Best Buy's bet on work-life balance for workers ...

Jeremy Olson writes about children and families, and is an overscheduled father of two. His blog tackles the best and worst of parenting, families, health and love. He wants to hear from you - what's going on in your house?

Best Buy's bet on work-life balance for workers ...

Posted by: Jeremy Olson Updated: June 2, 2011 - 12:30 PM

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In writing today's story on divorce's impact on children, I came across another fascinating study in the American Sociological Review -- an analysis of Best Buy's work-life initiative for its employers.

Called ROWE (or Results Only Work Environment), the program at Best Buy's corporate campus in Richfield has reduced worker turnover and had several other benefits, according to the April 2011 analysis by three University of Minnesota researchers. The essential philosophy of ROWE is that workers are evaluated based on the results they produce -- not the hours they keep at the office.

Take item number six from Best Buy's top 10 list of ROWE benefits:

Its okay to grocery shop on a Wednesday morning, catch a movie on a Tuesday afternoon, or take a nap on a Thursday afternoon. Benefit: Each person is trusted to manage deliverables and commitments, work or personal.

As reporter David Phelps pointed out when the study was first published, turnover was 45 percent lower among surveyed workers in the ROWE program compared to others at Best Buy who did not take advantage of it.

“With these changes in the workplace, employees gained control over the time and timing of their work in ways that benefited them and, by extension, their families and communities,” said Erin Kelly, a U of M sociology professor who co-authored the report. (Click here to see the full report.)

What do you think of this approach? Would it help you meet both your work and family obligations?

What fascinated me was how ROWE reduced turnover across such a broad array of workers. The U of M authors expected that turnover would be reduced mostly among working mothers with young children -- women with great need for workplace flexibility. But the survey-based study found the reduction in turnover across all genders and ethnicities -- and among workers with and without children.

Turnover declined among workers with physical health problems, presumably because they could manage the time necessary to work and to take care of their ailments. It also kept long-tenured workers on their jobs, as well as workers who otherwise felt their positions at the company were insecure.

The program also reduced turnover among workers who reported "home-to-work spillover," meaning the demands of their home lives were carrying over in their work days. However, it did not reduce turnover among those whose home-to-work spillover was substantial.

"It could be that ROWE offers employees a greater buffer, especially from mild negative spillover from their personal lives to their jobs. At the same time, those employees with a tremendous amount of home-to-work conflict may find that even ROWE is unable to improve the challenges they face, and, hence, they are more apt to leave their jobs."