Companies that focus on results rather than face time in the office may end up with healthier employees, a new study shows.

When management is more flexible about how and when a job gets done, workers get more sleep and exercise, have the time to make doctors’ appointments and are less likely to come to work sick, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

By putting the focus on the end product — whether that is a report or customer satisfaction — the company allows people to make their own schedules, explained the study’s lead author Phyllis Moen, a professor of sociology and McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Minnesota. That lowers stress and allows people to better take care of their health, she added.

Moen and her colleagues stumbled on a unique opportunity when they learned that electronics retailer Best Buy was about to switch to a new work structure at its corporate headquarters. And because the company was going to make the switch one department at a time, the researchers would be able to compare workers from the same company — some working under the old structure and some under the new. It was, Moen said, a “natural experiment.”

The new structure was something called ROWE, or Results Only Work Environment.

To see what impact ROWE would have on employee health, Moen and her colleagues asked employees from a department that was about to switch over to ROWE to fill out a series of questionnaires that looked at everything from hours of sleep to whether employees went to the doctor when sick.

The researchers also asked another group of employees — from a department that wasn’t yet slated to change — to fill out the same questionnaires.

Six months later, Moen and her colleagues came back and questioned both groups again. 

They found that employees from the department that had switched to ROWE were getting an hour more sleep each night compared to six months earlier. These workers were also finding more time to exercise and go to the doctor when they were sick. They were also far less likely to show up at work when they came down with a cold or flu.

The group from the department that had maintained status quo showed no such changes in health behaviors.

“Before ROWE, people said they would drag themselves to work no matter what their temperature was,” Moen said. “And they wouldn’t see the doctor. That’s because in [a standard work environment] it’s so important that we be seen as working hard that we don’t even have time to get to the doctor. And that has become a badge of honor.”

So, is this the wave of the future?

Moen thinks it is.

“To be competitive in the global economy employees are going to have to work smarter — and often do the jobs of two or three people,” she explained. “We have to give them greater control over their time so they can get everything done — so they can keep all the balls in the air without dropping them.”

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Telecommuting parents have little chance to escape the messy world of parenting, a new study suggests.

If you’re considering telecommuting to salve your stress from the constant juggling of work and family, think again.

A new study shows that “telework” takes a toll on the very employees who might desire this option most — those who feel especially torn between job responsibilities and family. For these people, the more hours spent working at home, the higher the risk of burnout, according to the report, published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.

That’s because when job and family are in the same place, some workers feel there is no chance for downtime —no respite or time to relax, said Timothy Golden, an associate professor of management at the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“A teleworker may feel conflict more because you’re being constantly reminded of your home role: whether it’s what you need to do as a parent or household chores,” Golden said. “And that can make exhaustion worse."

Golden surveyed 316 employees from a large computer company that allows workers to  telecommute and to work with a flexible time schedules.

To ferret out the level of job/family conflict, Golden asked employees to rate on a scale of 1 to 5 how strongly they agreed with statements such as, “My work keeps me from my family activities more than I would like,” “Due to pressures at work, sometimes when I am at home I am too stressed to do the things I enjoy,” “The time I spend on family responsibilities often interferes with my work responsibilities,” and “ Because I am often stressed from family responsibilities, I have a hard time concentrating on my work.”

Golden also surveyed the employees about their level of exhaustion. Study volunteers were asked to rate on a scale of 1-5 how strongly they agreed with statements such as, “I feel emotionally drained by my work.”

Telecommuting was a boon to workers who felt little or no conflict between work and family. But those who were the most torn between home and work responsibilities showed increasing levels of exhaustion as hours spent teleworking rose.

Still, Golden said,  even among those who feel strong conflict, telecommuting can be a good choice if it’s done right. That means having clear boundaries, both mental and physical — such as a door to one’s home office — between work and family.

“Telework, if it’s done well, can be very beneficial,” he added. “You save time commuting. You don’t have to deal with the stress of being delayed on your way to work because of traffic or weather. You have the comfort of working where you want to. But you have to think ahead of time about what might impact you if you’re working from home.”