Results Oriented Workplace

The Importance of Results Oriented Workplaces in the 21st Century

Subject: The Importance of a Results Oriented Workplace in the 21st Century

Over the last 40 years, technology to improve productivity in the workplace has improved so much that an employee can be reached almost anywhere at anytime to answer or solve any problem. However, rather than allowing employees to work less and be truly productive, most workplaces place their value on the 40 hour week rather than generating results in a timely fashion, on time. The result is more employee burn out, turn over in the work force and reduced productivity, even with all these time saving technologies. From the US government to Best Buy, there is a movement to get away from punching the clock to getting the job done.

These results oriented workplaces create environments of healthier, happier workers, which produce better work, on time. This paradigm shift of working smarter rather than longer will eventually take over business, though there is significant resistance in numerous workplaces. Human resource departments are embracing this practice, as are visionary executives, and business managers, making it very important to the next generation of business people to understand the rules and frameworks that will result in greater productivity.

This paper will outline what seem to be the most accepted benchmarks for a results oriented workplace. It will then focus on two very different applications of this workplace model, with very different outcomes and mechanisms.

American work values often include clichйs such as "Keeping your nose on the grindstone," and "working your fingers to the bone." Sam Walton believed that he could get the competitive edge on his competitors by arriving at work before they did, and leaving after them. I think that you will find that all these longer hours did was fatigue Mr. Walton along with others needlessly. A new mindset is coming in to vogue; that of the results oriented work place.

Over the last 40 years, technology to improve productivity in the workplace has improved so much that an employee can be reached almost anywhere at anytime to answer or solve any problem. However, rather than allowing employees to work less and be truly productive, most workplaces place their value on the 40 hour week rather than generating results in a timely fashion, in the most efficient manner, even though they do emphasize results. The focus on ensuring that their employees are actually showing up and sitting at their desk often leads to a less than empowered work force. The result is more employee burn out, turn over in the work force and reduced productivity, even with all these time saving technologies. A lot of this is due to the mentality of managers that workers have these time saving pieces of technology, and that should allow them to do more in the same allotted time. Workers often view this as piling on, for no other reason other than their feeling that they can be seen as a more productive manager. What really occurs is that their workers in the end suffer from burn out, become frustrated, fall in to the abyss of chronic fatigue, and eventually see no other recourse than to leave their firms. This is, of course, not what any manager wants to occur. Rather than having a productive work place, they have to train new employees, which is a tremendous stress on the employees that were already stressed.

From the US government to Best Buy, there is a movement to get away from punching the clock to getting the job done. This paper will examine the many different ways that a results oriented workplace can be employed, based on what the collective mindsets are in each organization. We will examine two specific examples of the results oriented workplace, one with in a major electronics retailer, and the other with the largest domestic employer. Both are examples of forms of results oriented work places, but because of the types of the businesses, and the mindsets of the "corporate management," they are totally different.

These results oriented workplaces create environments of healthier, happier workers, which produce better work, on time. This paradigm shift of working smarter rather than punching a clock will eventually take over business, though there is significant resistance in numerous workplaces. Human resource departments are embracing this practice, as are visionary executives, and business managers, making it very important to the next generation of business people to understand the rules and frameworks that will result in greater productivity, and keep their employees healthier, happier, and more productive.

In an interview with David Hunnicutt, he cited the 7 benchmarks from the Welcoa model for a results oriented workplace: "attracting senior level support, creating cohesive wellness teams, using data to drive health efforts, crafting an operating plan, choosing appropriate interventions, creating supportive environments, and consistently evaluating outcomes.1" We will discuss each of there benchmarks in detail. The results oriented workplace has numerous benefits, both for the organization as well as for the individual employees. These include an empowered population, striving to develop more efficient means to complete any task. This results in greater profits for the company, resulting in hopefully more business.

The first of the benchmarks that Hunnicutt mentions is attaining the support of the senior leadership of your organization. This is truly important, as without the bosses support, almost any change in corporate mindset is bound to fail. This is also important because if leadership doesn't fully support this model, they will minimize the personnel commitment to developing wellness in the company, in turn almost ensuring failure of the new management style, when one person leaves the company, often all the continuity for the program leaves with them.

The second of the benchmarks is creating cohesive wellness teams. An important part of the workplace is the assurance that team members are healthy both physically and psychologically, on top of the work groups and whatever tasks they are employed to do. This is done through quite a few initiatives, and monitored by the work group's

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