Lauren Freeman

CAS 138T Ben Henderson

April 15, 2014
The Future is in Flex Time
Many Americans know the cultural effects that have placed men in a superior
position compared to women in the workforce, but it is important to acknowledge the
existing hierarchy between working mothers and childless women. There is often a gap in
how working mothers are perceived, valued, and paid in the workforce compared to their
childless counterparts. This gap can even be more significant than that between men and
women. However, these types of pay-wage gaps could be overcome by establishing a
system that does not prefer one working style to another. In order to achieve complete
equality in the workforce, the best solution to this problem is to implement a results-only
work environment (ROWE) as an option for all corporations throughout America.
The typical workday for the average American begins at 9AM and ends at 6PM
and is five days a week. However, this layout does not hold in higher-leveled positions
such as CEOs or other corporate or governmental offices. This general layout holds onto
the industrial-era American lifestyle where strict working hours began to be established.
However, many Americans today are more involved and have increasing responsibilities
outside of work. Consequently, there is a disconnect between modern day American
society and the work schedule. This system allows very little room for mothers to
progress in the workforce while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It is especially
troubling when thinking about the aforementioned high positioning professions where
women are still thought of as caregivers in society (and men the breadwinners).
Quite possibly the greatest dilemma for working women is the decision when (and
if) to have children. The workforce today does not seem to present women with a timely
opportunity to bear and raise children because, as Slaughter describes, if they have
children early on in their careers, they are forced to work twice as hard later in order to
catch up with their childless peers. This means that they are relatively absent during
their childs adolescent years (if they wish to remain competitive); a time that some
would argue is the most important time for parental involvement. On the other hand,
women who wait until they have established themselves in their career before having
children risk being unable to fully participate in their childs life due to older age
(Slaughter 6). Additional problems that arise are that of income status, childhood
development, and maternal separation anxiety. Studies have shown that families with
higher incomes have children with greater cognitive development than those of lower
incomes (Miller et al. 2). Often times, in order to achieve a suitable income, mothers are
forced to work late nights or overnight shifts, which has been shown to cause behavior
problems in children as well as create an increase in maternal separation for young
children (Dunifon et al. 2, Cooklin et al. 7). Finally, the timing and quality of child-care
is critical for successful development, and in order to achieve this, it is crucial that
families have a high-income level and appropriate resources early in the childs life
(Votruba-Drzal et al. 3, Li et al, 2). As can be seen, childrearing comes with many
responsibilities regarding the childs development all of which rely on a strong income
and normal working hours, which can be tricky to achieve at the same time.
Another difficulty that mothers face in the workforce today is that employers tend
to value motherhood less than they value other lifestyles. For example, Anne-Marie
Slaughter wrote in her article for The Atlantic, Why Women Still Cant Have It All, about
two equally qualified women, one training for a marathon and the other a mother of two.
The assumptions that will likely go through the employers head when coming to a
decision about the two candidates may be biased towards the marathon runner because
society often overlooks the actions that a mother does behind the scenes. Consequently,
this places mothers at a disadvantage to their childless counterparts as early as in the
application process of a potential profession (Slaughter 15).
To further the previous point, a study was conducted by Amy Cuddy and
Elizabeth Wolf in which people were asked to make first impressions of people. The
information they were given was all equal except half of the men were married with
children, the other half was single with no children, half of the women were married with
children, and the other half was single with no children. The results showed that when
women have children, their perceived level of competency decreases while their
perceived level of warmth increases. However, when men have children, their perceived
level of both competency as well as warmth increases (Cuddy 5). Additionally, mothers
are less likely to receive a job or promotion because even if their perceived competency
does not decrease, it is often assumed that they will be more distracted by family
commitments and more likely to take a leave of absence than childless women (Cuddy 7).
Furthermore, another study was conducted in which fake applications were sent out to
over six hundred real jobs where the applications only differed on marital/parental status.
The number of callbacks and interviews were counted and mothers received the lowest
number of both (Cuddy 6).
In order to combat this inherent prejudice against working mothers, implementing
a policy in which work can be done off-site and on ones own time is the best solution.
Two human resources workers, Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler, are responsible for
formulating a results-only work environment or ROWE (Conlin 1). ROWE allows
workers to enter and leave their office at any point in the day; there are no mandatory
meetings and no schedules. The basis for this format is that people can work on their own
time from whatever location they prefer. They are not judged on presence rather
performance and productivity. Consequently, this allows working mothers to do as much
work as they would like from home, or their son/daughters sports game or school event.
As long as their productivity levels do not dip, they can work from wherever they please.
ROWE is ideal for corporations such as Exxon Mobil, AT&T, BP, etc. where peoples
physical presence is not always a necessity. Retail stores and other professions such as
teaching may not be suitable for this type of working environment; however, numerous
other corporate professions would easily be able to implement this policy. Consequently,
this policy should be an option for all corporate jobs in which productivity and
performance can be measured separately from physical presence.
ROWE has already established itself as a successful alternative to the previous
workday format. It has created a significant positive effect on the productivity of
employers in companies nationwide. The best example of this progress is with the
company Best Buy who initially began participating in ROWE through type of
revolution rather than an executive decision that was then passed down to the many
workers (Conlin 2). Best Buy has noted, that productivity is up an average 35% in
departments that have switched to ROWE (Conlin 2). They have also seen the highest
level of employee satisfaction and employee engagement in the companys history
(Conlin 5). Chap Achen, who oversees online orders at Best Buy, has noticed an increase
