Work Out: The Experiment
August 10th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
There are many you that have recognized how ludicrous it is to be doing virtual work in a prescribed physical location. You’ve even realized that you could be more effective and productive if you made the decisions about when and where you worked, as long as the work gets done.
Once you’re in this mindset, it’s difficult to adhere to the rules that dictate where you need to work and when you need to be there.
Ready to take action and start pushing the envelope?
Here’s what we’re proposing:
- Find a co-worker that shares your desire to be more effective in work and life by breaking out of the mold
- Choose a day in the next two weeks where you will both work somewhere other than your office building
- When that day comes, don’t ask permission - just do it and be accessible by phone, text, e-mail, IM, etc.
- Use the blog comments to report on how your experiment went
In preparation, it will help to review these questions that are likely to come up when you are nowhere to be found in the office, and the next day when you suddenly reappear:
- “It’s 9:30 a.m. - where are you?” [Possible response: "I'm working at X."]
- “Are you coming into the office today?” [Possible response: "I wasn't planning on it. I'm working from X. What can I do for you?"]
- “I need you here for a 2:00 meeting.” [Possible response: If this is a meeting you know you don't need to be physically present for, say "What phone number can I conference into?"]
- “Where were you yesterday?” [Possible response: "Working. Is there anything you need?"]
- “Did you take a vacation day yesterday?” [Possible response: "Is there something you need?"]
As you carry out the experiment, you will determine the best way to address these questions. Just remember: Many of these comments will be Sludge and you want to drive the conversation back to results. It’s not about where or when you’re doing your work - what matters is that it’s getting done.
What do you think - you up for the challenge?
Find a partner and keep us in the loop.
I can guarantee you if I didn’t show up I’d be fired. It didn’t matter if I said I was working elsewhere - I’d be fired. And I actually CAN’T work elsewhere. I have to come into the office to work as I don’t have any remote access at all. And no coming in late without permission can’t happen; nor can leaving early. I could try but I can guarantee I’d be severely reprimanded. As it is I have to drop my car off at the repair shop tomorrow morning so I have to ask if it’s ok to come in an hour late. I currently work 7;30 - 4 pm and I can foresee that fairly soon I will be FORCED to work 8-5. Even tho I much prefer coming in early and leaving early. Your plan sounds good in plan but it just won’t work for someone in my position - accounts payable. Although it shouldn’t matter what time I come in or leave - as long as the payables get processed. But apparently the most important stuff has to happen from 4 pm - 5 pm.
A little risky to suggest your readers not show up while working from home. Like Heather above, this can and will get people fired. There are better ways, like Tim Ferriss’s 4HWW suggestions to sell your boss. I like ROWE, but this challenge is irresponsible and suggests that, having worked in this environment for so long, you two are losing touch with what many of us face. It’s a gradual transition, not an “I make my own rules now” type of exchange. If you two did this early on, WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE, you would have been fired from Best Buy. You did have a champion to your cause, remember?
I agree with Heather on this one, guys. I’d be gone faster than you could say “butt-in-chair time”. I’ve already tried some of your ideas and I’ve been reprimanded and labeled a troublemaker because of it.
Now, let me say this, your ideas are solid and I’m not faulting the ideas at all. Unfortunately, some companies (and more specifically some people within companies) will have nothing to do with it no matter how much productivity gains their are. If they can’t see your butt in that chair then you aren’t working — period.
I have stated this in other posts on various outlets, but I really think the real change will take place once Gen X and Gen Y completely take over the workplace. Progressive companies, like Best Buy, have the spirt already there. Other companies are being dragged down by ideas and beliefs that should have been thrown in the garbage years ago. The “good ol’ boys” club days are numbered, but they are still out there — unfortunatel.
Time to break in here with a few more snippets of our story…
Pre-ROWE, Best Buy’s corporate office was just like any other office setting, focused on long hours and face time. People got reprimanded for coming in “late” and lost sleep over how to ask if they could leave an hour “early” the next day to see their child’s soccer game. The fun, high-energy, progressive thinking was working its way into the latest technology products, but definitely not into the actual work environment.
