It’s Like This…
September 5th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
J.A. Counter & Associates is one of the proud companies that is officially ROWE - and by that, we mean they’ve gone through the ROWE migration process. They are an insurance and investment firm in New Richmond, WI, and have been a ROWE for about five months. Just three months post-migration, ROWE was one of the foundational changes that caused them to experience:
- revenue per full-time employee up 18%
- profit per full-time employee up a whopping 250%
- accuracy rates in the Personal Markets Department up 14.45%, effectively eliminating reprocessing at both the rep/admin and compliance/supervisory levels
We wanted to give you a glimpse inside their ROWE migration through the eyes of Jill Luken, one of their employees:
C&J: How were you first introduced to the fact that J.A. Counter was considering migrating to a ROWE?
Jill: I was somewhat “recruited” to interviewing at JAC, as they had an opening and a friend of mine told JAC about me and they wanted to interview. From there, I was very hesitant because I really liked my job and wasn’t looking for a new one. My friend told me I might as well just interview, so I did and I found out about ROWE. That was the only part about my current job that I had a hard time with - the lack of freedom between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. I had 1/2-hour lunches and was considered late at 8:32 a.m. When I heard about ROWE and researched more about it, it became one of the reasons I decided to go with JAC!
C&J: As JAC started moving toward ROWE, what were some of the challenges for the entire group and for you personally?
Jill: I think it always resulted back to personal guilt. Not being at the office, or at least at home working during “normal work hours”, was hard to change. Our customers and contacts still work normal work hours. I was still fairly fresh out of college - a year or so - therefore, it’s similar to going to class, going home for some lunch, doing some homework and going back to class later. Go to a meeting, do work at the office, run home and work from home awhile, maybe head back for another client meeting and just get done what needs to be done (which sometimes takes more than 8 hours). I think it was a challenge to understand we don’t work any less; you just aren’t “chained” to the desk anymore and required to work there.
C&J: How did you work together to overcome the challenges?
Jill: We really focus on the team aspect and helping/stepping in for each other whenever needed. We told each other when we were “Sludging” and really started to focus on our own jobs, results, and actions - and made sure we had our customers’ best interests in mind at all times. A lot of brainstorming!
C&J: What is a day in a ROWE like for you?
Jill: Pretty much the same as a day in the life of non-ROWE but with a sense of freedom, which makes all the difference! If I need an extra 20 minutes one morning to eat my breakfast, I take it and I have my computer up and my calls transferred and am working while I eat. I never feel like I am being watched like a hawk, which is a fabulous feeling.
C&J: We know you get a lot of questions about ROWE. What is your response to anyone who says “A ROWE would be complete chaos. There need to be guidelines put in place like core hours to make a ROWE run smoothly.”?
Jill: If they say that, they don’t get it. That would probably be my response! If you’ve taken the time to understand how ROWE works, you would realize that it has nothing to do with forcing people to do things. Instead, if we have an issue, we brainstorm and fix it. Implementing ROWE doesn’t have anything to do with employees not working 8 to 5. It’s all about having control over what you do at all times of the day. Your customers come first and in our situation, they work 8 to 5. We all work to help them during the times they need us, but now instead of not getting services at 5:05 p.m., they can work until 6:00 p.m. and potentially still get serviced! I’m happy and they’re happy - it’s a win-win.
There are several other companies implementing ROWE and we’ll be coming at you with more stories from the trenches…
If you had to guess, what would be your team’s/department’s biggest challenge with implementing ROWE?
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Getting the managers to actually establish goals, deadlines and other results-oriented requirements - which is strange, since we already have several metrics in place that we use to report to our VP - and then ENFORCE them. To me, that is the real BUSINESS obstacle to any company implementing a ROWE because once those metrics are in place: 1) you don’t need time as an evaluation and control tool; 2) you are truly focused on providing premiere customer service (which is one of the cornerstones of my company); 3) (lack of) trust issues disappear because the managers are, instead of monitoring how associates use time, monitoring how successfully end results are being achieved.
If management truly believes that they are solely interested in the results of their employees, why are they so reluctant to remove time from the equation? Because time is a big security blanket to management. For all the excuses made that associates are too immature to handle being in complete control of their time, management is the immature one unwilling to establish real expectations and real accountablility. It’s easier to shackle the workers than trust them to be responsible (even when you have the means to make responsibility the key to results).
I’d agree that getting specific goals in place is one of the biggest challenges. In fact, today I had a conversation with my manager that went something like this:
Me: We need specific goals so that we know whether we’re failing or succeeding in our jobs.
