Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson
At a time when the President of the Society for Human Resource Management, Laurence G. O’Neil, cautions members that it may no longer be business as usual, a truly audacious idea for organizing, or perhaps disorganizing, work has burst upon the scene.The concept is called Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) and is described in a new book with the provocative title “Work Sucks, and how to fix it.” The idea is simply that employees control when, where, and how long they work, as long as they meet their objectives.
The authors, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, contend that everyone benefits when the focus is changed from hours to outcomes. They aren’t kidding when they say that as long as employees meet their objectives, the way they spend their time is entirely up to them.
Skeptics may think this idea is too radical to work. However it is working at Best Buy where the ideas behind what became known as ROWE were developed starting in 2003. Literally employees are empowered to come and go as they please. In the beginning it probably drove insecure supervisors nuts.
Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy, wrote in the forward for the book:
“The trend for successful companies is making them more human, not less human. It wasn’t that long ago that Best Buy was a regional electronics chain. We are now a global company with 140,000 employees. What has allowed this to happen has less to do with what we sell than how we’ve created a distinctly human culture that lets people have fun while working hard, that lets them be themselves, that trusts them to do their jobs.”
Ressler and Thompson are founders of CultureRx, a company that promotes their passionate belief that there is a better way to work. They met at Best Buy, where they pioneered their ideas. They are currently working with five companies including a Fortune 50 company on the West Coast.