When Tragedy Strikes

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the folks on my team. Over the course of the last two weeks:

1. One person had a sibling that died after a fairly short battle with cancer;
2. One person's spouse was diagnosed with a fatal form of cancer;
3. One person was diagnosed with skin cancer; and
4. One person began rehab for a knee injury.

This nearly half of my staff. 

What do all of these things have in common? Besides the fact that they all lead to major stress. They all require my folks to be away from work so they can deal with their personal issues (and rightfully so).

In most departments, if this happened to your staff, you would likely be in a "world of hurt". There would be much gnashing of teeth while you as a manager tried to figure out how you're going to cover for your people. How are you going to get anything done? Work is going to start piling up and everyone outside your department is going to be looking at you to "solve" their problem. Are the beads of sweat starting to form on your forehead yet? Does the thought of having this happen to you having you reaching for the nearest antacid?

Not in my case. Once again, the power of ROWE shines through. I don't have to sweat a perfect storm like the one above, even though I've been living through it for more than a week. Why? Because despite all these events occurring in my staff members' lives, they are still getting the work done. Not because I'm standing over them brandishing a whip (I'd probably hurt myself if I actually tried that). They do it because it's what they want to do. Maybe they need a distraction from the reality of what's happening in their personal lives. Maybe they just want to do something they feel they have control over. 

It doesn't really matter. The bottom line is: they are happy, or at least as happy as you can be when you've been suckered-punched by life. Even if they decided they needed to do nothing for a week, that would be fine too. They know they can take the time if they feel they need it.

Oh, and productivity hasn't been affected throughout all of this. I'm not getting any complaints from other departments about lack of service or attention to detail. In fact, as far as everyone outside my department is concerned, it's business as usual.

And the most humbling part of all this? During our weekly one-on-one meeting, the person whose spouse is about to start six months of chemo actually thanked me for being able to have the freedom to do what was necessary without any feelings of guilt about the job. I didn't know what to say. I still don't.

Except maybe this: this is how work should be. This is true work/life balance. This is the way everyone's job should be. This is a ROWE and I'm damn proud that this is how things are for the people that work for me.

Do You Still Need to be Convinced to Adopt ROWE?

Quick, what is the single biggest expense for every employer? Computers? Office supplies? Benefits? Nope. The single biggest expense for every employer is the cost of hiring an employee.

So what do you do when you have a good employee that is ready to jump ship? If you've got an employee that has consistently performed well, the last thing you want to have to do is replace that employee. You want to give your employee the opportunity to continue making a positive contribution to the company. Let's assume that money alone is not going to solve your problem. If you have the option, you might be able to offer the employee a lateral move. But what if you don't have that option? Or worse yet, what if you do have that option, but the employee wants something more?

The following is a true story of the power of ROWE. My company has an outstanding employee, let's call her Michelle. She's been with the company for more than five years. She's one of the best performers in her department, having been commended numerous times. She's well respected both inside and outside her team. She's also burned out as a result of having to work just about every weekend. She's ready to jump ship.

Now, I've had my eye on Michelle for some time. More than a year ago she approached me about becoming a member if my team. I need to mention that most of my staff has worked with Michelle over the years and every one of them knows Michelle will be an asset and wants her to join our team. Unfortunately, a year ago I had no openings at that time. Now, a year later, I do have a slot, but there is another problem. I can offer Michelle a position in my department, but if she wants to make the move, she'll have to take a significant pay cut.  And she'll still be working weekends (though arguably, not as many).

What are the odds--at your company-- that you would be able to hold on to Michelle? Imagine yourself as a manager trying to sell that. For me it was easy. Why? Because I could offer Michelle something no other department in my entire company could offer her: ROWE.

I met with Michelle and explained to her that our department operated as a ROWE. I explained that under ROWE, she was responsible for how and when she performed her job. As long as the job gets done, the rest was up to her.

So how did it all work out? Michelle is still with the company. She now works for me. We just completed Michelle's year-end review. Not only has she continued to distinguish herself, but she is genuinely happy with her new position (yes, in spite of having to take a pay cut). One of the benefits of ROWE has been that it lessened the pay cut for Michelle. Since we're not about presence, but about results, the fact that Michelle works from home most days means she's not spending $20+ per day on parking. Or the cost of filling her tank 2-3 times per week. You do the math; it adds up. More importantly, Michelle has something she didn't have before: a sense of empowerment and a sense of control. Time and again, that has been the one thing that Michelle has talked about.

If you're still not convinced that ROWE provides you with better options than you have today, then ask yourself, this one question: Would your company have been able to keep Michelle?

Unless your answer to that question is an unqualified "Yes!" you owe it to yourself to give some serious thought to implementing ROWE.