Travis Bradberry* says when organisations introduce rules for everyone because one individual steps out of line, it is frustrating and demoralising for those who have been doing the right thing.
Workplaces need to have rules — that’s a given — but they don’t have to be short-sighted and lazy attempts at creating order.
I understand the temptation. As my company has grown, so has the difficulty of maintaining standards.
There have been many instances where someone crossed a line, and we were tempted to respond with a new rule that applied to everyone.
That’s where most organisations blow it.
In just about every instance, upon closer inspection, we realised that establishing a new rule would be a passive and morale-killing way to address the problem.
The vast majority of the time, the problem needs to be handled one-on-one by the employee’s manager.
When ridiculous and demoralising rules are instituted to halt the outlandish behaviour of a few, it’s a management problem.
There’s no sense in alienating your entire workforce because you don’t know how to manage performance.
Here are some of the worst rules that organisations create when they fall into this trap.
Bell curves and forced rankings of performance
Some individual talents follow a natural bell-shaped curve, but job performance does not.
When you force employees to fit into a pre-determined ranking system, you do three things.
You incorrectly evaluate people’s performance; you make everyone feel like a number, and you create insecurity and dissatisfaction.
This is yet another example of a lazy policy that avoids the hard and necessary work of evaluating each individual objectively, based on his or her merits.
Ridiculous requirements for attendance, leave, and time off
People are paid for the work they do, not the time they sit at their desks.
When you ding employees for showing up five minutes late even though they routinely stay late and put in time on the weekend, you send the message that policies take precedence over performance.
When organisations are unnecessarily strict in requiring documentation for bereavement and medical leave, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
After all, if you have employees who will fake a death to miss a day’s work, what does that say about your organisation?
Restricting internet use
There are certain sites that no one should be visiting at work, but once you block pornography and other obvious stuff, it’s difficult deciding where to draw the line.
People should be able to kill time on the internet during breaks.
When organisations unnecessarily restrict people’s internet activity, it can limit their ability to do their jobs.
The most obvious example is checking the Facebook profile of someone you just interviewed.
Banning mobile phones
Organisations need to do the difficult work of hiring people who are trustworthy and who won’t take advantage of things.
They also need to train managers to deal effectively with employees who under-perform and/or violate expectations.
The easy, knee-jerk alternative (banning phones) demoralises good employees who need to check their phones periodically due to pressing family or health issues or as an appropriate break from work.
Draconian email policies
Some organisations are getting so restrictive with email use that employees must select from a list of pre-approved topics before the email software will allow them to send a message.
Again, it’s about trust. If you don’t trust your people to use email properly, why did you hire them in the first place?
In trying to rein in the bad guys, you make everyone miserable every time they send an email.
Guess what? The bad guys are the ones who will find ways to get around any system you put in place.
Stealing employees’ frequent-flyer miles
If there’s one thing that road-weary traveling employees earn, it’s their frequent flyer miles.
When employers don’t let people keep their miles for personal use, it’s a greedy move that fuels resentment with every flight.
Work travel is a major sacrifice of time, energy, and sanity.
Taking employees’ miles sends the message that you don’t appreciate their sacrifice and that you’ll hold on to every last dollar at their expense.
Pathetic attempts at political correctness
Maintaining high standards for how people treat each other is a wonderful thing as we live in a world that’s rife with animosity and discrimination.
Still, employers have to know where to draw the line.
Going on a witch-hunt because someone says “bless you” to another employee that sneezed (real example) creates an environment of paranoia.
Shutting down self-expression
Many organisations control what people can have at their desks.
They dictate how many photographs people can display, whether or not they can use a water bottle, and how many items they’re allowed to place on their desks.
Same goes for dress codes. They work well in private high schools, but they’re unnecessary at work.
Hire professionals and they’ll dress professionally. When someone crosses the line, their manager needs to have the skill to address the issue directly.
Otherwise, you’re making everyone wish they worked somewhere else because management is too inept to handle touchy subjects effectively.
If organisations can rethink their policies and remove or alter those that are unnecessary or demoralising, we’ll all have a more enjoyable and productive time at work.
*Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the co-founder of TalentSmart. He can be contacted at TalentSmart.com.
This article first appeared at talentsmart.com.
