Ten Stupid Rules & Policies That Make Great Employees Turn and Run the Other Way
My Grandfather (Mother’s father) put up with stupid corporate rules because it was that or don’t have a good job – plus it was a real career path which offered bonuses, pay grades above average, pension plan, etc… This comes from the age of the general understanding that your job was usually long term – you wouldn’t leave, and you generally worked for one or two employer during your adult life.
Well now we’re in a new century, actually we’re already fifteen years into the new century, and the corporate world has changed so much in the last fifty years it’s almost hard to believe that we still see so much wrong with corporate policies, rules, and politics today. So many employers still carry the old “Mad-Men-Era” beliefs. Companies [and their bosses] who fail to identify the connections between policies, passion, performance, and profits, continue to turnover good staff – believing that there must be something wrong with the personnel they’ve been hiring.
The four “P’s” as I like to call them are arranged into simple little phrases that go something like this:
The more policies, the less passion you’ll get from your team.
The less passion, the less exciting the team’s performance will be.
The less exciting the performance, the lower your profits will be.
If you happen to be a manager reading this, I hope that you find the read a rewarding and intelligent one, and that maybe you’ll rethink your approach in your policies…
Now for the top ten stupid rules & policies:
Attendance and lateness to work
Running late- it happens to ALL of us, sometimes it the traffic, car breaks down, kids won’t get ready on time, or you simply overslept. All these are valid reasons and are generally excusable. Some managers however tend to act like that they don’t tolerate lateness of any kind and will even go as far as to either dock your wage or demand you work back after hours – especially for staff on wages who are paid on an hourly basis.
Now how about staff on salaries? Well, they’re on a salary, if you’re telling them off for being five or ten minutes late to the office, yet, they generally work back most days, sometimes more than an hour, then maybe you don’t really deserve them on your team.
In either case, wage or salary, getting bent out of shape about the rare lateness to work is generally unacceptable to your staff – they have lives too, and sometimes, stuff happens!
Approvals for trivial expenditure
When it comes to spending big bucks on an upcoming project, new recruitment, company vehicle, or something of this latitude, we should be expected to make requisition from someone higher up.
How about a replacement stapler? Computer peripherals? Or necessities such as tea and toilet paper?
Requiring written permission from management to spend on such trivial items is a waste of money and time which could be better spent in the business, and an added insult to the very staff hired. If we adults, we cannot be trusted to purchase these trivial items as needed, then how can we even be trusted to do the very job you hired us for?
Bereavement-Leave Policies
Believe it or not, (and I know from personal experience), there are still employers out there that demand employees submit written proof of bereavement leave before leave will be paid! This is truly rude and untrusting. Trust your employees and they’ll learn to trust you. Enough said!
Freebies and Points earned by employees are property of the company, policies
Almost stated in the title of this item: “freebies and points earned by employees…”. That’s right. As an employee who has worked hard, and established a great relationship with a client, supplier, or other external business partner, you are the deserving heir of any and all gifts that are given intended for you. You get a visit from your account manager from “ABC Stationary”, establish rapport, and at Christmas time, he gives you a bottle of wine – it’s yours, unless it is stated to be given to your employer. Employers shouldn’t be able to take that away from you, you’ve earned it – not them.
Same goes when you travel lots for work. You traveling means, you leave your life behind, your family & pets, everything, so you can go do bidding for your employer – and you don’t get paid any additional (or maybe some, but not for every hour that you’re away from your life). But guess what, your employer has some stupid policy that states: Any and all frequent flyer points earned by the employee whilst traveling are to be surrendered to the business and will remain the property of the employer. Absolute bogus! You earned them, you keep them – and if you happen to work for a company that is scroogey enough to hold such a policy, it needs to be torn up – pronto!
Conduct of Dress Code
Many business today have a set uniform or at the least, a shirt that is part of the uniform which represents the brand. What about pants and shoes? Or other items such as jewelry and makeup?
Some businesses don’t have a branded shirt that everyone is required to wear – what then?
Some employers write dress code policies because they are simply too embarrassed to actually speak to their employees face to face about their “totally out there” attire. Well tough! You want to be the manager, then speaking to your employees comes part and parcel with the role.
Remove the stupidity from the business, rid this policy, and keep it real. If required, remind your employees to “dress appropriate for doing business”.
Performance Reviews & Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
Both of the above are becoming more and more popular in businesses around the world today, especially in businesses that don’t have a great turnover and have experienced any form or negative impact caused by the Global Financial Crisis.
Performance reviews are in general, a bureaucratic waste of time & resources. Either your staff are fit for their role, or they aren’t. In some cases, managers try to fit their staff into pre-set slots or moulds – thus preventing them from glowing in their positions – these are the worst kind of manager to work for!
