The ROWE program has had a very positive effect on employee turnover and productivity rates in the Best Buy departments in which it has been implemented. Though this effect has not yet been shown to be sustainable over a long time period, the results are very promising thus far. The biggest contributors to the decreased turnover rates and higher productivity appear to be more flexible working hours allowing for employees to make better use of their off-time and decreasing the stress that is caused by rigid working hours. Likely for the same reasons, the ROWE program has also resulted in a greater job satisfaction in the departments in which it was measured, which may in itself improve productivity. The flexibility offered by the ROWE program extends not only to working hours, but communication as well. Departments decide which communication methods fulfill their unique tasks most efficiently, culling out the unneeded communication including routine meetings. Fewer meetings results in less unproductive downtime and chit-chat at meetings, as they are only held on a need-only basis. An interesting and unexpected result of the ROWE program is an increase in delegation and decrease in direct scheduled assignments by managers. This results from the unpredictable nature of highly flexible working hours.
The success of the ROWE program is primarily technical. Though many of the benefits of the program are partially the result of better attitudes and less stress, it is the flexible working hour structure and the shift in communication structures that are primarily responsible for the promising results. Also, the changes in managerial structure for at least some of the departments appear to contribute to the positive effects.
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The primary level for the factors of success is the organizational level. The ROWE program changes how and when everyone under it works, though it does allow for the reorganization of schedules on an individual level and changes some the way individuals communicate interpersonally. Still, the primary influence of the ROWE program is the reorganization of structures throughout the department.
ROWE solves several process problems of the former rigid work schedule system. First, many workers were feeling overworked. At certain times during the day, more work had to be done than were hours left in the workday. This resulted in increased stress to finish the job too quickly and may have contributed to poor performance, significant turnover rates, and lower job satisfaction. The ROWE program addresses this problem by giving workers the flexibility in working hours to more properly coordinate working hours with workflow. A worker with a heavier workload coming in later in the day may decide to arrive to work later in the morning and stay later or even finish up at home at night.
Second, the rigid work schedule system created a working environment where workers often commented on the hours and performance of one another. If a worker left work early, other workers would often remark about it to one another. This created a sometimes unpleasant and stressful working atmosphere. The ROWE program helps alleviate this problem by removing the standard working hours, allowing workers to work whenever they choose as long as positive results follow. Workers are less likely to feel cheated by working more hours, or even minutes, than other workers because hours and minutes worked no longer matter near as much.
Third, the communication systems used in departments under the rigid work schedule system left far too much time for unproductive communication among workers. Long routine meetings accomplished little relative to the time spent in them. Workers would too often communicate unproductively on the clock. The ROWE program helps solve this issue because its working hour flexibility does not allow as many routine meetings to be scheduled. Communication generally occurs only when it is necessarily to accomplish relevant work goals.
Even with the positive results of the ROWE program, there is still room for improvement. Some of the success of the ROWE program may be attributable to significant breaks between working periods. But for many workers, leaving work to take enjoyable breaks such as doing thirty minutes of yoga or taking a walk does not seem feasible. Instead of having to leave the office to do such activities, workers may benefit from the availability of certain activities at work. Having a few leisure areas in every department may further boost productivity and reduce stress. For example, a common break room might include an area for a yoga mat and a separated isolated area with a few older computers dedicated to entertainment. Even better would be including a rec room, but the feasibility of this likely depends on the department and location sizes.
Involving the managers in different ways, unique to each department, may help their transitions to the ROWE program. The managers are the group most likely to dislike the ROWE program. The program takes away some of the managers ability to manage workers in very specific ways. The reduced flexibility in the structures of scheduling also reduces the managerial control over workers in many if not all departments. Planned routine, mandatory meetings may comfort managers because they know that they can address any lingering issues on a schedule. Though the ROWE program does not allow for such scheduling rigidity, there may be other options worth exploring for each department. For example, some departments may benefit from mandatory updates, to the manager from the workers.
The ROWE program may actually reduce productivity for some workers like Denise LaMere, who can devote more time and energy to work than many other employees. One solution to this is develop a set of voluntary work assignments. Workers can pick up these work assignments when they have completed their assigned tasks and have more time to devote to work. These assignments would likely be reports and assessments with financial rewards or other incentives tied to them. This would allow workers under the ROWE program to be as productive as they wish, while not stigmatizing those workers who never volunteer for extra assignments.
For departments, such as legal, that need some of the rigidity of scheduled working hours, a minimalist ROWE program may be beneficial. The program would assign a shorter mandatory work day. For example, some departments may only require six hours of mandatory working hours and can set those hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a one hour lunch break. Though many workers may still show up at 8 a.m. or earlier to work, removing the mandatory requirement may help change the culture of these departments for the better. Though this minimalist system may not be right for many departments, it may be worth trying for those that cannot adopt the full ROWE program.
Finally, for retail stores, Best Buy should consider at least adopting parts of the ROWE program. The communication changes, consequential of the ROWE program, may benefit the retail stores. For example, have few mandatory meetings and allow workers to carry cell phones for quicker communication. Also, try to create an atmosphere similar to that of headquarters under the ROWE program. If possible, allow workers more flexibility in completing tasks. It may prove beneficial for managers to delegate some of the decision making to the workers, such as allowing them to sign up for certain assignments.
