3.2 - Companies Taking The Lead

For all practical purposes, the Johnson Moving and Storage office, located just outside of Denver, Colorado, looks just like any typical American office. Florescent ceiling lights illuminate rows of cubicles, and the muted sounds of people working fill the air. But the real center of this particular office, one of nine Johnson Moving and Storage offices in nine cities that span six states, can be found by walking down an 80-foot corridor lined with often-empty cubicles. At the end of this long hall is a doorway.

The door opens to a small room abuzz with the hum of small fans cooling racks of computers and high powered servers. The darkness is broken by the blinking of LEDs. This temperaturecontrolled room is a hub for the 107-year-old company, housing the main phone system that can be accessed via the internet from any location, all of the digitized files (and all files are digitized), and any other information an employee would need to work anytime from anywhere.

And they do mean anywhere. One off-site bookkeeping employee works in Pakistan. He moved because his wife missed her home country, but kept his job. In fact, this particular employee now enjoys the added bonus of being in a different time zone, so he can work through our night/his day to meet deadlines. In fact, a full 25 percent of all the nearly 100 Johnson Moving and Storage employees, including contract workers, are off-site or virtual workers (17.1 percent of in-house staff work off-site). Many also work flexible hours to fit their family or personal schedules.

Owner Jim Johnson, a self-described conservative, made the leap to cutting-edge workplace policies in the late nineties after hearing Joan Williams, author of Unbending Gender, speak at a Harvard Divinity Club function held in the parlor of a private turn-of-the-century home in Denver. "My wife saw Joan Williams' presentation in the morning and she wanted me to go in the afternoon. We have twin girls, and my wife's an attorney. At the time she was really struggling with being an excellent attorney and an excellent parent." Johnson went to the presentation and was changed.

"One of the things that struck me with Joan Williams' presentation was that the order of traditional society--which was God, family, then work--had been flipped in later industrial cultures and it just didn't work. It struck me as being a truthful statement," recalls Johnson. He comments that, "A lot of these issues are infused with political overtones and it was so refreshing to have it told in a rational way. It made a lot of sense to recreate the workplace in a better way."

Johnson was also drawn in by the business possibilities in what then was a very tight employment market. So he decided to give it a try.

He first spoke with the vice president in charge of administrative staff, and asked her what she thought of offering some of the employees the option to work either fully or part-time at home. She was excited, and after talking with other staff, she returned to tell Johnson the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Johnson Moving and Storage executives then got to work defining individual jobs according to goals rather than just by hours worked and the location where the job was done. This approach is being used with increasing frequency. A July 2005 Time magazine article highlights this trend by focusing on the recent changes made at Best Buy, which is shifting its business culture to a results-oriented work environment (ROWE) in much the same way as Johnson Moving and Storage.¹⁴

After experimenting with ROWE, Best Buy had interesting early results. The Time magazine article reports that Best Buy analyzed a fairly small sample of three hundred employees and found that after implementing ROWE, "Turnover in the first three months of employment fell from 14 percent to zero, job satisfaction rose 10 percent, and their team performance scores rose 13 percent." There is a slow transition at Best Buy to this new working model. Different teams opt into the ROWE program as it makes sense for them.

One important factor is that the Best Buy employees opt in as teams, so there isn't prejudice against individual employees using the new working model.¹⁵ This is important to note because many employees using flextime report hostility from other non-flextime employees. This hostility can hamper the career path of people using flexible work options. In fact, a study in the Harvard Business Report notes, "Of flexible work arrangements in general, 21 percent report that 'there is an unspoken rule at my workplace that people who use those options will not be promoted.' "¹⁶ The fact that Best Buy is getting rid of the stigma of flexible work options may be one of the reasons their shift to the new working model is successful. It's going so well that in the Minneapolis Best Buy headquarters, about half of the 3,500 employees are now part of the program, with the percentage expected to increase over time.¹⁷

Johnson explains how they made the shift in his moving and storage company, "We detached what needed to be done from the hours needed to do it. We weren't trying to get 60 hours of work for 40 hours of pay, but we said as long as we don't get any complaints [from customers] we really don't care when you do your work; and as long as you respond in an appropriate manner, we don't care what part of your day is available."

This policy necessarily applied to jobs that were fairly independent from the constructs of time and space--primarily accounting and administrative functions where immediate answers weren't needed, and a home office environment was often more productive than a cubicle (and a cost-saving measure for the company in terms of overhead). Other employees couldn't take advantage of this type of flextime policy because they need to be available at distinct times. For example, the movers and staff that coordinate between the dispatch crew and customers need to be available during set hours in order for the business to operate efficiently. Even some move coordinators, however, work at home during set hours.

