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Slacker's Paradise?! Workers at Best Buy corporate have no set schedules.

biz.yahoo.com — Chap Achen, who oversees online orders at Best Buy Co., shut down his computer, stood up from his desk, and announced that he was leaving for the day. It was around 2 p.m., and most of Achen's staff were slumped over their keyboards, deep in a post-lunch, LCD-lit trance. "See you tomorrow," said Achen. "I'm going to a matinee."

Bury

rlutterb 1 year 229 days ago, made popular 1 year 228 days ago

927 diggs
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r3aper, on 10/12/2007, -76/+5http://www.digg.com/business_finance/Best_Buy_eliminates_the_office_and_the_40_hour_Work_week_destroys_clock
- Popdmb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47Man why didn't anyone digg your story when you had such an engaging headline?
  
  /sarcasm
- rodbibeau, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13I spent many hours inside of the evil empire. Working for the company and knowing what happens at the store level, corporate (in bloomington, mn) does not seem a part of the same company.
  
  It was like....oh, so this is what our hard work builds.
  
  The food there was amazing. They have plasma's on the walls.
- raisinbran, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Yeah, I was always wondering why Corporate was so clueless as to what was going on in their stores, but it's so obvious now.
- Inverno, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I live across the street from the campus (technically it's in Richfield, but who's counting.) I applied for a job there a while back, and the interior is amazing. However I was in the lobby and HR areas, from my window I can gaze upon rows of cubicles.
  
  I was going to do part time customer service while going to school, but no one mentioned this program to me during my interview. Had I of known I would have tried a lot harder to get the position.
  
  I've worked at call centers before. The only time I was face to face with a co-worker was for mandatory meetings. Call escalation, assistance, and HR stuff was all done via email/CRM software. A few of us petitioned the higher-ups to allow us to work from home; and we were shot down immediately. I'm glad to see some companies are considering the idea.
ddamron44, on 10/12/2007, -12/+17welcome to the global village....i am sure i am not the only one to say "The Filing Cabinet Theory was right on" as Marshall McCluhan predicted years and yers ago
- hypnotiq, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Holy *****, how did your comment get dugg down. You make a good point, and reference something that is actually pertinent to the story, and digg users digg down your comment? LOL, that tells you about most the users here. They probably don't understand what you are talking about and think "what the *****, I'll just click "DIGG DOWN""
  
  Anyway, Global Village for sure. And Marshall McLuhan was indeed ahead of his time in so many ways!
xero69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+57It's about time companies focused on the output of their employees instead of trivial things like the hours they work. Reward those who accomplish the most and give them as few restrictions as possible so they can reach their full potential.
- AhmedB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8My company somehow does, nothing in the contract says you are supposed to work from 9 to 5, it's 'customary' though, and i told my manager upfront, "i don't wake up early" and his response was "as long as you come to work and give 110% when you're here", so quite frankly I'm loving it, I come to work without the burden of 'ughhhhhh i'm going to work again', i come in, work without looking at the clock really, and just keep working...
- signal15, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I've been doing this kind of "unofficially" for the past 3 years. And, I have to say, it rocks. It's easy for my company to see my performance, as I need to still fill out billing info for our clients every week, and they can look and see what I'm pulling in for revenue. But when I do the work doesn't really matter, unless I have to meet with a client onsite.
  
  One of the tenets of the Best Buy plan is that you never talk about hours. But, I'm going to talk about them here. Some weeks, I only work 10 hours. And some weeks I work 60. But it's spread out, some days I'll run errands or have coffee with a friend, but when I get home at night, I put in a bunch of hours. I no longer wake up in the morning hating the fact that I have to go to work, because usually I don't have to be anywhere. I can sit on my sofa in my boxers, or go to a coffee shop and work. The work I do no longer seems like work when I can do it on my own schedule, and my schedule for the most part is dictated by my personal life, not by my employer. Stress is nearly non-existent, and my revenue numbers show that I am getting more done.
  
  I went into the office yesterday for the first time in 4 months. I don't even have a space there anymore, they gave it to a couple of sales guys. In fact, most of the engineers in my office no longer have office space. If we did, they would have to expand and pay for double the space. So not only does the company get more revenue out of us, they also save on real estate costs.
  
