"Corporate TiVO"

Fascinating article in BusinessWeek Online about Best Buy's approach to working hours at corporate HQ. Trying to embrace what they call "ROWE" ("results only work environment"), Best Buy employees are to eschew "face time" and regular hours in favor of focusing solely on results. As one employee gushes, the ability to work where and when one likes is akin to "corporate TiVO."

I've railed on the topic of face time a bit in the past, and as I noted recently, technology changes over the last ten years have radically reduced the need for many corporate workers to log regular hours in an office. Unfortunately, those outdated notions still hold great currency. It says a lot that the grass roots founders of Best Buy's program had to sharply point out the need to focus on results. Nothing else about one's time in the office matters, of course, but how many of our corporate policies, procedures, rules and attitudes are directed at controlling or measuring things unrelated to results?