When we got together, our task was to figure out how to implement traditional flexible work arrangements across the corporate population, complete with guidelines and policies governing how the arrangements would be distributed, who would be able to request them, and on and on. We refused. That’s not what people wanted. It’s not what they deserved as adults doing good work for the company.
So did we have a champion? Nope. We began by trying to take the politically correct road. We sat in a room of 12 HR leaders and told them we would not be moving forward with flexible work arrangements. We talked about our vision for ROWE. After a bunch of blank stares and grumbles, the first comment from leadership was “Well, we’ll need to do an analysis of jobs and job codes to see who can and can’t do something like this.” Right then and there, we knew we had to stay underground if we were going to get ROWE started.
We did find two leaders that were forward-thinking enough to have us pilot ROWE with their teams, but we had to work hard to get them to open their minds far enough to let us in. Once that happened, they too, had to stay somewhat underground. This was not something that was shouted from the rooftops - it was a promise of better business and better lives - but it was going against decades of corporate dogma, which meant it was scary and, to some (who didn’t go near it for 3 years), it reaked of political suicide.
We, in fact, were almost fired for evangelizing and practicing ROWE. We were reprimanded, labeled “troublemakers” and “zealots”, almost on a daily basis, for continuing to work toward ousting the old system. Did we fall back into line? No, quite the opposite. Instead, we went cube-free (our term for never going back to our cubes again).
Real change isn’t easy - especially for the pioneers. It’s tough for us and it will be tough for you. And, overthrowing the old system of work can’t be done with baby steps. It takes a big, and oftentimes scary, leap of faith. As with any social change, it’s up to all of us to courageously band together for the future.
What you say makes perfect sense but it won’t do anyone any good for me to get fired. And I can guarantee that I would get fired if I didn’t actually go into the office to “work”. I’m definitely not one to shy away from testing the system but in some cases I do think baby steps need to be done before the big leap. Also I think it might be easier for some positions to do this than others (no I don’t think it should be that way but the fact is it’s true).
The key phrase in your challenge is “virtual work”.
In order for the experiment to work, the person must truly be a virtual worker, and the technology needs to be in place to facilitate working off site.
So, accounts payable isn’t virtual work since it’s pretty hard to be at home and enter the invoices that are sitting on your desk at work. I do agree with the previous poster that it shouldn’t matter when a person comes in as long as the accounts payable get done. However, if part of the job includes responding to vendor questions regarding payments, then there does need to be a set window of time that the person is in the office to handle such matters.
On the other hand, an attorney who intends on spending the entire day doing research can easily work off site. The firm’s entire library is internet based, so all the attorney will need is a location with internet access.
Many CPA firms have implemented complete paperless workflow. Which would make it extremely easy to facilitate working off site. Yet it is amazing how many CPA firm leaders still insist on workers being in the office to verify that work is actually being done.
I love this challenge! I feel fortunate to be in a position where I can try this out. I work for a fortune 250 company that is very conservative and old school, however it’s big enough that you can find pockets of progressiveness. I have been lucky enough to land in one of these pockets, and work for one of a manager tries to manage by results. He treats sludgers like the tattle-telling children they are. It’s great. I have talked to my boss about ROWE for two months straight (so much so that he went out and read the book last month), and despite being progressive and results focused it’s still been hard for him to wrap his mind around. I think he needs to see it to believe it. This challenge is a great opportunity for me to test the waters and his comfort level. He values me and the work I do, and I know that he will value anything that makes me happier and more effective.
I do have empathy for the other posters who feel like they would be fired on the spot. A friend works in software development at a large company. She had to beg and plead to get a week of work from home time while her house was being remodeled. She has worked for this company and her boss for 15 years and they still don’t trust her. She mentioned ROWE to her boss in a meeting and he told her it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard of and that people cannot be trusted to do their work unless you keep a close eye on them. This is the same boss that only meets with her once a year at review time to discuss her performance. The only discussion he has with one of his best employees about what she has accomplished and how effective she is happens once a year and lasts for about 20 minutes. I guess it makes sense why he can’t allow work from home or ROWE in his managerial brain, his only performance metric is desk time. How absurd this situation seems through the eyes of ROWE. This is the kind of craziness that we are all trying to fight against.
@Jessica - can’t wait to hear how your experiment goes. Be sure to update us on how it plays out!
