If you are being exposed to this acronym for the first time it stands for Results Oriented Work Environment. It’s a human resources management strategy that was popularized by two former Best Buy employees – Jodi Thompson and Cali Ressler.
What exactly is it?
It’s when organizations manage by results and not the number of minutes your butt is in a chair.
Work from a coffee shop? Go for it.
Respond to emails in your pajamas? Sure thing.
Skye with your client at your breakfast table? Yes.
As long as the job gets done, the employer doesn’t care. It’s a strategy that is currently embraced by big brands like Gap, Yum! Brands, SpinWeb, and even us here at Ethos3.
I must admit. As a business owner, I have struggled with ROWE for the past few years. I love that it provides my team with autonomy and freedom but in the same breath, sometimes it is hard to walk into a an office space that is empty. It’s tough when you want to run down the hallway to strategize an idea or share a piece of good news and the person you wanted to chat with is working from home that day. It requires an adjustment but if you can change your paradigm, there are a number of great benefits. At the end of the day, I see more positives than negatives with ROWE which is why we will continue to use it.
Here are the reasons why I have kept it in place:
Autonomy & Freedom
We have a very strict hiring process at Ethos3 which consists of personality and IQ tests, multiple interviews, and job specific tests. Long story short, we are always looking for smart and competent team members who can do the job, but more importantly, are individuals we can trust. They are adults and we want to treat them like adults. This mutual understanding and respect keeps team members feeling empowered about the direction of their own careers and responsibilities.
Increased Retention
There was a period in time at Ethos3 where nights and weekend work was demanded in addition to being at your desk the traditional 40 hours a week. We had fast turnarounds but we also had fast employee turnover. Lesson learned. Fast forward a few years where we now have a culture that fosters longer client timelines for better creative output and flexible schedules for our employees. The end result: team members enjoy their jobs more and stay with us longer. They can set their own schedules, manage their time better, and obtain a more fulfilling life/work balance.
Global Reach
An interesting note about Ethos3 is that only about 10% of our client base is in Nashville where we are headquartered. Our projects and clients expand throughout the world making us truly a global brand. This is all thanks to technology like Google Apps, Skype, Twitter, Uber Conference and plenty more that make working remotely and responding anywhere at anytime truly doable. However, with this reality, the team must function around different time zones. That means some early morning or late evening calls. We operate with a 9am-6pm lens when we can, but it’s not always the case. It can be tough at times, but it’s worth the honor and privilege to have a global footprint.
ROWE. It’s not perfect. It has it’s fair share of advantages and disadvantages but I’ll stick with it until those negatives start to outweigh the pluses.
