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Remote control

There has been much hot debate recently about working remotely, especially with the decision of IBM's Marissa Mayer to implement a new ‘move or leave' policy - meaning all remote workers (and there are many) would now have to relocate to one of the six main offices in the US. The questionable motives being: to increase productivity, teamwork, morale and innovation - none of which really have anything to do with everyone being in the same office space at the same time.
Remote control

"The consolidation effort, which IBM is pitching as a move to improve productivity, teamwork, and morale, is set to be extended to all IBM operations over the next six months. Remote workers, and staff at smaller offices, will be told to move closer to a regional hub, with IBM offering to cover some costs, or leave the company. Employees are being given roughly 30 days to make their choice.” - The Register

The media and digital platforms are aflood with opinions and uproar, case in point. Most seem to have a similar sentiment: the elevated stress due to this conservative move, uprooting families, etc., equals unhappy employees, which will most certainly not improve productivity or morale – forget innovation. What makes this even more pertinent is the fact that this is the exact tactic used by the very same Marissa Mayer when she was appointed CEO at Yahoo in 2013 - which ended very badly for Yahoo last year.

To us as an agency this subject is particularly interesting as we’re building the business with a more blended-life philosophy. We live in a world that is always-on, and connectivity makes it so easy to create a working model that is more flexible and fluid. Creating a “results-only work environment” (ROWE) seems to be the way to highest productivity because people differ, and squeezing round pegs into square holes, or triangles into circles, is a practice that even toddlers learn very quickly does not work.

People are the most valuable part of a business – making talent acquisition and retention gold. Not only that – keeping people inspired and happy is even more key to ensuring innovation and outstanding results, which in turn means happier customers and a thriving business.

But can it really work? The answer is yes. It can and it has. ROWE has been tried and tested since 2003 with many success stories. You do however need a focused plan and strategy – without this, as with all things, success will be illusive.

Donna Mathews
Donna Mathews

“ROWE is based on the belief that managers need to stop measuring an employee’s work by whether they show up to do it, and start focusing instead on creating clear job descriptions, attainable goals and better methods of measurement — and then letting workers get down to work. Yes, this means that some people will still have to be in a specific place at a certain time — if that is the way to get the job done. And they will still have to come to meetings — if that meeting is required to get the job done. But what most managers learn when they adopt this new approach is that far more meetings are unnecessary and far more jobs can be done remotely than they ever would have guessed.” - Huffington Post

ROWE by no means negates the value of face-to-face, it’s so important in building relationships and doing work well, however the reason for gathering should not be because I need to have my bum in a seat in an office at 08h30 in the morning. It needs to be focused around common goals, vision and purpose.

Our greatest concern as a business was whether bigger corporate clients would take us seriously if we didn't have the typical agency set-up and big office to wow them. Our first three clients are major corporates – so it’s clear that more people understand the value of ROWE, and that working lean and smart ensures you maximise not only productivity – but also the clients’ budgets by minimising overheads.

Obviously, we get that for us, as a small new agency, it’s much easier – and for bigger organisations this may be trickier to implement, however that should not stop us from remodelling the way we work as an industry. If we are the creative thinkers, we should be the ones pioneering progress – and it’s time. Recently, the City of Cape Town released a call asking employers to consider flexi-hours and compressed work weeks, in an attempt to help alleviate traffic congestion and parking shortage in the city. This is not a problem that is going to go away – it will only get worse.

Kingdom is still a fledgling business, and we are by no means claiming ultimate success, this is a process, and as we grow and refine we know there will be hick-ups along the road that will take tweaking - but we are committed to making it work - because we believe in it, and it makes us happy.

10 Apr 2017 13:07

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About the author

Donna is a partner and co-founder of Kingdom Agency. Her experience spans 18 years in the advertising industry working in client service, strategy and creative in South Africa and Europe. She has worked for agencies such as Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide and DDB in France as a global brand director. Donna is passionate about using the voice we have as an industry to bring positive messaging into the world, and Kingdom Agency is about making work matter.

"We really can change the world. We do it all the time, and being conscious of our impact and the effect we have as individuals and a collective, means we can really inspire and create transformation. In marketing, this influence, coupled with respect and responsibility, gives us the opportunity to do something good for mass change. Passion, vision, a good heart and experience are truly a powerful combination."