Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It_ The Results-Only Revolution - Cali Ressler [60]
A number of the psychological and health indicators such as overall well-being, emotional exhaustion, and psychological distress didn’t change in the study. We have qualitative stories to demonstrate that change, but the study’s numbers weren’t there . . . yet. We say yet because the bigger changes in people’s personal lives seem to happen in a ROWE over time.
Even so, the results from this study are unusual by most measures. Most current studies in “work redesign” have investigated cases in which companies have increased employee access to flextime policies or other top-down solutions. So far the results have been undramatic, which is not surprising given that most approaches to work-life balance issues involve technical change and not social change.
We’re still waiting for the study that looks at the long-term effects of ROWE, but anecdotally we have evidence that it makes substantial changes in people’s lives. Javier’s story about taking care of his mom during a family crisis is not atypical. Scores of employees have extraordinary stories about how a ROWE has allowed them to go back to graduate school, take care of sick loved ones, or spend time with relatives in other countries. We’ve also heard everyday, but equally encouraging, stories about people spending more time with their kids, their spouses, even their dogs. When we say that a ROWE gives people their life back, we really mean it.
Giving people control over their time isn’t a magic bullet. People aren’t automatically going to become trim and fit and stress-free (although one person did note that their skin cleared up after their team migrated into a ROWE). People will still have to improve their own lives. But at least a ROWE gives them that chance.
ROWE also gives businesses a chance to thrive and grow in surprising ways too. We almost hate to do this, because we’re not graph-and-table-type people, but sometimes a nice bar graph makes it all clear:
The chart tells us that ROWE teams at Best Buy are experiencing a decrease in voluntary turnover rate, meaning the company is retaining the talent. ROWE teams also experience an increase in involuntary turnover rates indicating that unsatisfactory performers are exposed. Furthermore— and we swear this is the last time we’ll do this—the financial gains are very real:
In a Results-Only Work Environment, productivity is measured by “perceived gain.” The CultureRx Post-Migration Culture Audit uses a sliding scale of 1-100 percent. Managers and employees report individual perceptions of their productivity gain by choosing a point on the sliding scale. If an employee reports a perceived productivity gain of, say, 40 percent, and the manager (who is measuring “business outcomes”) reports a gain in the outcome of projected business targets, then the perceived productivity is actually driving real results.
For example, the CultureRx Post Culture Audit reported an average 44.59 percent perceived gain in productivity for Team C. During the time that the perceived gain was measured, Team C realized a more than 50 percent increase in cost reductions year-over-year without adding additional employees. With other variables staying the same, management in this area says that operating in a ROWE has definitely contributed to their success.
These kinds of results are also happening with people at Best Buy who are doing production work. In Team A, department management is reporting a 10 to 20 percent increase in productivity per employee, which has resulted in an approximate $10 million annual benefit for the company.
This is not to say that there aren’t additional challenges to ROWE. For example, right now there are people at Best Buy who are trying to figure out how to handle vacation policy from an accounting perspective. In terms of productivity, it’s good that people aren’t taking time off like they used to for doctor appointments