Consider if you were judged at work on the results of your work and not on the hours you were in the workplace. That pretty much summarizes the model used by Best Buy (at least at corporate headquarters):

At most companies, going AWOL during daylight hours would be grounds for a pink slip. Not at Best Buy. The nation’s leading electronics retailer has embarked on a radical–if risky–experiment to transform a culture once known for killer hours and herd-riding bosses. The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.

Hence workers pulling into the company’s amenity-packed headquarters at 2 p.m. aren’t considered late. Nor are those pulling out at 2 p.m. seen as leaving early. There are no schedules. No mandatory meetings. No impression-management hustles. Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do. It’s O.K. to take conference calls while you hunt, collaborate from your lakeside cabin, or log on after dinner so you can spend the afternoon with your kid.

Of course, I wouldn’t take conference calls while I hunt, and I’m wondering what life without meetings would be like and what happens to work that is completed cooperatively or that has to be done in person (e.g., working as sales at Best Buy) or anything in the service industries. But there is much to love here are a post-flex-time model for some kinds of work.

Now why don’t I like flex-time? I do. But I’m in favor of flex-time for everyone, not just moms with infants or people caring for aging parents or some sub-group of employees, which then incurs the wrath of all other groups who are not given the “privilege” of flexing their hours. And flex-time for everyone is a precursor (in some ways) to results-only work environment in some workplaces.

Now people who are self-employed are familiar with results-only work environment. Although I attend a lot of meetings some weeks, and occasionally do have to present my face to clients, my entire business is judged by what I produce regardless of how much time it took or where I did the work.

 Thoughts on the results-only work environment? Would it work in your workplace? Why or why not?

I started reading Should Clergy Urge Fishless Fridays? thinking that the article was going to explore the moral implications of encouraging fish-eating when 70% of the world’s fisheries are over-exploited, exploited, or depleted. But no.  It’s all about mercury, and whether priests should suggest alternatives to tuna, swordfish and other mercury-heavy fish given recent information about mercury levels in big fish.

Rev. Thomas Nairn, an ethicist who specializes in health care at Catholic Theological Union, said priests aren’t necessarily under a moral obligation to make that suggestion. After all, gluttony is not in the Gospels.

“During Lent, one should watch intake of food in general,” Nairn said. “We’re not talking about pigging out on tuna. Any Catholic who’s fasting is going to be within the limits now suggested anyway.”

One wonders exactly what moral obligations the priests are under. And I’m wondering what cousin Walt, the former director of the Environmental Justice Program for the United States Council of Catholic Bishops would say. I know he’s concerned with overfishing. Maybe I’ll ask.

May I enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.May you enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

May all beings enjoy happiness and the root of all happiness.

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron

Bishop V. Gene Robinson during his keynote speech at the 20th National Conference on LGBT Equality in Detroit:

For a very, very long time, white, straight, educated, Western men have been making most of the decisions for the world, and you know what, the jig is up.

And my favorite:

If you’re not getting into some gospel trouble, you’re probably not preaching the gospel. Jesus was always getting in trouble.

Parts 1, 2, and 3.

Oh, I just saw Debra Haffner posted on this too, and she was there.

News  Some stereotypes about women at work sound a wee bit familiar for those of us in the workplace (and watching the primary races). There’s been a huge increase in the number of discriminatory remarks in UK workplaces.  And people had some strong opinions about guns in the workplace parking lot.

Notes  Time off to vote in the United States isn’t a federal matter as much as an issue of state law. You can check your state here. And managers should pay attention to conflict in the workplace because it may be the key to preventing workplace violence.

Religion Books on Buddhism and the workplace seem especially effective because of the emphasis on impermanence.

Spirituality  Sharing information is not usually gossip, and one of the best ways to know what’s going on at work. And February is best understood as a time of transition rather than a gray gray month of despair.

I’m wondering if it’s a measure of the economy when people are less willing to date a coworker for fear of jeopardizing their job:

About a third of U.S. workers have said they would consider having a workplace romance, a number that has steadily declined from 42 percent three years ago, according to a recent survey by recruiting and staffing company Spherion Corp.