The policy changes brought glowing reports from employees, some writing to Johnson to tell him about their experience:

--"For me, in my over 19 years at Johnson's, this work-at-home phase has been the most rewarding."

--"Working from home allows me to arrange my work hours with a twenty-four-hour window, rather than an eight-hour window. This work set-up allows me to be a mom first, still accomplish my responsibilities to my employer, and pull in a paycheck."

--One single father notes that he saves the cost of gas from commuting to work, and comments, "I can take my daughter to school and pick her up. . . . The option to work at home is truly appreciated."

--"If my kids are sick I can be at home and still work," comments one mother. She also adds, "Thank you for giving me the ability to be a good mom and wife, and still have a career."

--"I can concentrate on tasks I'm doing. There aren't any more interruptions from other employees in regards to personal problems or other work related problems."

--"I'm able to complete my tasks and feel more productive."

--"In 2003, my husband suffered a fall and broke his ankle. I was able to be home and close to him."

--"The money I saved in daycare alone was hundreds of dollars per month. I was seriously injured this year, and in a wheelchair for five months. Had I not been able to work from home, I wouldn't have been able to work at all."

The flexible work options weren't just helping the employees; Johnson found that his company also experienced benefits. First, like at Best Buy, the employee turnover dropped significantly, falling to half that of the regular office staff without flextime. "You can see why," Johnson comments, "because as life changes, those occurrences don't prompt a resignation."

Another business benefit is that Johnson can now hire better qualified people who would otherwise need to be paid more for their positions than he is able to afford. Those people are willing to trade lower salaries for working at home since they don't have added costs related to working outside of the home, such as paying for gas and daycare. "I suspect I'd have more wage pressure from employees without the work-at-home option." He also finds he gets a higher caliber of people applying for positions with flextime options, noting, "That talent would be out of the job market without the work-at-home option."

All in all, Johnson notes, "We're definitely getting higher quality employees because of the work-at-home program. I have a competitive advantage because apparently not many other employers are replicating this type of work, so our general talent pool selection is better."

Studies show that Johnson isn't the only businessperson that has found flextime options can be beneficial to both the employer and employee. A Families and Work Institute report, The 2005 National Study of Employers, found that half (47 percent) of the companies that offer work life initiatives including flexible work schedules, family leave, and childcare, do so not because they want to altruistically support employees, but because it makes better business sense given efforts to recruit and retain employees, and many businesses (25 percent) reported they do so to increase the productivity and job commitment of employees.¹⁸

Quite interestingly, that same study found that small companies, those with fifty to ninety-nine employees, are the most likely to allow workplace flexibility options.¹⁹ Not all flextime options are as loose as the models used by Johnson Moving and Storage and Best Buy. As previously noted, flexible work options differ according to workplace needs.

Successful budget airline Jet Blue takes a more structured approach to flextime, allowing its airline reservation representatives to work split shifts from home offices.

Susan, a mother of three young boys from eight to thirteen years old, is one such employee. As you walk in the front door of Susan's house, there aren't any clues that the home office behind the closed door in the hallway is actually a satellite to Jet Blue's corporate headquarters. The cozy colonial decor brings warmth to this house of five people. A focal point for family gatherings is the dark cherry dining room table with claw feet and matching high back chairs that were all brought to this Utah town by covered wagon from the east coast three generations ago. This table certainly doesn't look like it belongs in a break area for an airline satellite office, but in this case it does.

Susan takes Jet Blue reservations from her home office, working between fifteen and twenty-four hours each week and choosing her own daily shifts. There are about 1,200 people holding similar jobs for Jet Blue, which handles all reservations via people working from home, and offers a wide variety of set shifts and schedules. Their compensation includes an hourly pay rate that generally starts under ten dollars an hour, profit sharing, and free flight benefits.

These jobs are very popular--many in the Salt Lake City community hear about them by word of mouth. When the company puts out a call for new applicants three or four times each year, they regularly get over 1,000 applicants in the first 48 hours after posting the jobs.

Susan's current schedule is planned around the times her children are in school and the times her husband can be at home watching the kids. "I have a schedule of Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I work from 11 A.M. until 2 P.M. and then from 6 P.M. until 9 P.M. on those same days. So it's a split shift three days a week," she explains.

"I was working outside of home before Jet Blue, and it was very disruptive, getting up early and getting everyone ready and taking them somewhere." She adds that working from home is much better.

Her home office is set up for efficiency. When she was hired, Jet Blue came in and installed a dedicated computer and phone. She starts each shift by turning on her Jet Blue computer and signing into their phone system (she also has her own personal computer in her office). "We have a separate line for home and we have two lines for Jet Blue--one is for calls coming in and the other is for outgoing support calls in case I have questions during reservations."

