The ROWE List
November 17th, 2008 by Cali & Jody
For us, this is a very exciting day. Six years ago in our cubes at Best Buy, we started dreaming up the vision for what we thought work should look and feel like. As we daydreamed about the future, one of our far-reaching fantasies was that one day, people would be asking us where the ROWE companies were. Every time we get an e-mail with that question, and every time we see it on this blog, we grin because we know we’ve reached an important milestone. ROWE is standing on its own. It has its own life. And it’s something people want.
Today, we’re unveiling a few companies that are exploring ROWE. These organizations have been utilizing the ROWE Launch Kit: Office Edition and have said they are far enough along in the process that we can share their information. So without any further ado…here they are:
Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council
And, of course, the companies that came before these: Best Buy Corporate and J.A. Counter & Associates.
There will be many more names to share as more companies begin utilizing their Kits. We can also tell you that we’re currently consulting with a Fortune 50 company that will have a ROWE pilot completed by early Spring 2009.
And - for our Twin Cities readers - as part of the MNDOT project we’re involved with, there will be 3 to 6 more big companies in Mpls./St. Paul that will have completed ROWE pilots by the end of 2009.
The beginning of the ROWE List is in your hands - the next step is up to you.
Congratulations Cali & Jody! That is a fantastic list of organizations that have everything to gain by adopting ROWE.
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With the State of Wisconsin facing a $5 billion deficit this next biennial budget maybe they should think about getting on board with ROWE….
I’m so excited to see our organization’s name on this list! We love ROWE and spread the word every chance we get. Looking forward to the day when the list is too long to list.
OK…umm a little help anyone? As I have been doing in my online classes while pursuing my Masters in Psychology and when the topics of organizational behavior/culture and psychology are mentioned, I quickly infuse a ROWE into the works…Class after class, student (all ages) after student, the concept of a ROWE is viewed as too radical.
Well, this latest exchange is no different, but this person shot back with something different than philosophy…she shot back with financials…
“I didn’t know much about Best Buy or Yum brands so I looked them up because I tend to measure the success and productivity of a company with its financials and outlooks. Financially, Standard and Poors just downgraded Best Buy from BBB to BBB- and Fitch lowered the Outlook from Stable to Negative on Best Buy. Yum Brands is laying off hundreds. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3Q0Uzu2RIVbrEFskkSKVhvBDYiQD94DJK4G1”
Any help….anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
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Michael,
So they are saying that something that happened due to a change in the economy is the result of the company going to ROWE? As I recall, the stock market has dropped 5,000 points in the last six months. Is Best Buy one of the 30 in the DJIA? What about Circuit City? They are closing stores all over the place. They are not on ROWE, but are doing worse.
Ask the person what type of environment they would rather work in. The whole point of ROWE is to give employees the freedom to do the job they signed on to do without all the political nonsense that comes with it.
@ Michael Barata
And Citigroup, who is not ROWE, is laying off tens of thousands…
Ask WaMu and Bears Stearns how much their employee payrolls are shrinking…
And tell me what retailer hasn’t had their Outlooks downgraded? My company (in the retail sector) lost a significant amount of value on its private stock because of peer evaluation…
We’re in a recession, so productivity has less bearing on the financials of a company, especially in the case of a retailer. Best Buy also has not rolled out ROWE to the stores, so there is still disconnect regarding its productivity boost affecting the overall sales. Her argument against YUM Brands is flawed since the company hasn’t even implemented their ROWE fully.
Ther are as many holes in her theory as there are in the economic ship known as the U.S. economy… we’re going down!!!
@Michael Barata - Yes, the economy has affected many, many companies - some of which happen to be affiliated with ROWE, and some that are not. If she is indeed trying to make the connection between ROWE and the financial states and outlooks of Best Buy and Yum Brands, there are several other factors at play here. When ROWE first started hitting the mainstream media, we got the question all the time about how ROWE was affecting Best Buy’s stock price (and this was in better economic times). Even though the stock price was good, and it would have been to our advantage to say “There’s a strong link between ROWE and Best Buy’s stock price”, we didn’t say that. Again, because there’s too many other factors in play - and, as @Matt notes, Best Buy has not yet tested ROWE in their retail stores. So, similarly, in this economic downturn, too much going on to pin what she wants to pin on ROWE.
And that’s our take on that
Let’s also keep in mind that sometimes stock price has nothing to do with the performance of the company. I was watching Mad Money when he was interviewing the CEO of Verizon. Verizon had a pretty good year this year so far, but the stock price has dropped from $44 a share in 2007 to about $28 a share on Friday.
Did revenues go down? No.
Did profits go down? No.
The stock price went down as a result of the overall market, not anything Verizon did. If you look around the market, you will see the same thing in other companies.
After reading all the comments, I would like to give my opinion. ROWE is a revolutionary approach to that should be implemented for all workers to experience. It is based on results and not about behaviors. To try to link this approach with the whole economic situation we are going through is not right; it would be comparing apples with oranges. This wonderful idea is growing and should be encouraged and seen as a good investment for the future. For every industry and the government, ROWE gives an opportunity to positively affect human capital (both giving and receiving) and be a motor for change in this country. The economy is going to improve and the companies that implement this concept will be ready to compete and grow in a very difficult environment. I see that the government is taking a good step by implementing ROWE in key companies situated along the main freeways in the Twin Cities. This approach will save millions and also will open doors to improve the environment. Also, indirectly, the participating companies will benefit because their employees will reach a good level of happiness in their lives. Those visionary companies will be ready for a quantum leap in the 21st century environment.
Cali and Jody, congratulations - you are making a difference in our lives!!
Thanks for the list of companies. Now we just need you all to start working with some Atlanta companies. The City of Atlanta government jobs have gone to 4 day work weeks (2 days of which they are working from home) in order to save money and not to have big layoffs. Sounds like they may need a ROWE migration!
[...] schließlich finde ich weiter unten in diesem Blog: die ROWE-List! Das sind also die Firmen, die das Modell von Best Buy übernommen haben. ROWE = [...]
[...] places like Best Buy, J.A. Counter & Associates, the Girl Scouts of America and the others on the ROWE list. We’re also grateful to fellow travelers like Tim Ferriss, Amy Tiemann, Joan Blades and [...]