When I had an FFA (foster family agency), I allowed my social workers to work from home and only come into the office when we had a staff meeting or when they had to turn in reports. They did their home visits in the foster homes, but otherwise they did whatever they wanted throughout their day. I didn’t care if they wrote their reports at 1:00am or 11:00am, if they were dress in business casual or their bathrobes. All I cared about what that they performed their jobs to the high standard I expected. I paid better than my competitors. I had the best social workers working for me. Provide a respectful working environment and a respectable wage and you will attract the best.

I love the idea of allowing people to perform in an environment that brings out the best in them. I have found that I can usually do 40 hours of work in 8 hours and do it better than most. When I worked for someone else, I hated the fact that by the end of business on Monday I was done with all my work for the week. I had to spend the rest of the week “looking” busy. I was bored out of my skull.

I am now a firm believer in paying people based upon performance, not hours worked. Can you imagine how much better our educational system would be if we went to this method of reimbursement? No more “Little Johnny can’t do the work” to “I changed my teaching style to fit Little Johnny’s learning style and he has just blossomed.”