Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It_ The Results-Only Revolution - Cali Ressler [4]
I look at my parents’ generation when you went to work for one company and you fully expected to be there your whole life. And then my mom got laid off and it was such a blow. Her attitude was, How could you do this to me?
My relationship with my company is different. We trade work for money. It’s not personal. And I think we’ve come to this point where ROWE can be successful because enough people are ready to not look at employers as parents. I don’t expect Best Buy to take care of me for the rest of my life. They have to treat you fairly. But in a free market, if it isn’t working out for either party, then it’s over.
I think for some managers there is the expectation that they are still kind of the parent. Becoming a manager means you’re in charge. Part of being in charge means having control. That means having control over people. Often that means enforcing the rules just because they’re the rules.
I have a friend at another company who was having trouble managing an employee who is a free spirit. My friend struggled with the guy because he wasn’t around as much, but he was his best employee. My friend said he wanted to give him higher-level work but he couldn’t because being in the office for a certain number of hours was part of what they measured people on, and this employee was failing.
To me this is financially irresponsible for that organization. Why did anyone care how long that guy was there? What kind of message does that send? If I build a cot under my desk but I’m not performing, does that make me a good worker?
I have another friend who is an economist and a college professor, so he’s already living in a Results-Only Work Environment. It’s just not called that. Still, his idea of what work should look like is based on this old corporate model. He once said to me, “They must need you at your desk. Otherwise they wouldn’t have given you one.”
So I like to talk to him about how being measured by results is a much better measure than time at your desk. I try to put it in economic terms. From the employer’s point of view, the risk that someone is not at their desk is worth the reward. The risk is that they will not do their job. But you can’t monitor someone 24/7, so that risk is there anyway. But the reward of giving them freedom is if they actually do their job they will stay at their job longer. Once you’ve been in a ROWE and have that power, you don’t want to work anywhere else.
CHAPTER ONE
Why Work Sucks
I’ve been late to work for the last three days, and I’m starting to get “the eye” from my boss. This morning, I race to get ready and get into my car with an hour to make a commute that usually takes me about thirty minutes. Plenty of time to get to the office by eight, and maybe even by seven forty-five to get a few extra points. Then I see it. Traffic backed up two stoplights behind the entrance ramp to the freeway. No way. There’s construction on the other route I could take, so this is my only bet. I start sweating and panicking, knowing this will knock me back at least an hour, putting me at the office at nine, Not my wishful seven forty-five. I’m positive I will be fired, or at least put on a warning for being late four days in a row. I can feel my blood pressure rising, my heart racing, and I so badly just want to step on the gas and fly down the shoulder as far as I can go. I reach for my phone, knowing what I have to do. I fight with myself because what I’m about to do feels awful. I convince myself that if I don’t do it, I will lose my job. I dial my boss’s Number. I get his voice mail. I cough and say, in a raspy voice, “Jim, I’m just Not feeling well today. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it in. I was up all Night with a fever. [Cough, clearing throat.] I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I’m so excited—my husband and I have plans to go to dinner at my favorite