As for KPI’s? Well, either the current business model is working (big profits, happy shareholders, and happy staff), or it isn’t. Placing KPI’s on staff only further de-motivates them from the focus of their work, and shifts their focus from striving for greatness for the greater good of the business, to simply, getting through the day enough to meet the requirements of their KPI. Do you really want your staff working to meet only their KPI’s? Or would you prefer to drop them and encourage (positively) that they strive for greater goals, thus generating greater rewards down the track?
Formal Feedback Systems
Some employers put in place formal “employee feedback” systems to try and ascertain employees’ perspective on how they feel their employers (and the business) is doing. Honestly, this is a great waste of time and is generally a rude way of engaging with your employees. Be honest, open, and upfront – walk up to them and ask outright how things are going, and ask them to be honest too. Be casual, friendly, and don’t appear “fake”, agitated, or expecting of “the right answer” in your approach. You’d be surprised with the feedback you’ll get after doing this a couple of times. When you receive the response, process it carefully. Don’t judge, don’t get instantly angry or defensive should you not get the response you’re looking for.
Just to put this into perspective a little further, imagine for a second, you took home a copy of the employee feedback policy, modified it a little, and asked your wife to fill it in to provide feedback of how you’re doing as a partner – one thing’s for sure – don’t expect great feedback. She wants you to engage with her openly and verbally, not through some bureaucratic nonsense.
Probation and Discipline
Probation – is it really necessary? Let’s think about that for a second. You get a tradesman in to say fix an electrical or plumbing fault. Do you place him on a probation? What about your local sports coach when you first sign your kids up for the play?
Let’s now put this into a professional perspective. If you hire someone, and things aren’t working out, you need to have a conversation with them and lay it out on the table. Work through the issues and come to a level understanding. If you both cannot come to a mutual agreement on the issue(s), maybe try suggesting that they may not be fit for the position, admit fault in the interviewing and hiring process, and encourage them on their journey to a better workplace or career path.
This puts you in the position of being the bigger adult, while making them feel like they are in the position of decision making power. They’ll do one of two thing: Leave, and find a job elsewhere, or two, stay and “fight for their rights” only to later improve themselves, or, continue to prove that they’re not suited to the job. This only gives you further leverage for sending them on their way.
As for disciplinary procedures, well we’re all grown-ups here. If a mistake is made by someone, sit down with them and try to work out where things broke down. We live in a world of knowledge, so let’s use this knowledge to figure out how to overcome this obstacle to prevent it from reoccurring again. Ensure there are adequate business process systems in place to mitigate potential error. If a mistake is made, find the hole in the system, agree as a team on the system change, and ensure everyone is on par with how to do their part. Most business mistakes are usually caused by issues with business processes followed by human error due to the system failure.
What does a written warning do? Nothing positive – let me reassure you… It’s the sure way to start the down escalator in an employee’s self esteem in their role and they will feel bitter about it, and in most cases, little to no improvement is gained from a written warning. You might see a slight improvement (at best) in the area where the failure occurred, but you’ll start to see other areas slip as the morale takes a nose dive.
Employee Ranking
This one personally grinds my gears!!! Employees are not clear cookie cutter replicated robots that can be measured against each other, and any employer that believes for a second that they can compare employees against each other for any reason, doesn’t deserve their own position or to have anyone working under them.
Everyone is different from each other and smart employees have always known this. If an employee even gets a small hint that they’re being compared to another employee, they really should look at moving on as this is a sure sign that their current employer doesn’t value their employees. There are plenty of other employers out there seeking valuable employees to join their team!
Stinky Hiring Processes
No employer when seeking new staff wants to waste valuable time on the hiring process, and no job applicant wants to jump through ridiculous hoops just to get into the interview room.
If you’re serious about hiring new staff, there are some quick and easy tips to speed up the process and remove potential applicant confusion in the process:
1 > Submit your written job descriptions to more than one job search provider, and ensure the descriptions are written in plain english (or your local language), and not in some stupid, hard to understand, corporate speak. Ensure to use dot points. Don’t hide facts about the position or the company.
2 > Each applicant is a human being and could be your potential team member; whilst you might think yourself clever and think you’re trying to see right through them, there’s a good chance, that if they’re a smart applicant, they’re also sizing you and the business up. Remember, while they’re an applicant, they’re also checking out the possibilities that may await them, and if they don’t like you, the hiring process, or the general atmosphere they pick up on their short visit, they may turn down the position.
3 > Make sure the interview process and the overall application process is fast, friendly, and professional. Treat your applicants the same you would treat a potential client. After all, you want to make the best impression possible while ensuring your applicants do the same and potentially fit the role. Preventing the interviews from dragging out also can show prospective employees that your business strives for efficiencies within its operations!
If an employer merely piles up the resumes and searches for keywords in hopes of finding a suitable applicant – discarding those that lack evident keywords, then they’re destined for a higher failure rate and will find themselves wondering why little to no talent keeps walking through their doors.
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