@Heather - thanks for keeping your mind open. You’re right - there are so many things that shouldn’t be the way they are. When the time is right, you’ll know when to start experimenting with a few things here and there…and we’ll look forward to the details.
@Brenda - we hear you! We hear from many CPA firms that have processes perfected for their employees to work off-site, but their belief system is still mired in face time equating to productivity. This is a perfect example of the technical vs. adaptive change difference that we talk about in Why Work Sucks. The technical change of developing the processes is one piece of things, but the processes can’t be executed successfully until the adaptive change of letting go of old beliefs happens. Thanks for bringing up this point - it’s a good one.
“So did we have a champion? Nope.”
“We did find two leaders that were forward-thinking enough to have us pilot ROWE with their teams…”
Sounds to me like you had two. I think your reply missed our point. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was its decline. We all seem to agree with you, and agree that pioneers do face a hard road. But the approach you are asking us to take in this challenge is more tidal wave than groundswell. And that tidal wave might just wash away some of our jobs. I’m not ready to live in the woods just yet.
Am I walking the talk? Yes. I’m trying the more moderate approach of slowly, insidiously working on our company’s owner by doing small experiments with some of my departments. I gave him an article about you two years ago, when you were first piloting the system, but he didn’t show any interest. He wanted numbers. Now, I’m trying things out and providing those figures that we can have our cake and eat it too.
Ideas are great, but without results to sell them to the owners/execs out there, they won’t buy into it.
I don’t disagree with the fact that a person who is processing accounts payable needs to be available to answer vendor questions. I don’t even mind going into work. What I do mind is the lack of control over my time - why would I have to stay until 5 pm every day if I can work just as productively by coming in early and leaving a bit early. I know you don’t like the flex time term but I’d be happy with that - if it was actually true to it’s definition. There’s no crisis in accounts payable that has to be dealt with at 5 pm and can’t wait until first thing in the morning.
I have attempted this in the past - only because I have always been so isolated in the office and with regard to my responsibilities. I received a call every time….where are you? Are you taking a sick day? You need to check in…
I am in no way a perfect employee, however other questions (I believe to be more important) I have never heard…Why is the project not done yet? Why have you not responded to my email? Do you need anything?
The difference in philosophies between this webiste/blog/Why Work Sucks and the reality of work environments everywhere is mind boggling!
My wife recently accepted a job with an employer we had thought was a tad bit more progressive. She was at least allowed to set her schedule (as long as she got her 8 in).
About 3 weeks in, there was a company wide meeting regarding complaints about the cafeteria not being a full service one. Yes, they actually scheduled and held a meeting on the topic. I could only think about how people (employer and employee) attempt to make work like home. “We have a family atmosphere here.” Now a company is addressing food in a cafeteria like a family may dinner for the night. How does that make sense?
Instead of attempting to modify an office building to resemble home or allowing employees to decorate a cube as one would a fav. room in the house, why not just allow employees to work from home?
My wife’s company also just put a stop to the “flexible” work schedule and now everyone must work 8 - 5! As Cali & Jody would imply…I guess that is the magical - get - work - done period of time…..
Cali and Jody,
I accept the challenge and will report back tomorrow! I’ve done this before and there has never been a situation where I “missed” something due to my physical absence from the office.
Right now (for fun) I am also keeping track of all the times I do speak to someone in-person and noting 1) was the interaction planned or unplanned 2) did it result in insight or decisions that could not have been obtained virtually 3) what percentage of the interaction was “filler”.
Oh, did I mention that I am a HR professional? Feels good to be RAD - ical!
@Not Sally - we’re on the edges of our seats waiting to find out how your day went today. And please keep us up to speed on the things you’re tracking - love that you’re doing that!
Any other HR professionals like Not Sally that are out there being RAD-ical?
Mission accomplished!
Normally, when I am working remotely I let someone know. Pretty much everyone on my team works elsewhere. However, the group I “HR” (turned that into a verb just because : ) is mostly based on site.