  So here's the problem with this... Some people are not motivated enough to do their work if they don't have a boss breathing down their neck. We do not have a problem where I'm at, but at a previous job we were forced to have about 1500 employees working from home. A good portion of those could not tune out the wife and kids and just do their work, no matter what time of day it was. Unfortunately, people like that are the ones who ruin it for those of us who are motivated.
  
  It's a complete change of lifestyle. And, if someone offered me a 30% raise to go to a 9-5 job, I would not take it. Quality of life is more important to me than a 30% raise. Another side effect of this is that employees have a greater sense of loyalty to their employer, at least from what I've seen. I have a lot of flexibility in what I do, and when asked to do something that totally sucks (like working over a holiday for a client), I gladly do it. It's a fair tradeoff.
  
  I can't say enough good things about this style of working. More companies need to jump on the bandwagon with this.
sncballer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+43Great story, but bad title. I'm not sure how people who get more work done in less time are "slackers." A lot people in the workplace today put in long hours for the "face-time" or because they are inefficient. Why should someone put in ungodly hours if they are getting their job done?
- rlutterb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"And as ROWE infected one department after the other, its supporters ran into old-guard saboteurs, who continue to plot an overthrow and spread warnings of a coming paradise for slackers."
  
  Not saying I agree, just that it comes from the article.
- gotamd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I completely agree. The title is incredibly biased. The point is not that people who work for Best Buy are allowed to "skip work". They're allowed to work wherever they want to as long as they get their work done. There's a big difference.
- uberneoconcert, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5i worked as a recruiter at a very large technical staffing company that paid commissions. if you submitted two people to jobs in a day, they sent you home. didn't even let you stay if you wanted...a COMMISSIONS job wouldn't let you keep going. i thought that really sucked. they were nazis about work hours besides that. now i do have a slacker's commissions job selling mortgages and they give weekly cash prizes for getting applications even if they don't go through. today is 'dress like a mexican, eat like a mexican' potluck day. pretty sweet.
- hypnotiq, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I am a slacker. The reason I can get ***** done so quickly is a single driving force to do the things that I want to do and nothing else.
  
  And I do it good too, because the better and quicker I am the more money I make and the more freedom I have to do what I want to do when I want to do it.
arctic, on 10/12/2007, -14/+3who cares?
dante2010, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Livin in a pakenham paradiseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Daiken, on 10/12/2007, -8/+9This has been happening for years at many tech companies.
- WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2this is esentially just a salary.
phanfo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13my company is the same way, as long as you get your job done no one cares what you do. That is the way it should be, respect for your people.

I love it, I don't come in mondays and fridays, but my work is still done.

But now with blackberries you are always available.
- zephc, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4Imagine how much MORE work you could get done if you DID come in mondays and fridays! at least 66% more!
- aapala, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3yeah... that's the way it is in quite a few corporations for salaried employees. But it isn't like there's not a trade off. Some weeks you put in 30 hours to get your stuff done, other weeks you put in 50... or 60... or more. Sometimes it sucks. I'm sure Best Buy is not too much different.
- lovek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@zephc
  
  Yeah, imagine how much more productive you'd be if you worked 100 hours a week! We should all do that!!
  
  It's obviously working so well for everyone that currently does it.
ABadInAlbany, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Best Buy has been a leader in the corporate world when it comes to telecommuting and flex time. Now, they're just taking it a step farther. So far, it would seem the results are worthwhile. I hope more companies (tech and NON tech) follow suit. I used to telecommute a lot for a large newspaper publisher, and later for Xerox, it works out better for both the employer AND the employee -- how often can a business make the sort of decision that results in a win for BOTH sides of that fence?
beerbaronstatic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have to say for the few months I worked at Best Buy corporate even as a contractor it was pretty flexible. Granted I could go a week without seeing my managers and I was pretty much the only one on the team, so it worked out.
xyphoid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16If all companies did this there would be much better output of employees. High five to Best Buy corporate.
tokyomonster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+39This makes sense. If I knew I could leave the office when my work was done, everything would be finished by 2. But since I know I have to be here until 5, I spread it out, and waste time on sites like Digg.

Forwarded to boss..
- danielrh9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7That sounds cool, but it wouldn't work for some people. For example, I work as a web designer at a relatively small university. I do a lot of updating and things every day, but I also take phone calls from students, parents, and businesses looking for help with various things. I can go ahead and get all of my stuff finished by noon, but I'd still get calls scattered throughout the day.
  
