Results Oriented Workplace

by SEAN CONRAD | Jun 18th, 2009 | Goal Management, Performance Management

A couple weeks ago, Heather discussed the idea of weisure and how employers need to adapt to the blurring lines between work and leisure. A big part of the discussion that this post didn’t really touch on is the debate around the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE).

The ROWE is a management strategy espoused by companies like Best Buy where employees are paid for results – and have complete control over their schedules. The idea is that employees do what they want, when they want. The company isn’t concerned with when or where the work gets done, as long as it gets done. Think of it as extreme weisure where all that matters is results.

Many bloggers and traditional media have weighed in on the idea of the ROWE, with lots of great points being made about how it would or wouldn’t work. Just a few that you can check out are Renegade HR, The Happy Employee, Free Pursuits and Your HR Guy.

While Best Buy has been able to drive some solid business results and improve retention with their ROWE, the real question is if a ROWE can actually be made to work in the average workplace, and how would this fit into talent management. Is this pay for performance on steroids? And if that’s the case, can anyone but a disciplined high performer thrive in this environment? It’s hard to really say but I’m pretty sure most organizations cannot perform this type of experiment to find out if a ROWE will work for them, especially in the current economy.

Jon Ingham from Strategic HCM makes a great point in one of his previous posts on the ROWE:

And at least as importantly, I disagree with the pure focus on results, because I think that managing behaviours/competencies are also vitally important.

He goes on to point out that if organizations don’t manage behavior, they can get into hot water, as has been seen with the blowout in the financial industry.

A related post from Jason Pankow from Fistful of Talent looks at the difficulty of managing a high performer within a work environment that has non-traditional expectations. As Pankow explains:

Still… even with our work-life balance and telecommuting capabilities, we’re still expected to be team players. We’re still expected to be with our teams when it’s important. Results are often driven by these team efforts.

So, while a ROWE sounds cool, it has the potential to strip out so many of the things that drive actual business results like specific behaviors and team work. Maybe HR needs to take into account the changing lines of work and leisure as Heather suggests, but I’m not convinced that we need to take it as far as the ROWE.

  • http://upstarthr.wordpress.com Ben Eubanks

    It’s going to be a wild ride as more workplace flexibility is introduced. Some high performers do better independently while others need a team surrounding them to perform at their peak. The tough part will be determining which one people need!
    There’s no reason a team can’t meet at a coffee shop to work in a ROWE, but some people need the structure involved in a traditional job to feel comfortable. It’s all a balancing act. Great post!

  • http://blog.threestarleadership.com Wally Bock

    I suspect that there will be some good learning to come out of ROWE, but I don’t think we’re close yet. First we really only have the self-report of one company to vouch for results. I may have missed them, but I haven’t heard anything negative out of Best Buy and I simply don’t believe that’s the case. I’ve been involved in too many changes over the years to think there are no problem of note. Second, this is a company that is noted for blowing its own horn about its latest initiatives, but even BB only uses ROWE at HQ. Not in distribution centers, not in the stores. ROWE has not been in place long. The problems like, the ones Jon Ingham notes about team issues won’t show up right away. Again, I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen discussion of several supervision issues that I wonder about. How do you handle promotions or discipline in a ROWE environment? What about the ongoing training that’s part of most people’s working life as they master a job or an area? Are there workers who don’t want to do this? What do we do with them? For me so far, there’s promise but no proof, so I’ll wait a while before making a final judgment.

  • http://www.halogensoftware.com/blog Sean

    Ben and Wally – thanks for sharing your comments and great insights here. It’s pretty clear that the issue has many facets, and Wally as you note, the jury is still out.

    I think overall the concept of ROWE is more interesting/important than the 100% adoption of it. The idea that for SOME employees where it makes sense, a flexible work environment focused on results might be a positive development. For other employees it will not make sense, and will not be an incentive for them.

    In regards to development in a ROWE environment, a flexible results oriented environment does not necessarily preclude good performance and talent management processes, they could even become even more important. Consistent performance management with a focus on integrated development is important in any work place. I suspect these processes would be valued highly for the type of workers for whom ROWE might make sense. Employees who want that flexible environment are likely also going to value timely feedback and a development focus, and the combination of the two could very well result in the highest retention rates of top performers.

    Right now this is all hypothesis given the limited publicly available information on the broader results. But it is most definitely one to watch.