The poll found that 30 percent were hesitant to date a co-worker for fear it would jeopardize their job security or advancement opportunities, and about a third of those who reported having an office fling said they kept it a secret.

Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent reported that their company does not have a policy on relationships in the workplace.

These findings from Catalyst, a New York-based research organization that works to expand opportunities for women, sound extremely familiar.

Female leaders are perceived as competent or likable, but rarely both.

If they act consistent with gender stereotypes, they are considered too soft.

If they go against gender stereotypes, they are considered too tough.

You can read more along these lines in Presidential Race Highlights Women’s Battle Toward Equity.

You may remember that I wrote about reported racial harassment in the United States reaching record levels. I hypothesized that in sinking economic times, we often try to blame someone (anyone other than ourselves, really).

Along the same lines, a recent survey says that discriminatory slurs in Britain have doubled in use. The survey results show not just a rise in ethnic slurs and those based on nationality, but also a rise in slurs based on age and sexual orientation. Again, I wonder if this is in some way a measure of a sinking British economy.

Look at these figures from a recent survey of British employees:

· 84% of employees have overheard racial comments and discriminatory remarks towards fellow workers. [compared to 2003- 46%]

· 28% of employees have overheard ethnic slurs, relating to an individual’s ethnic background. [compared to 2003- 16%]

· 15% of employees have overheard age related ridicule. [compared to 2003- 7%]

· 18% of workers overheard jabs aimed at sexual orientation. [compared to 2003- 11%]

· 23% of workers overheard ridicule and jokes based on nationality (for example Irishman, Englishman and Scotsman jokes). [compared to 2003- 12%]

· 74% of workers admit to harmlessly making sexual or discriminatory remarks against minorities. [compared to 2003- 69%]

I’ve had some Internet connectivity problems recently, and now have a bit of a backlog of posts.

It’s not shocking that Workplace conflict takes toll on workers, but oddly enough many managers do not regard it as part of their job to evaluate and mediate workplace conflicts.

Advice to managers: Find a way to help your employees manage their conflicts with others. This is part of your job.

“Much and more-deserved attention is being given to workplace hostility,” said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer at the Chicago-based outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

When managers let co-worker conflicts continue, the results can be, “disastrous,” he said.

A survey conducted by the Society for Human Management found personality conflicts were the cause behind 51 percent off all workplace violence.

That seems like something you’d want to pay attention to as a manager.

If you’ve ever worried that perhaps you spend too much time at the water cooler, read Gossip is Information by Another Name:

The word “gossip” has a negative connotation, but you could also call it strategic information sharing, counseling or mentoring, said Michael Morris, a research psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at Columbia Business School who studies social cognition.

As long as the information you’re spreading is not intended to hurt another person, it can actually be good for the company. Especially during times of major change, like downsizing or layoffs, gossip can be cathartic for employees, Professor Morris said.

I wrote something similar in Gossip in the Workplace and Hildegaard and Bartholomew: Subjects of Intense Gossip.

A reader asks if employers are required to give time off to vote. Well, there isn’t a federal law that I know of about giving time off to vote. However, there are state laws for employers regarding time off to vote:

These laws vary widely in the details, however — some require employers to provide paid leave while others do not, some allow employers to require employees to provide written proof that they voted or were called for jury service, and some actually impose criminal penalties on an employer who fires or others penalizes an employee for taking time off work for these important obligations.

So check your individual state government web site for the specific law. You can also use the summary or other resources below. 

Resources

Are You Required to Give Employees Time Off to Vote?
Summary of State Time Off to Vote Laws
Time Off to Vote Notices from the State of California

One of the reasons that I think books on Buddhism (see below) are helpful to most workers is that they acknowledge the impermanence of work. It seems to me that most of our struggles at work fit into two large groups: Why is this changing? and This person irritates me to no end. And for the Why is this changing? category, it’s helpful to acknowledge that work is always changing in small ways and in big ways. We just don’t always recognize it until a reorganization comes along, we’re laid off, or our company is bought by another, but work has been changing all along.

Resources

Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job 
What Would Buddha Do At Work? 101 Answers to Workplace Dilemmas
The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

This is the weathering change edition.

How Small Businesses Survive in Alaska gives some ideas for what to do in the slow season as you wait for business to pick up.

