Managing work and life balance is a management concern that came late to the frenzied environment of California´s Silicon Valley. The stereotype is that of young employees working around the clock and catching catnaps under desks in order to beat competitors to market and launch the next revolutionary technology.
At Sun Microsystems, managers realized this environment is neither desirable nor broadly sustainable. They saw an opportunity to design a program that increases job satisfaction and provides a work environment that encourages a balanced personal life.
Through a progressive flexible work program called Open Work, Sun was able to offer its employees freedom to avoid long commutes and to manage day-to-day demands on time while saving hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate and energy costs.
All it took was rethinking where, how and by whom work needs to be done in a networked age.
Flexibility Increases Employee Satisfaction and Saves Money
Silicon Valley is infamous for its traffic, with an average 143,900 hours spent delayed in congested traffic per year. All locals cherish any opportunities to avoid gruesome traffic snarls and the freedom to live in the areas where dwindling affordable housing still exists.
In 1994, Sun implemented Open Work, an aggressive push to encourage workers to give up fixed offices in exchange for the opportunity to work from anywhere. The ubiquity of information on Sun´s network, along with its thin client Sun Ray work terminals, removed productivity´s ties to the physical office. Empowered with the ability to work remotely, a majority of Sun employees took control of their own schedules.
For example, a worker who lives in San Francisco but whose daughter has a 4 p.m. swim meet in Menlo Park is able to work in the Menlo office in guest office space and attend the meet without negotiating outbound traffic. On average, Sun employees save two hours a week in commute time by using the Open Work program.
Employees with home offices are able to save time by staying out of traffic, which is often unpredictable. In May, as the San Francisco Bay Area experienced a highway collapse, officials expected a traffic nightmare. However, thanks in part to Open Work and similar programs, employees who worked from home or flexible offices helped lessen the impact of the collapse by staying off the roads.
This year, 56 percent of Sun´s employees work without an assigned office. Since the Open Work program began, average productivity has increased 34 percent.
The program also contributes to the bottom line and the company´s efforts in eco-responsibility. The reduced need for fixed offices has cut Sun´s real estate costs by $67.8 million in FY ´06 alone, and is expected to save $387 million over six years. It contributes to Sun´s eco-responsibility initiative by helping reduce commute times and lowering CO2 emissions. Employees spend less time in the car, lessening the impact of fossil fuels on the environment. Due to employee fuel savings, lower real estate costs and thin client energy savings, Sun has saved the Silicon Valley an estimated 18,000 tons of CO2 per month.
Implementation: Employees Happy About Working in Less Space
For more than 10 years, Sun experimented, tested and refined technology, tools and practices to meet the needs of the changing world. Program implementation involved observing the business landscape, examining company workforce infrastructure, obtaining data on employee work preferences, and finding a solution to the demand for more flexible yet efficient workforces.
The difficulty is in creating a remote work environment that mirrors a face-to-face environment. Open Work requires managers to find management methods that fit various work styles as well as finding employees that are the right fit for an Open Work situation. The program is, of course, not open to all employees. Receptionists, for example, need to be at the front desk, and engineers need more face-to-face interaction than other employees and access to lab equipment. However, for most workers, it is an option. The benefit is rolled out via an application form on Sun´s Web site.
Whether a worker is designated an Open Worker or not, managers ensure that employees are delivering the expected results. Each employee is responsible for doing their job even if they are working from home, a satellite office or other remote location. By tracking deliverables and accomplishments, managers can evaluate employees accurately on their work performance.
Open Work has proven to be successful, both financially and with employee satisfaction and productivity. This program is a tribute to the innovative mind-set of Sun´s management and employees. Employees and management are unified in their goal of delivering innovative, world changing technology-and have proven that innovation permeates throughout Sun all the way down to how they work.
With a solid background in civil engineering, marketing, real estate, corporate services and consulting, Ann Bamesberger´s entire career has prepared her for this role. She was pivotal in the concept, design and implementation of Sun´s innovative flexible office program, an early component of what is now the Sun Open Work Practice. An energetic and results-driven leader, Bamesberger thrives on the opportunity to be creative and design solutions that "turn the existing model on its ear." For more information about Sun´s Open Work program, visit www.sun.com.
