Imagine calling Benjamin Franklin a slacker for discovering electricity while flying a kite

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Ann Jarema May 17, 2007
A Results-Only Work Environment?

• Imagine calling Benjamin Franklin a slacker for
  discovering electricity while flying a kite
• Had Einstein developed his theory of relativity
  in one hour, would you have made him sit at his
  desk seven more?

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What is a Results-Only Work Environment?

• Work is not someplace you go,
• its something you do.
• Employees set their own schedule.
• Nobody counts hours.
• Its okay to nap on a Thursday afternoon.
• People at all levels stop wasting the companys
  time and money.
• Teamwork, morale and engagement soar.
• Nobody feels overworked, stressed out or guilty.
• Theres no judgment on how people spend their
  time.

3
Employees are changing

• Companies are seeking different models to suit
  their needs
• The Results-Only Work Environment was introduced
  at Best Buy in November of 2005.
• Acronym ROWE
• Created by two former Best Buy HR staff members

4
Skepticism

• Leaders have been skeptical of the benefit of
  moving their teams to a ROWE
• Are those fears tied to communication?
• How do you hold an employee accountable when you
  cant see them?
• How do you interact with others?
• How do you inform employees of important
  information?
• What happens to that manager-employee
  relationship?

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What I wanted to know

• What did the employees think?
• Does ROWE get in the way of communication?
• How do employees at Best Buy like to communicate?
• Where do employees at Best Buy get their
  information?

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Research Question Does ROWE have an impact on
employee communications at Best Buy?
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Methodology

• Web-based survey sent out to 1,984 Best Buy
  employees on December 12, 2006.
• Questions
• 5 demographic questions
• 19 opinion based
• questions

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Response 1,010 (51) employees
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Demographic Responses

• 346 managers
• 664 individual contributors
• 44 males (444)
• 56 females (565)
• Bulk of the respondents indicated they fell
  between the ages of 31 to 40
• Majority of respondents have been employed at
  Best Buy for over five years

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What did I learn from my survey?

• How employees feel about the quality and
  frequency of interactions with their manager
• How professional relationships have changed or
  not changed
• How employees prefer to communicate
• How employees learn about corporate and/or
  company events
• How employees feel about opportunities for
  promotion or career advancement
• What technology is required to enable success in
  a ROWE

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Question Since migrating to ROWE, the quality of
interactions with my manager has
65.3
30.9
12
Question Since migrating to ROWE, the frequency
of interactions with my manager has
71
13
Question Since migrating to a Results-Only Work
Environment my working relationship with my
clients/partners have
71
23.5
14
Question My preferred mode of communication with
others isManagers vs. Individual Contributors

• Managers tended to prefer face-to-face
  communication more than individual contributors.
• In contrast, individual contributors preferred
  email communications.

15
Question My preferred mode of communication with
others isBy Gender

• Males tended to prefer face-to-face
  communication more than women.
• Women preferred email communications.

16
Question My preferred mode of communication with
others isBy Age
17
Question When there is important company
information to be communicated, I view the
following as my primary resource.
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My Interpretation Conclusion

• ROWE does not have a negative impact on employee
  communications at Best Buy.

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Summary

• Experiences had stayed the same or improved in
  most cases
• Quality of interactions with managers had stayed
  the same or improved
• Frequency of interactions with managers had
  stayed the same or improved
• Working relationships with clients/partners had
  stayed the same or improved
• Employees utilize existing technologies for
  important company information

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Recommendations

• Communicate affirmations to key leadership
• Use survey results to minimize fear over moving
  into ROWE
• Resurvey in 12 months

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For more information on ROWE and/or CultureRx,
please visit www.culturerx.com