Look before you leap to another employer is a balanced article on how to evaluate whether a new job offer is right for you. The general idea is to run to something better rather than running away from something awful.

The Ethics of Striking explores what you to do when your union strikes and you can’t afford the wage loss.

Listening to the Job Report explains why Congress should extend unemployment benefits. There are 1.38 million people who have been unemployed for 6 months or more.

I’ve seen quite a few articles regarding the NRA and legislation to prohibit employers from forbidding employees from keeping guns in their cars in the parking lot. Many employers currently ban weapons in the parking lot as part of a program to decrease workplace violence. Some people think they need a gun in their cars, and apparently keep guns in their cars at work. This is legal in a lot of places (with a permit, of course).

I’ve spent some time wondering why exactly you’d need a gun in your car at work. I can’t come up with an answer that isn’t disturbing.

Oddly enough, I happened upon a student with a shotgun in the school parking lot just outside my classroom when I was teaching. If I remember correctly, I told the student to put the gun down, he argued with me and said it wasn’t loaded and didn’t work, so I went inside my classroom, locked the classroom door, called the principal, and alerted other teachers in the area. If you haven’t seen a nun with a shotgun marching across campus, you haven’t lived. The gun was held in her office until the end of the year. I believe I was told I was overreacting as the student only planned to sell the gun to another student, and not kill me and my students with it. No doubt this is part of Why I Don’t Teach Anymore.

But as I consider reasons for having a gun in the workplace parking lot, I can’t help think to this story and how it could have ended disastrously.

Like many people, this is a month with which I struggle. It’s often rainy, even in Southern California. It’s often gray. And then there’s that strange faux-love holiday in the middle of it. I often wish I could just go to sleep on Ground Hog Day and wake up on Easter.

Maud Newton has a meditation on February. I’ve excerpted my favorite part:

There is in every life a February time. It stands between our time of barrenness and those of increased hope. It is not very exciting. It lacks Autumn’s glory and Spring’s festooned splendor. It is just there, a pause, a connection, a bridge between events of loss and gain, a road that leads from emptiness to fullness.

Read the complete meditation, including the Jesus-related material, here.

Ethical Consuming: Neat things from Etsy that support independent artists.

Fun: Dip Your Chip Only Once this Superbowl Sunday. And, come Monday, engage in a little freak out.

News: Legislators consider the people in Watts (but only if they are considering buying an SUV), and, speaking of taking advantage of the poor for political gain, apparently the Iraq war is now staffed by Latin America. Lovely. We were ticked off by some of the extraordinarily stupid rhetoric of second wave feminism. And helicopter parents help out their college kids. And the kids like it. Speaking of kids, talk to your kids about the workplace, including workplace safety and their rights. And, finally, companies in Japan consider divorce a reason for time-off. Makes sense to me.

Notes: The Worst Things to Say at Work (some of which seem perfectly reasonable to us). And negotiating with drunks when you’re a vintner. And we attempted to categorize Generation X and their experiences in the workplace.

Spirituality: The Mid-Life Crisis. It’s real.

or you’ll be sharing a lot of bacteria with others this Super Bowl Sunday. I won’t as there is a large empty compartment in my brain where an interest in sports would go. In any case, if the idea of double dipping reminds you of Seinfeld, you’ll enjoy the story.

Do you appreciate the human propensity to categorize everything and everyone? I hope so.

A while ago, I interviewed Lewis Richmond, author of Work as a Spiritual Practice for an article. We talked for a while about generational differences in the workplace. His point, which I refer to again and again, is that Generation X and Baby Boomers have had vastly different experiences in the workplace, and hence have developed different attitudes.

With that in mind, I’ve been working on some non-scientific categories based on stories I’ve heard about Generation X experiences in the workplace. I’m not sure what I would do with these categories, but I’m going to throw them out here.

Here’s what I have so far:

1. Everything’s fine. Why do you ask?  These are folks who fit into their jobs well, do well, get promotions, are paid well, and, in general, seem content. People in this category tend to believe in the meritocracy, which is to say that if you work hard and long, you’ll be rewarded. They believe they got what they deserved based on their merit. As far as I can tell, these people don’t read my blog.