  Granted, that could be taken care of if we had the funding for a dedicated staff assistant, but that's a rant for another day.
- Kale, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@daniel, agreed. I do biological research, and it takes several people to get work done. We need to have common time frames to set up meetings and such, as each person is a different expert in their field.
  
  This system would work great if each worker was independent, and didn't require input from others to complete their job.
timxpx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7i just started my job 2 months ago, and theres a few people i work with every day who i still haven't met because of telecommuting...
HardwareLust, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5How can a company have such an innovative work culture at the corporate level, and yet be so utterly and completely awful at the retail level? BB is without a doubt the worst electronics store on the earth to shop in (Fry's being a close second). I absolutely hate going into BB for any reason, to the point where I won't go into one unless there's something I absolutely can't get anywhere else without driving another 100 miles. I swear, they deliberately hire the absolute worst people they can find. I will gladly pay higher prices to avoid going to BB, and that really says something because I am a cheap bastard to begin with, and BB usually has some pretty good prices on stuff.

How is this company succeeding? I don't get it.
- AAjax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Agreed, the mentality is a very noble/serf based one. They may treat those at corparate well, but they treat those on the front line like crap. This may be seen as some as forward thinking, but karma is very real. BBY corporate has a knack for self promotion, too bad they dont have a clue about real front line level management. Of course they dont care. Turn em and burn em,
- uberneoconcert, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i hate going in best buy too. i would go if this happened all the time though:
  http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't really get the best buy hate. You go there, they have products, you buy them. They seem to do a pretty decent job of keeping things in stock, and the employees have always helped me find the specific thing I'm looking for.
  
  I suppose I don't deal with the things people hate because I research any important purchases myself and have already decided before I go to the store? Everybody is pushing extended warranties now, all you have to do is say no. Maybe my Best Buy is above average or something.
  
  The only bad experience I've had so far is that I bought something online for store pickup and they hadn't put it in the back as they should have.
- raisinbran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think they're ok as a store, from a consumer standpoint. Their regular prices are high, but some of their deals are pretty good.
  
  However, my girlfriend used to work as customer service at a smaller Best Buy store. She was the only full-time customer service person in her area, did a great job (the managers at that store were great, and they actually let you help the customer when they had problems, accepted returns), and she worked there at least 40 hours a week because they needed someone there.
  
  Corporate's response to this was a bunch of layoffs. My gf (the only full-time customer service person) and some other employees, including several managers were all laid-off.
  The reason for the layoffs were due to low revenue compared to other stores in the region. This was probably because the managers at this store didn't have the employees shouting at customers to get replacement plans, magazine subscriptions, and accessories you don't need. They would also accept returns, which couldn't have been good for business from Corporate's perspective.
  
  I never found out what happened to the customer service department at that store, but I'm sure it wasn't good.
- xSTALLiONx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1its a store.. stop being a store elitist/snob.. Go in educated on what you want.. Find what you want... Say you don't need any help if they ask for help.. and Leave..
gmurray, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2This is not news.
- Ubermensch423, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5a multi-million dollar corporation is adopting a progressive new approach to the workday that could possibly revolutionize all sectors of work and improve the lives of people everywhere. but, yeah, you're right, this isnt news? does anyone have a link to the breaking news about britney's new friends?
FishPoisonCon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i work for a newspaper and it's pretty much the same way. no clocking in or out/no documentation of all how long you've worked (which CAN be a bad thing) and on non-press days, come and go as you please - as long as you have have everything done you need to do. it makes the whole idea of forcing yourself to work far more tolerable, too bad the company and co-workers kinda suck... oh well.
stcymrk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6All control-freak employers will be ***** in their pants over this. Hats off to best buy for this!
Tyr7BE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Welcome to a salaried job. It has perks like these, but it also has down sides. The general idea is that if you do your work, you get your pay, regardless of when you do it. However, if a deadline is approaching and your work isn't done, be prepared to be staying late.
- Ubermensch423, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2this is not true of a many salaried jobs and thats the point of the article and the pollicy. many salaried jobs require a certain amount of time in the office and expect you to be there during "business hours"
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"However, if a deadline is approaching and your work isn't done, be prepared to be staying late."
  
