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Best Buy’s Results Only Work Environment

Companies are always trying to improve the quality of work life for their employees while increasing productivity. Organizational researchers and managers are exploring various forms of alternative work scheduling to accomplish these goals. Flexible work schedules or “Flextime” has been one of the most popular alternatives to the nine to five, forty-hour workweek. Flextime divides the workday into two components: “core” or required hours and “flexible” non-core hours (McGuire, 1987, p47). One organization is revolutionizing flextime scheduling by throwing out the time clock altogether. Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) is instituting a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) program allowing corporate employees to work wherever and whenever they want, as long as they complete projects on a timely basis (Jossi, 2007, p. 47). Results Only Work Environments are quickly becoming the future of Flextime scheduling in today’s digital age where work can be accomplished almost anywhere.

Results from ROWE have been encouraging, as productivity has increased an average of 35 percent within the first months of instituting the program. Voluntary turnover has dropped between 52 and 90 percent in three Best Buy divisions. These three divisions were otherwise unaffected by other company reorganizations or initiatives. Jody Thompson, co-creator of the ROWE program alongside Cali Ressler, has found that employee’s feelings of pressure and working too hard have changed. She states, “They feel happier about work. They feel more ownership of their work. They feel more clear about what they’re doing for the company, and they see it (ROWE) as a benefit that’s almost more important than any other (Jossi 2007, p. 48).” Thompson and Ressler were inspired to create ROWE after discovering that “flexible scheduling” was an oxymoron, requiring an even greater level of effort to keep track of people’s time than traditional scheduling. ROWE is a truly flexible scheduling system in every sense of the term, by allowing employees to work whenever and wherever they want.

Managers, on the other hand, did not easily accept the paradigm shift created by the ROWE program. They had to adapt to a new system where colleagues would not always be readily available on-site for discussion of a project. Fellow employees also had to learn to not judge their peers based on how others spent their time. This constant questioning of other’s work habits is known as “sludge” in the ROWE program. Ressler states that sludge “is engrained in corporate America, and once it is gone it really feels like a big weight has been lifted off people while allowing them to be the most productive person they can be (Jossi, 2007, p. 49).”

Effectively judging performance is another challenge presented by the ROWE program. What parameters can an HR manager use for employee reviews when hours on-site are not available? HR managers at Best Buy look for solutions suggested by employees and approved by line managers, rather than a by the book, top-down approach. ROWE has led to improved goal setting and outcome-based evaluations rather than evaluations based on less measurable criteria such as the amount of hours actively engaged in work. Additionally, ROWE inspires employees to develop a team-driven environment, where team members will pressure an underperforming colleague rather than managers. Underperforming employees are more easily distinguished based on results and productivity, instead of attendance (Jossi, 2007, p. 50).

Best Buy’s ability to successfully institute the ROWE program is only possible with the development of rich bandwidth and cell phone ubiquity, and the ROWE program is quickly gaining popularity among other companies. IBM uses a similar program where more than 42 percent of its 140,000-employee workforce operates from homes, clients’ offices or other locations. Employees are assessed on their personal contribution toward IBM’s goals rather than hours on the job. ROWE could quickly become the new standard of corporate America.

Jossi, F. (2007). Clockin Out. HR Magazine, 52(6), 46-50. Retrieved March 13, 2009, from Business Source Premier.

McGuire, J. B., & Liro, J. R. (1987). Absenteeism and Flexible Work Schedules. Public Personnel Management, 16(1), 47-60. Retrieved March 13, 2009, from Business Source Premier.