What People Say About ROWE, vol 1.
May 12th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
As ROWE started to take hold at Best Buy, we collected stories from teams who had already migrated. We wanted to keep a record of the change, and also give the non-ROWE teams a glimpse at what life in a ROWE was like. Here are three comments from actual employees. We’ll run this feature occasionally to give you a sense of what the movement looks like from the ground.
Enjoy.
***
I have had employees tell me very openly that they were certain they had increased the number of hours they worked – voluntarily – after embarking on the ROWE road. This seems unusual, until you learn that the number of hours they worked was not the root cause of their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The biggest job satisfaction actually came from having greater control over their schedules. This led to greater productivity and job satisfaction simultaneously.
***
This way of working actually feels like more hours in a day have been created because of the flexibility element that is engineered into ROWE. Sometimes, I don’t have the energy to do my best work in the morning or afternoon. So, I’ll take that time to do personal things around the house, workout, or whatever, and then I will work on my “work” in the evening in my home office after everyone else in the family has gone to bed. I have more creative energy because I have less constraints – most importantly, no perceived requirement to work at the campus in my cubicle. I can choose my own working environment that is most productive for ME.
***
Last week, while I was out on vacation [a coworker] had a family situation come up that she needed to attend to. Her mother was going into the hospital for surgery. [My coworker] worked from her mother’s hospital room via the high speed internet connection, and took meetings via telephone. She did not miss a beat. She kept moving on our business outcomes.