  That's also the case for any job that pays hourly, unless your job is utterly meaningless.
sonmiles, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Best Buy Corporate = Great!
Best Buy Retail Stores = SUCK!
duerra, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Anybody who hasn't worked there is missing out. I worked for the corporate office, and let me tell you, not only is the campus gorgeous and modern... but the "scenery" is jaw-dropping. Let's just say that there's an over-saturation of great looking young women getting their careers off over there. =)
- signal15, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have been out there also, and what you say is very true. It's one of the few clients I have that has nice "scenery".
bsongo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0maybe thats why best buy employees are so damn useless. it starts at the top.
- Ubermensch423, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1RTFA! productivity is up in their corporate offices, dont be a tool
arcarael, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2damn! i wish i had a job there! i bet they still get more done than congress.
Asriel86, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Too bad people who work in Best Buy stores aren't granted the same liberties.They have to show up on-time and push crappy extended warranties all day long regardless of whether they want to go hunting or catch a matinee.
- betterth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4RTFA
  
  They have plans to begin implementing the system in retail.
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It's hard to imagine how a cashier/floor-salesperson could properly do their job by coming and going at will. You need bodies in the building to run the store, and you have to have a schedule to make sure that's the case.
  
  Maybe they'll just setup a system where it's easier for coworkers to exchange shifts, or things along those lines.
jhendrix86, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5uhh yea...we don't have set schedule at IBM either and really no dress code (well mostly).

I know people who don't come in until 1pm everyday and work until 6 only
Durendal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6People who take less time to get their work done are not slackers. More time spent does not mean you've done a better job.
WankerWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I live about a mile away from the Best Buy HQ and a good friend of the family is their senior VP of New Product Development. They do have some interesting business practices. They also laid off 700 people some months back. Now the corporate campus is a bit empty.

I work from home for a software company based in CA (I'm the only one in Minneapolis). I get to make my own hours and have the same basic setup. As long as my work gets done it doesn't matter how much I work. I also get to define what my work is. Every week I send my boss (the CEO) a email outlining what I want to do the next week and what I did this week. Works great. I do what I think will help the company. There are the occasional jobs that I'm asked to do but other then that I define my job myself. Pretty nice.
Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Some game studios I applied to in the past had a flexable schedule, you could leave early or come in late as long as you were there between like 10am and 2pm. That sounds good to me, but I need at least some sort of structure. Having the set time and place is what makes me get the work done.
- ABadInAlbany, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6grow some hair, get a pair, get back to me.
  
  so you don't have the discipline to work on your own? you probably don't have the discipline or ambition to be much of an employee to begin with then.
- Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually I worked from home, 80 hours a week for 2 months. Made a nice $14k for that job.
benadamson, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Working for Best Buy would be AWESOME. With the employee discount, electronics would only be a LITTLE more expensive than Newegg. Not double or triple like they are now.

Best Buy corporate is 1/2 a mile from my house. It's very ugly. I despise the place. Screw you Best Buy for fudging people that don't know better out of their money.
- benadamson, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5P.S. No I do not want a reward zone card, no I do not want 6 complimentary issues of People magazine, and no I not wanna give you zipcode.
mvnicosia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"They add that flextime also stigmatizes those who use it (the reason so few do) and keeps companies acting like the military (fixated on schedules) when they should behave more like MySpace (social networks where real-time innovation can flourish)."

Oddly enough, when I was in the military I had a much more flexible schedule than I do now. I could come and go as I pleased, take care of home life, hit the gym, go to the hospital, get my car fixed, whatever...now I'm chained to the desk and if I work less than my allotted hours for the time period, my (supposedy salaried) pay goes down.
- HMTKSteve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah but those field exercises were bitch!
  
  You can't exactly break off and go to the gym when you are digging in and setting up positions for overlaying fire zones!
  
  The Military in peace time is the best. Once the bullets start flying though, that is when you earn your money.
techlinks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, my Uncle works for Agfa in Waterloo, ON, and it's basically the same there. "Flex hours" Come in and leave whenever you want, as long as you get your work done and get to all your meetings.

I shadowed him for a day once when I was visiting and am I will probably end of working there when I graduate from college. Heh, well, highschool first!)
PowerCow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7last .5 hour of anyday most companies pay their employees to watch the clock.
Production drops to near nil while time awareness skyrockets.
csopelario, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yup, this dude's heading definitely backfired: This is awesome - I work for one of the 'top 20 small business's in Silicon Valley' and it is very similar to how we operate, at least on the managerial level. I leave whenever the hell i want to... LOL (not all the time, so don't worry)...
haggie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Most companies want employees to "work hard" not to "work smart". That attitude encourages the employment of idiots that need all day to do their job, not intelligent people that can do their job quite effectively in six hours. Those people leave the company for more challenging jobs or companies with more enlightened attitudes. The idiots, sadly, remain...