Boss: Your job description explains what your job is.
Me: But people need to know exactly what is expected, what reports need to be written, what tasks are required.
Boss: If you people don’t know, I can’t help you. Eventually I hope to be able to hold back your bonuses if you’re doing more than your job requires.
I’m not kidding! This was what my manager told me today! That is a difficult mindset to fix.
The other challenge is that its not as easy for employees to work remotely in my business. There are specific rules in place that cannot be changed that protect information. I don’t think that means we can’t be ROWE, but it makes it harder to explain to the big wigs just exactly how it could work.
The last challenge is that I don’t work for business that measures its success in dollars or profit. There’s no bottom line to show success or failure. Setting goals is not impossible, but harder.
Where can I find a listing of companies that have gone ROWE? I know about Best Buy and now J.A. Counter, but I want to know what companies have in the Washington, DC area have gone ROWE so I can apply there. I would love to live this lifestyle, but just need to find the place to work.
Yep, a ROWE Hall of Fame would be extremely helpful.
Oh I don’t even know where to start on the challenges to getting a ROWE in. How about lack of communication; meetings being called to discuss nothing; lack of planning; lack of logical processes and procedures; managers who need face time. It’s crazy.
Any municipalities whose employees have gone ROWE?
My company (Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council) recently migrated to ROWE, and I would love to know if there are specifically any other non-profits out there who have migrated. It would be very helpful for us to have companies (both for-proit and non-profit) to network with - I think all groups that migrate face a number of the same challenges - changing policies, getting employees to establish goals and then document what they actually need to do to meet those goals - and yes, definitely dealing with feelings of guilt.
Soon after we migrated, I booked a hair appointment during what would have normally been “regular work hours” and coupled that with a shopping trip - and while I was shopping, I was overcome with feelings of panic - the guilt of not being in the office when I was “supposed” to be was overwhelming. But I got through it and decided I need to keep doing things like that make sure that my employees know that I don’t just preach ROWE, I actually live it.
Two things we must comment on here:
1) The challenge of setting clear goals and expectations is a big one. In a traditional work environment, there are two masters: Time and Results. In a ROWE, where Time’s power is taken away, you’re left with one master: Results. This is a scary proposition for a team or organization that might not have much of an idea of what they really expect from their employees. Take this into consideration: When we introduce the ROWE philosophy to leadership teams, one of their first two questions is *always* “How will we know what people are doing in a ROWE?” Until ROWE comes along, organizations don’t have their feet to the fire to truly set clear expectations and figure out ways to measure them. So yes, this is a big challenge, but a necessary one to address and overcome if we are to succeed in the global economy.
2) The burning question: Where are the ROWE companies? We’re happy to tell you that there are several companies out there that are migrating to a ROWE as you read this. They’ve purchased the ROWE Launch Kit and they’re bringing themselves through the ROWE process. Once they’re a little further along, we’ll be posting their names on the site. Until then, though, here’s the list of U.S. states and other countries that have companies utilizing the ROWE Launch Kit:
Minnesota
California
Virginia
Maryland
Wisconsin
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Kansas
Missouri
Kentucky
Washington
Australia
Canada
Portugal
More info on these migrations coming soon!
Yes please tell us where to find “companies gone ROWE!” I eagerly read Jessica Lawrence’s story of taking the Girl Scouts ROWE, and noted an important bit of info - now that they’ve made the Girl Scouts an even more satisfying place to work, employees are likely to *never* leave! As a marketing professional who’s survived the trenches of Hollywood, the one thing I’m looking for in my professional life is an employer who ascribes to this work-place philosophy (and this interview with Jill Luken tells me I’m not alone). I would happily market almost *anything* if it were for a ROWE employer.
Another benefit for all of us as ROWE employers are publicized - for companies to see potential employees clamoring and competing for these jobs at ROWE companies would certainly make a huge case for going ROWE just to stay competitive for the best employees!
What I cannot seem to understand is why people feel work can only be accomplished in the office of the organization. Just today, I noticed (and heard because he was a bit loud) an older man working on his laptop and what seemed to be making business calls from a Barnes & Noble.
For people who have no face-to-face customer contact and very little, if any, face-to-face staff contact, what is the justification for the office attendance requirement? Plus, let’s not forget about what technology has done for communicating and work.
A ROWE just seems to make sense. I have actually gotten way beyond the “luxury” aspect of it. People still must WORK in a ROWE. It’s not about taking more time off or being free of accountability, it’s about being driven by and measured by results.