Period.  If there is an issue with an employee’s performance, it needs to be dealt with as a performance issue.  Period.

      • Anonymous

        Hi Christy,

        When should the company expect employees to be focused completely on results?

        Ideally, on day one. But practically speaking, it takes some time to get ramped up in any new environment. There are best practices to learn, there are people to meet, there are systems to review, there is training to attend. Most of this stuff takes time and does not generate any immediate value for the company.

        A good way to show people that they are valuable when they don’t know much about your company yet is just to pay them without asking too many questions about how they are contributing. It’s helpful during these first few weeks (especially when people are NEW and totally new to the concept of ROWE) to suggest that they just maintain a traditional schedule until the end of a predefined period.

        Of course, you don’t need to do this. I just find it helpful. And certainly, I’m not going to stop anybody who is ready to get going right away in a ROWE.

        The real danger is when people do the opposite: they say they care about results but the end up monitoring face time. An interim period is a good test. Just like PersephoneK says below, companies can lie about their interest in results.

  • KellyK

    I think that the expected results are going to be different with new employees than they will with experienced ones.  They’ll be less about producing work that leads directly to customer satisfaction or monye made, and more about getting familiar with processes, products, and people, in *preparation* for doing that kind of work.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that starting them off with a 40-hour week is helpful. 

    There are often situations where new employees are given things to do to “fill their time” precisely because they’re not up to speed yet, or because things required for their work environment aren’t set up.  Maybe their computer hasn’t been delivered, maybe Pam is the go-to person to explain a given task to them, but she’s a little busy having a baby this week.  Why have the new person re-read the company policy manual or do made-up busy work for a couple hours instead of just going home? 

  • http://profiles.google.com/lorraine.roundpeg Lorraine Ball

    It is less about asking permission and more about confirming if you will be in so others don’t count on you to be there.

    At Roundpeg the only one to give you the evil eye is Clyde and she does that equally to everyone. 

    Everyone had same control over their schedule, so we are pretty close.