Also, this is a little bit of a trap for the real slackers. Conscientious employees will probably work pretty much the same schedule, but give themselves a little free time here and there when appropriate. Slackers will abuse this, screw-up, and get fired.
TimmyJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Can't help but think of the irony here: so many people reading this story on digg while they are at work putting in "face-time"
Zoshchenko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If shopping at Best Buy was as wonderful an experience for customers as it seems working for Best Buy corporate is for employees, I'd say this is a great idea. But do you know anyone who actually likes going into a Best Buy store?
dist0rti0n, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I've heard this actually makes people work more than 40hrs a week, because they'll work nights or weekends from home and they feel pressure to keep up with what their peers are doing.
pirotess, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Telecommuting must be a new concept.
fuzzball963, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As a full time but hourly employee of Best Buy I wonder how they would expand this to the sales floor? I love the idea and I find I'm more productive when left alone to do what I think benefits the company but how would you ensure that your best salespeople are always available at a certain part of the day to help if necessary ?

Still, props to corporate for doing this :).
- HMTKSteve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I often feel staying in bed would benefit my company :)
maehem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I know a few dot-com companies that operated like this just before the crash.

Sounds like BestBuy has become too comfortable as a company. They are ripe for someone to come by and knock them off their hill.

When employees work half-days, it means you have twice as many emplyees than you need. Time to trim the fat.
- Ubermensch423, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3RTFA
- crash331, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have to agree, and I did RTFA. If you can get your work done in 4 hours each day, then mabe they need to fire someone who takes 8 hours to get it done and give you their workload. That way they have to pay one less employee and you get 16 hours of work done in 8 hours.
- saigumi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, that was my first reaction to the article as well and is the corporate standard.
  
  If you have time to goof off, you need more work.
  
  Which is how the style of management is when the story begins....
  
  The beatings will continue until morale improves.
jhrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have been a work from home employee for more than 5 years. My organization has been working like this for years and productivity is very, very high. Who cares when I work or how much if I get all my work done.
OwdenBowden, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Aha - no I understand all too well why you can't get any ***** help in their retails stores. No ones there!
nepawoods, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no set schedule = slacker???

nonsense.
Bobcat7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Everyday at 5:15 the cleaning guy goes through our office to pick up the trash. The boss is always gone by this time and only me and one other person are still here and we are always goofing off..surfing and reading cartoons. I feel guilty sometimes, cause I just know that guy must think we never do any work.
EP235, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Will someone please list where the best jobs are for "slackers" so I can get a job there...
diggdong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The only downside is they get a paycheck of rebates. Electronic McDonald's. [adjusts beanbag seat]
Bob042, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I live right by this place. My brother's middle school is 3 blocks away.

It annoys me that they said it's in Minneapolis, because it's in Richfield, but then again no one would know where it is then. (Just south of actual Minneapolis).

Being in High School near it, I got to take a tour of the site when it was under construction (cool) and tours when it was working (extremely cool).

They had a room completely outfitted with gaming PCs, and we played UT2K4 against some employees (I won). They had a very nice cafeteria, interesting layouts of offices, and a room of "secret things" that we had to sign something before we were let in.

They had all the stuff 5 years ago or whatever that are just getting marketed now, like tablet PCs, HDTVs, and crazy things that you see now like those fridges with TVs built in.

Oh, and they gave all the schools grant money to buy random frivolous things like 160Gig external harddrives and laptop labs.
Now that I remember it... I've got to see if I can get another tour. =)
CHARLSTORMFRONT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If that works for them. My only problem is, have you ever had to return something to Best Buy Customer Service. I have waited 45 minutes at the University location in Charlotte N.C. That is too long to wait.
ethicalhacker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Kind of old news. This was on NPR last year, but I totally digg this. If I could only convice my employer to do something like this...
2tonshoes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Where's the feedback from our illegal immigrant friends on this one?
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Slacker's Paradise?! Workers at Best Buy corporate have no set schedules.

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