VPN. Cloud computing. VoIP. Telecommuting. These are all examples of how people can work where they want to, when they want to.
Being a Results-Only Work Environment, or ROWE, we judge the performance of our employees on just one thing: results. It’s a simple philosophy that’s showing up in more and more industries, including some companies you might not expect.
As more people become educated about the benefits of having and being part of a flexible mobile workforce, the traditional way of doing things will not only be considered unfavorable by potential employees, but also outdated and counterproductive.
Key advantages to having a flexible workforce:
- Attract the best: Today’s best and brightest workers are not chaining themselves to a 9 to 5 desk job. They know better, quite frankly. Companies that allow and encourage workers to telecommute will quickly find themselves with a better talent pool to choose from. Giving your employees the freedom to work when and where they want to not only brings in the best, but will change the focus from how often their in the office to the results of their efforts. People who aren’t self-motivated won’t last long in a results-only environment, and you wouldn’t want them working for you anyway.
- Discover new innovations: The human brain needs time to roam, to create and to innovate. The traditional office environment can often limit innovation rather than encourage it whereas a mobile work force can seek out inspiration where it exists. Don’t get us wrong, Ripplers love to be in the office with each other but sometimes the chatter of a coffeehouse or the comforts of home can be a welcome change of pace for the mind.
- Increase productivity: Happy employees are productive employees. And happy employees, more often than not, have a more fulfilling work and life balance than those who report to an office each weekday for a scheduled amount of hours. If results are truly all that matter in business, why would where and at what time the work is done matter? If it’s stellar stuff and completed on time, everyone should be happy. And of course there’s no penalty for those for want to work the normal M-F / 9-5 schedule, just the flexibility to pick up their kids a little early if they have to.
- Reduce costs: A significant advantage to having a mobile workforce is the reduced cost of maintaining a physical location that houses all your employees. Instead of spending precious capital on heating, furnishing and maintaining an office for people who can do their jobs from anywhere, you can invest more in projects and initiatives instead. Moving fully or partially to the cloud will also help to reduce overhead normally spent on the procurement and maintenance of in-house servers and related hardware.
Giving your people the flexibility to work where and when they want to isn’t a completely new concept, and it’s perhaps not a perfect fit for every company or employee. But for Ripplers, ROWE just makes sense. We love the freedom it gives us, and our clients love the results they get.
Want to learn more about ROWE, remote IT and a hybrid workforce? Talk to our team today.