in the numbers of orders processed by people not working in the office as much as 13%
to 18% above those who continue to work in the office (Conlin 5). Additionally,
voluntary turnover among men dropped from 16.11% to 0 after ROWE was introduced
and implemented (Conlin 5).
Yet another benefit of establishing ROWE in corporations is the expense benefits
that the company may experience. Companies that typically would require a lot of travel
will especially receive a cut in costs because there are no mandatory meetings under
ROWE. Furthermore, Best Buy estimates that by having their employees work off-site,
they will be able to rent out the office space and use that money for investments or
savings in the company (Conlin 2). Many other companies have previously incorporated
ROWE into their work format, including Sun Microsystems Inc. who has calculated that,
its saved $400 million over six years in real estate costs by allowing nearly half of all
employees to work anywhere they want (Conlin 1, 2).
The idea behind ROWE is not that it prohibits employers from working in an
office space, but rather it provides them with the option of working from home, a
vacation spot, or wherever they please. Consequently, they have the option to come into
work as often or as little as they like because they are solely judged based on
performance and pure data of productivity levels. The official policy under ROWE for
this is that, people are free to work wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as
they get their work done (Conlin 2). Jody Thompson, one of the programs co-founders,
compared working under ROWE to TiVo (Conlin 2). This program makes it possible for
employers to come in to the office and leave early to catch a matinee, or come in late and
leave whenever they please. The rule of thumb is, as long as productivity remains at the
same level (or higher) ROWEs implementation is a success and it will continue to be a
part of the companys policy.
The practicality of establishing ROWE as a mandatory option for these
corporations is that its characteristics will undoubtedly help solve the aforementioned
problem of working mothers versus childless women. This program will provide working
mothers with the opportunity to ensure that they will be able to further their careers
without missing out on crucial moments and events in their childs life. More simply,
ROWE will allow work schedules to match school schedules. As Slaughter wrote, The
present system is based on a society that no longer exists one in which farming was a
major occupation and stay-at-home moms were the norm. Yet the system hasnt
changed (Slaughter 8). With ROWE, the system is finally beginning to change. This
program will instill an easier work-life balance opportunity for many working mothers in
this industry. Additionally, without the mandatory meetings in faraway cities and states,
mothers will be home on the weekends to spend much needed time with their children.
Not only will the absence of mothers on the weekends disappear, but also ROWE will
allow mothers to work from home if their child is sick or for whatever reason. Moreover,
mothers will no longer have to work long hours into the night and risk harming their
childs development or behavioral status while still providing the family with a strong,
steady income. Overall, this program provides mothers with the perfect occasion to find
the right work-life balance all while being able to continuously move forward in their
career and provide a good life for their family. Furthermore, it will permit men to
embrace fatherhood more easily for some families where the caregiver lies more in the
woman.
Despite the clear benefits of ROWE, there has been some backlash to the program
and its core features. Most notably, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer revoked her companys
flextime policy shortly after she acquired her position. Mayer, who became the youngest
CEO ever on the Fortune 500 list and began her position while five months pregnant,
believes that flextime takes away from collaboration between coworkers in the workplace
a place where new ideas are often established. She feels that the loss of physical
presence at Yahoo! would be a disservice to the company and that, speed and quality are
often sacrificed when [working] from home (Goudreau 1). Other critics come from
people fearing that this type of flexibility will create longer hours and blur the lines
between personal time and work time (Conlin 2). It is important to note that these critics
of ROWE and flextime schedules may value physical presence and face-to-face
collaboration higher than pure productivity is valued.
The societal prejudice against working mothers continues to affect their ability to
create a healthy work-life balance. This inability can have many negative effects on their
children including maternal separation, and behavioral problems amongst others.
Working mothers also do not gain the same amount of respect in the workforce, as do
men and childless women. Consequently, their profession is often sacrificed because they
are overlooked and valued lesser than others. Furthermore, the current opportunity for
women to bear children causes many stresses because women must decide whether to
establish themselves in their career early and have children late, or have children early
and work extra hard to catch up later. As a result, the implementation of a results-only
work environment as an option for all corporate jobs will help to solve all of the
problems listed above. The program will exist only as an option, so workers can choose
their lifestyle of work as they please on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, companies may
even save a large sum of money without workers in corporate offices. Finally, the
numerous success stories of corporations establishing ROWE as corporate policy prove
that this innovative style of working may actually increase employee satisfaction,
engagement, and productivity. ROWE will not only help to eliminate pay-wage gaps in
totality, but also establish an even playing field in the workforce for all workers while
boosting employee moral and productivity.














Works Cited

Conlin, Michelle. Smashing the Clock. Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine. 10
December 2006. Web. 2 April 2014.

Cooklin et al. Postpartum maternal separation anxiety, overprotective parenting, and
childrens social-emotional well-being: Longitudinal evidence from an Australian
cohort. 2013. Web. 21 October 13.

Cuddy, Amy J. C. Gender & Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom. Harvard
Business School. nd. Web. 2 April 2014.

Dunifon et al. Mothers night work and childrens behavior problems. 2013. Web. 21
October 2013.

Goudreau, Jenna. Back To the Stone Age? New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Bans
Working From Home. Forbes. 2 February 2013. Web. 4 April 2014.

Li et al. Timing of high-quality child care and cognitive, language, and preacademic
development. 2013. Web. 21 October 2013.

Miller et al. Family income and early achievement across the urban-rural continuum.
2013. Web. 21 October 2013.

Slaughter, Anne-Marie. Why Women Still Cant Have It All. The Atlantic. nd. Web. 21
October 2013.

Votruba-Drzal et al. Center-based child care and cognitive skills development:
Importance of timing and household resources. 2013. Web. 21 October 2013.