Lately I’ve had the pleasure of working with a spinoff of Best Buy called CultureRx, the innovators of the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). The idea is simple: work is about getting things done, not about spending time in an office or in meetings. Employees at the Minneapolis-based Best Buy headquarters are free to come and go as they please. Different from the classic flextime structure where employees coordinate their own schedules with their managers, ROWE workers can work whenever and wherever they want without answering to anybody — as long as their work gets done. Say goodbye to 8:00 am meetings and one-hour lunches. Sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry, work when you can get things done.

Small businesses like Bust Out Solutions operate 100% on the ROWE principal just by the nature of the company. Our success model is simple: when work gets done the business succeeds. Naturally this requires a certain level of initiative and self-discipline, and it doesn’t always mean you have the freedom to what you want when you want. Customers still come first and deadlines are still real. So far, it’s working. I figure if the Results-Only Work Environment is good enough for Bust Out Solutions, it’s gotta be good enough for Best Buy.

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