The reservation calls come in constantly while she's on her shift. The minute she hangs up with one call another one rings in. She handles these calls with ease, and enjoys her exchanges with the customers, "I do have fun talking with people. There are some difficult ones, but for the most part people are nice and happy to be planning a trip.

"Now you know why we're the only airline that's not in bankruptcy. We treat our customers really well, we're happy to be working for a really great company, and it's great to be able to work at home. It works out really well for all of us: For the company because the customer is happy and the employee is happy," she concludes.

From the business side, Steve Mayne, Jet Blue's operations manager concurs, "As a company we are very, very satisfied and happy with the way this has panned out for us." He continues, and shares the company philosophy, "We feel that if we have very satisfied employees working from home, then that satisfaction will transfer to the customer who will also enjoy doing business with Jet Blue and tell others which will also bring in repeat business." He concludes, "It's absolutely working."

As we move into a Digital Age, those companies that use flexible work options often have more effective workplaces.²⁰ In fact, the Families and Work Institute includes flexible workplaces as one of the six criteria for creating an effective workplace, and notes that their own research "consistently reveals that flexibility is linked to engagement, retention, job satisfaction, and employee well-being."²¹ Increased access to flexible work options can benefit both the employer and employee.

After seeing the benefits of flexible work arrangements, many countries have passed national legislation to make that option more widely available. Great Britain, for example, passed national legislation in 2003 that gives parents of children under the age of six the right to request flexible work. This law sets a process for the request: An employee makes a written request to their employer; a discussion is held between the two, then the employer grants or denies the request. The employee is given an appeal process if they don't agree with the answer. The employer was given several broad grounds to legally deny the flexibility request, including if the arrangement will cost the business money or otherwise hurt their ability to conduct commerce.²²

As of 2005, this type of legislation hasn't passed in the United States. Shelley Waters Boots, acting director of the Work and Family Program at the New America Foundation, notes that some members of Congress are considering proposing flexible work legislation. Putting this type of legislation forward is an important step to increase public and legislator awareness about the need for, and possibilities of, such legislation.

"Families, and especially parents, really need to stand up and say flexible work options are an important part of being both a good parent and a good worker," notes Waters Boots. "It shouldn't be an either/or decision, as in either time or families. We need to figure out how, as a country, we can allow people to be good at both roles."

Some parents and employees are getting active and requesting flexible work arrangements here in the United States (although flexible work options aren't yet widely available).²³ Judy David Bloomfield, director of One Small Step, points out that right now, "Most flexible work arrangements are negotiated between the employee and the boss. Flexible work arrangements have become more prevalent because there is a groundswell with employees. But it still takes individuals to take the initiative to make these things happen. The flip side is that it takes managers willing to work it out. We've still got a long way to go. There is still a lot of manager resistance. But what I do see is that in companies that are doing these types of things, there is more and more sharing of success stories and those stories are being shared through the company."

By most accounts the biggest workplace impacts come when individuals--employees, managers, or business owners--take the initiative to create flexible work options in their workplaces. Often the flexible-work trailblazer opens up opportunities for co-workers to also make flexible working arrangements as businesses realize this type of work can help their bottom line. An essay written by Carol Ostrom in the book, Take Back Your Time,²⁴ shares how she and two co-workers finally got their management to agree to a flexible job-share arrangement where three people worked two jobs at a major newspaper.

Carol's first few requests for a job share position failed mainly because they were centered on herself and not on the workplace advantages. She writes, "I remember saying--quite eloquently, I imagined at the moment--how much I loved writing, loved journalism, but that other parts of my life were demanding attention, and they were parts I could no longer put 'on hold.' " This wasn't the best argument to management who were more concerned about an efficient workplace than Carol's home pressures, and promptly declined the request.

Carol didn't give up, finally realizing what she describes in her essay as "Lesson Number One: Getting a job share is not about you. It's never about you, no matter what your company says. It's about your company's needs." She writes, "We got our job share, finally, because newsroom managers wanted desperately to hire someone with specific skills for a particular position. The money wasn't in the budget, and managers didn't see any coming down the pike. But the job share, we noted repeatedly, after we finally caught the drift, would be a way to "gain" a position. . . . The point is that it might have gone a lot more smoothly for us if we'd figured out earlier that it wasn't about us."

The job share was successful. The three workers split the two jobs by months (four months working, and then two months off) to allow each of them to work on long-term projects, rather than a more traditional job-share that splits each workweek. And, they did blaze a trail for others in their workplace to also have flexible work arrangements, including one editor who, years earlier, was very hesitant about allowing this type of work arrangement and now holds a part-time job share position herself. Carol writes, "Sometimes we kid her now about her earlier opposition. She knows we understand."