Page 155 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

134 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

mob” to rid the environment of this toxic language. Being
Sludge free fosters more genuine, respectful relationships
among employees.
One issue we worry about is “performance expectation
creep”—when organizations set higher and higher goals for
employees when they improve their results. Sooner or later
people crack because it is impossible to achieve expecta-
tions even if people work every waking hour. Doesn’t ROWE
encourage this type of superhuman organizational expecta-
tion, we wondered? Cali and Jody assured us it does not:

During the ROWE migration process, managers learn the im-
portance of rewarding efficiency. If you reward efficiency with
more work, people will stop being efficient. Period. As goals are
reached, managers and employees work together to set the bar in
a different place. More often than not, employees are coming to
managers and saying, “I can do more” vs. the manager initiating
the conversation.
Regarding working all the time: In a ROWE, you set your own
boundaries vs. having the clock or calendar doing it for you. You
might sleep in on a Tuesday, work from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., walk the
dog, go to the office for an hour for a meeting, go grocery shop-
ping, make dinner, and work again from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Work is
already 24/7—ROWE just gives you control to handle that.

` rowe And the moBIle workForCe perFormAnCe

In a Results-Only Work Environment people show up when they de-
cide to work and do it where they want to. Work is considered dif-
ferently, Cali and Jody say, in a ROWE. Work isn’t a place you go,
they say, it’s something you do. People at every level stop doing things
that waste time. No one just puts in their hours, sitting in assigned