2. Everything’s not fine, but I’m trying hard. These are folks who are trying to fit into the workplace and have been laid off or fired, but keep trying, much like I keep trying to get into those size 8 jeans. People in this category may have been in the previous category and had a highly successful job until being laid-off or fired or they may have had a series of lay-offs and just keep trying. That’s really the important thing about folks in this category: they keep plugging away, believing in the meritocracy, and thinking if they just work hard enough, make the right contacts, say the right things, demonstrate their talent in some fashion, everything will work out and they’ll survive long enough to a. retire or b. quit. These people definitely read my blog.

3. Everything doesn’t work, so I’ve gone elsewhere. These are folks who have a. tried to fit into the workplace and failed or b. never tried in the first place because they just sensed they were going to get screwed. They’ve started their own businesses or non-profits or organizations of some sort. They’ve found a partner who supports them. They’ve decided to stay home with the kids or taken volunteer positions.  These people also read my blog.

Any thoughts? Do you fit into one of these categories? or somewhere else?

Resources

Generation X and the Millenials
Coaching Generation X
“In My Day, Things Were Different”
Generation X’s Debt Headache
Not Your Parents’ Workplace

I blame Sideways.

Getting Juiced at Wine Tastings is an interesting article about the difficulties of running a winery with a tasting room and negotiating with people who attempt to mimic the behavior in Sideways, including drinking from the dump bucket.

Throwing up in the shrubbery, shouting, singing, flinging off garments — these are not signs of exuberance over the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau. 

Really?

I like wine tasting, but it is really hard to find a winery in California that does not have tons of limos and vans outside and a boisterous crowd inside intent on getting really drunk. While my experience has been dampened, I hoped at least the wineries were making money. Apparently this is not the case. Crowds bring drunks, but not necessarily bucks. On the other hand, as the article points out, try finding a reasonably priced Pinot Noir anywhere in the United States.

A few years ago, after visiting Sunstone, which is an organic winery, Jim and I happened to stop down the road at Kalyra, which is one of the wineries from Sideways. Inside we found a scene that was reminiscent of….say Cocktail or Coyote Ugly with the bar six-deep with people and their tasting glasses. We left. The article confirms our experience. Lots of drunks, not a ton of sales.

But what a tough issue to negotiate as a vintner. You need people to know about your wine. You need people to taste your wine. But the publicity from a movie, which seems like a good thing, brings people who seem intent on getting drunk.

I’m so glad it’s February, because I enjoy the barrage of green sex tips from every environmental blog and newsletter that I read. I’m not quite sure why I find the notion of green sex tips and toys so funny, but it may be because this is one of those very upper middle class first world problems while, say, much of the world struggles to eat. This isn’t to minimize pthalates in dildos and the endocrine-disruptors in lube or the pursuit of fair-trade condoms, some of which I’ve written about before. It’s just to say that I’m not sure this is the best use of time to devote quite as much energy and enthusiasm to this as much of these environmental publications seem to….

Nevertheless, I give you Green Valentine 2008, Let’s Talk about Green Sex, Baby, How to Green Your Sex Life, How to Buy a Green Sex Toy, Tips for Greener Sex, and Ideal Byte’s green sex tip library.

A nineteen-year-old nanny in Queensland was underpaid by $19,000 over a three year period. The lost wages were recovered by an ombudsman:

 The Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson has revealed that a massive $19,000 in unpaid wages and entitlements had been recovered by the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman for a 19-year-old nanny employed by a labour hire company specialising in training and placing nannies.

At the time of the underpayments the woman had worked for over three years in the small towns of Dirranbandi (in the Balonne Shire between St George and Lightning Ridge) and Eidsvold (in the Bundaberg, Coral Coast & Country region) in south and central Queensland.

Wilson says the combination of being young and working in a remote locality could at times put employees in a vulnerable position.

“This young worker’s relative vulnerability; due to her age, inexperience in the workforce and limited ability to assert her workplace rights; was increased by her isolation working in towns like Dirranbandi with a population of only 800 and in Eidsvold which is 180 kilometres from the nearest major centre of Bundaberg,” Wilson says.

Resources

Australian Government Workplace Ombudsman