As I mentioned previously, I don’t always notify my manager but I traditionally let someone know I am working from home and can be available via cell phone, e-mail, voice mail, blackberry, GPS homing devise, microchip, pigeon carrier, etc… - not today. I have to admit I used to also sent a silly FYI especially early in the morning so as to show that yes indeed I am up and working hard, not just catching some extra zzzs. <—SLUDGY
Early morning - no silly FYI sent = no reported deaths
Needed to talk to someone, who LOVES to talk and talk and talk to me because it helps them “sort out their thoughts”. I expected this person to say “can’t I just come over to your office for a few minutes” or “when do you get in”. So proactively, I decided to take an extra minute to plan my communication strategy. I let the person know what’s happening now, what does it mean to them, what needs to be defined, and my closing statement was “so when we get off the phone, here’s what I recommend you do next - if something unusual happens send me an e-mail. Sound good? Great! Bye!”
Later a bigger issue boiled up a bit but rather than allow myself to get involved as a sounding board I refrained from rehashing what had happened (or encouraging that type of dialogue) and instead redirected to someone who could actually do something about the situation. It went something like this: person w/issue to share, “x is happening, it is really taken a bad turn thought I’d share it with you”. Me, “wow - this sounds like it needs some attention. Does so and so know what’s going on? As you know, they have decision making power about this and have a serious stake in the outcome. I know that they would want the opportunity to intervene.” I hit the send button and resisted the inclination to solicit additional info or offer “help” because I know there is no result I can produce to help other than getting the people who need to connect to [gasp] talk to each other! E-mails predictably fly back and forth and I say very wise things like “thanks for letting me know”. I discover that I sometimes feed some of my worst time vampires by being too available or eager to share my insight. I would better serve them and myself by focusing on activities and conversation that get us closest to the next result. F* the Filler! Ohh, I like that… Kill Fill works too.
Anyway, later in the day I needed to go to an in person meeting - no one asks if I was in the office earlier and I don’t feel a need to volunteer my whereabouts. I leave when I am done with that meeting. Everything else in between is easily handled via e-mail and phone just like when I am on site and sitting by my lonesome for 8 hours!
So that’s that for now. I’ll let you know if anything comes up when I return “to work” tomorrow.
@Not Sally - this report is delicious. Absolutely fantastic.
You touch on so many things that employees in a ROWE experience. The need (and desire) to become more proactice and planful with communication is something we see right away. When we conduct culture audits, employees have a tendency to describe the work culture as very reactive and post-ROWE migration, they are wholeheartedly describing it as proactive. That’s good for business and here’s the bonus: it also makes people’s stress levels go down and opens up time for them to spend how they want. Just in your account of one day alone, there were several opportunities that you circumvented where you could have been pulled into time-consuming conversation/activity that wouldn’t have helped you achieve your results.
Keep the updates coming - we love the play by play accounts! And, we also love “Kill Fill” - can we use it and give you credit?
BTW - you don’t know how many people have told us that HR professionals absolutely must be physically in the office every day from 8:00 to 5:00 for the teams they “HR”.
I would be honored if you used “Kill Fill”!
It’s funny, executives can run multi-national companies from afar. Even when they are headquartered, many travel 80-90% of the time. It is commonplace to have a manager and direct report in different time zones, telecommuting in general is routine, but internal and external views on any break from 8-5 for HR still wanes behind our business partners. The only instances I feel a physical presence is preferable is during some investigations and terminations. Otherwise, all of our strategic HRing is a mere exchange of information largely transmitted electronically.
I think it comes down to the old “principal’s office” mentality about our profession. Many (not all) HR professionals have shed that skin but our customers haven’t caught up yet. 8-5 doesn’t really make sense for me - if I were to chart the typical and fixed work schedules of my teams, it would be 24/7 min of 6 days per week across three time zones. Kinda makes sense that I NEED allocate my time with purpose and logic to be effective. “Just ’cause” doesn’t cut it. Um, duh.
Well, I did it. Though I have a proposal to become a ROWE employee on the table, the process for approval/denial has limped on for months now…funny, but I can now understand why it takes so long to accomplish things.
Anyhoo, I did not report to the office yesterday nor did I call in. No on bothered to call/email me either….ha, just like when I am there, but I digress.
I can’t help but think the reason I did not get the “Where are you call!” is because we recently moved our office and I am no longer under the thumb of the zero authority watchdog secretary…