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How flexible work actually works
November 9, 2011: 6:00 AM ET
Imagine unlimited paid vacation and sick leave, with no mandated office hours. Chaos,
right? Not according to a handful of award-winning employers profiled in a new
report on effective workplaces.
By Katherine Reynolds Lewis, contributor
FORTUNE -- At MeetingMatrix International, a communications firm based in Portsmouth,
N.H., employees have no defined work schedules, unlimited paid time off, and meetings are
optional. How do they ever get any work done? That's actually the only thing that matters:
results.
MeetingMatrix executives point to longer customer support hours, increased sales during a
down economy, and 100% retention as evidence that their focus on the end results -- and
not hours in the office -- works.
"When you start treating people like adults, they start acting like it," says the company's CEO
Jmichaele Keller, who in 2008 shelved his company's employee monitoring systems in favor
of a more flexible approach. Under the new regime, "people have a lot of ability to shape
what is going on in their world and not a lot of micromanaging.... There really is no direct tie
in an office environment between the amount of time spent and the productivity of that
individual."
MeetingMatrix is among 262 organizations to win an Alfred P. Sloan award for excellence in
workplace effectiveness and flexibility this year, the winners of which were announced today
by the Families and Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management.
The top 10 employers on this year's list, based on overall score, were the Arizona
Foundation for Legal Services & Education, Bryson Financial Group, the Greater Dayton
Area Hospital Association, Humanix, McGladrey, Menlo Innovations, Microsoft (MSFT),
Rose City Mortgage, Ryan LLC, and the Shodor Education Foundation.
Faux-flexibility vs. the real deal
"Because of the recession and because of the global economy and because of technology,
work has become so much more demanding," says Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder
of the Families and Work Institute. Galinsky says that successful companies have begun to
tackle these challenges by legitimately loosening their hold on their employees rather than
resorting to halfway measures.
For instance, companies that replace a 9 to 5 schedule with "flexible" hours of 7 to 3 aren't
necessarily accommodating employees' need to handle personal affairs, whether it's a sick
child, leaky bathtub, or car repair. Other businesses are redesigning work such that
incentives and rewards are aligned with the results that an employee delivers -- not the hours
that they show their faces in the office, Galinsky says.
Take Ryan, a tax services firm based in Dallas. A few years ago, a resignation letter from a
rising star in the company prompted CEO G. Brint Ryan to reevaluate the firm's focus on
long hours and face time.
The result: MyRyan, a software package that displays the performance objectives that truly
matter for each employee and the team, whether it's revenue targets, 360 review scores,
customer service ratings, or other things. Ryan employees no longer need to account for
their time -- as with MeetingMatrix, staffers can take unlimited paid vacation and sick days.
"Hours no longer are the key focus," says Delta Emerson, a senior vice president at Ryan.
When the compensation committee met this year to evaluate performance and decide on
pay raises, employee hours were not even mentioned.
Voluntary turnover at Ryan decreased to 6.5% from 18.5%, and involuntary turnover (in other
words, firing poor performers) increased to 6.9% from 4.3%. Despite the recession, the firm
posted record profits and revenue in both 2009 and 2010. "In the past, somebody who was
putting in a ton of hours could be performing poorly, but the hours would carry them. That no
longer happens," Emerson says.
Ingredients for a flexible office
Any company hoping to implement flexible work should invest in IT that will make it seamless
and efficient. Ryan employees, for instance, need to access large databases in order to work
remotely, Emerson says.
MeetingMatrix uses Microsoft Lync to connect every employee around the globe. They show
that they are available via instant messaging, and understand that they could be called on
their cell phone on a day off if they are needed, says Keller.
Similar changes are underway at companies like Delta Airlines, Ounce of Prevention, and
WellStar Health System, giving employees more control over their schedules, according to
the FWI-SHRM report. Delta employees can choose the schedules they want to work and
can swap shifts. WellStar lets employees schedule themselves via a web-based tool,
collaborating with coworkers to make sure that they are covered, according to the report.
To be sure, it's a greater responsibility to ensure that you meet your job objectives than to
simply be expected to place your body in an office chair for eight hours. Ryan employees are
expected to understand the demands that flexibility places on them. You can't just direct
people to call you if anything pops up.
"It's not that your personal life takes complete precedence over the business. You may be
missing that soccer game you wanted to go to because there's a huge client issue that
needs to be resolved," Emerson says.
Just the same, some companies have taken a different approach to the always-on nature of
flexible work. The Habitat Company, a Chicago-based real estate firm, established an e-mail
policy that responses should only be expected during business hours, as part of an overall
flexible culture.
With the right training, you can start to break the habit of equating hours worked with
productivity. "People can get very judgmental of each other based on their own personal
scripts," Emerson says.
Three years after Ryan changed its policies, "people feel comfortable to come and go and do
their personal stuff without having to feel they have to explain," she says.
