By Allan Schweyer

There is a strong consensus in Washington that the federal workforce should be more modern and flexible in the way that it gets work done. Just last week, President Obama argued that the impact of the DC snowstorms, which brought the city and the government to a standstill, could have been tempered if workers were better set up to telecommute and do their jobs from home.

John Berry, Director of the OPM, is experimenting with the Results Oriented Work Environment approach, known as ROWE. ROWE has transformed organizations like Best Buy – dramatically raising productivity and reducing turnover by focusing on what a worker gets done rather than where or when she does it.

ROWE operated as a clandestine operation in Best Buy headquarters for two years before the company’s CEO found out. He liked what he saw so much that the company has plans to implement the program organization-wide. Before Best Buy, Brazilian CEO, Ricardo Semler of Semco became famous for a “Treat them like adults” approach to his 5,000 person workforce. At Semco, employees work when and from where they want. Meetings, even those called by Semler himself are optional.  Semler’s policies were implemented about 20 years ago when the company had $4 million in annual revenues. Today, Semco is a $200 million plus multinational conglomerate.

No organization can or should borrow every element of even the most successful workforce programs from others. What worked at Best Buy and Semco, worked within their unique cultures. It is nevertheless clear that the federal government, which is comprised of a very high proportion of knowledge work, would gain tremendously from greater workforce flexibility and a focus on results rather than face time.