Working differently in the 21st century
The freedom to decide where and when to work and finding a better balance between work and free time; in the UK teleworking is taken advantage of by around 7.4% of the workforce. In particular, this trend has been made possible by an improvement in IT.
Result-Only Work Environment
The principle of teleworking is realised in an idea about the ‘new employee’ called Result-Only Work Environment (ROWE). The concept of ROWE goes a step further than just occasionally working a morning at home. According to experts, ROWE promises the end of attendance obligation and meeting marathons. The benefits of ROWE include:
• employees can create their own balance between work and free time;
• the attendance = productivity dogma is finally broken through;
• the motivation of staff increases because of the autonomy they experience;
• responsibilities are more evenly spread amongst employees and are categorised lower in the hierarchy of an organisation;
• organisations can save on proprietary costs.
Would it really work?
Anyone who tries to envisage his or her life according to the ROWE philosophy will perhaps wish to sign up immediately. But how successful is this system in reality and what are the consequences for companies in the longer term? Can employees succeed in a dictatorship of controlling managers who continually feel the need to monitor the created output? Isn’t teleworking a threat to the social cohesion within an organisation? Surely large-scale absence of colleagues must have consequences for the corporate culture. Contact moments must be carefully planned, whereby a corporate culture is unable to develop in a relaxed atmosphere. The question that arises is then whether only solitary and result-oriented working is sufficient for success, creativity and work satisfaction?
The Boston Consultancy Group predicts that teleworking in western countries is set to increase rapidly in the next five years. In particular, this will be stimulated by the traffic problems that are anticipated in the coming years. Thankfully many employees are given laptops, are mostly always available via telephone or Blackberry, have exchanged email for ‘instant messaging’ and are given the freedom and trust to work where and when they want. If the popularity of ROWE increases and everyone is given a company laptop instead of a company car, it will certainly become very quiet on the roads!
Media Multinational ‘Best Buy’ in the United States, once renowned as a strict, disciplined work environment, has begun implementing the concept of ROWE. For more information, go to http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_50/b4013001.htm
Ricardo Semler in his book ‘The Seven-day Weekend’ tells of his own company Semco and the booked results thanks to his philosopy on freedom and own responsibility and what that can lead to.
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