When you ping employees for being five minutes late even though they routinely stay back and put in time on weekends, you send the message that policies take precedence over performance. Photo: freepik.com.
Every organisation needs rules for its employees, but Travis Bradberry lists some unnecessary and demoralising restrictions that have good workers heading for the exit.
It’s tough to hold on to good employees, but it shouldn’t be. Most of the mistakes that employers make are easily avoided.
When mistakes are made, the best workers are the first to go, because they have the most options.
Every organisation has to have rules for its employees — that’s a given — but they don’t have to be foolish and lazy attempts at creating order.
I understand the temptation. As my company grew, so did my difficulty in maintaining standards. There were instances where someone crossed a line, and I was tempted to respond with a new rule that applied to everyone — but that’s where most organisations blow it.
In just about every instance, upon closer inspection, I 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 needed to be handled one-on-one by the employee’s manager.
When ridiculous and demoralising rules are made to halt the outlandish behaviour of maybe just one individual, it makes a bad situation that much worse.
Let’s explore some of the worst rules that organisations create when they fall into this trap and see if we can’t influence people to think differently about them.
The six-month rule: Many organisations won’t let you transfer or take up a promotion until you’ve held a position for six months.
Employers might have got away with this rule when our parents were entering the workforce, but these days good people are more likely to jump ship rather than wait around for some arbitrary rule to kick in.
An employee’s manager should have the freedom to decide when an employee is ready for a promotion or would perform better in a different role.
Ridiculous requirements for attendance, leave, and time off: People are paid for the work they do, not the specific hours they sit at their desks.
When you ping employees for showing up five minutes late even though they routinely stay back and put in time on weekends, 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 mouths of employees, who deserve better.
After all, if you have employees who will fake a death to miss a day’s work, what does that say about your organisation?
Shutting down self-expression: Dress codes may work well in private 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.
Restricting internet use: There are certain sites that no-one should be visiting at work, but once you block pornography and the other obvious stuff, it’s a difficult and arbitrary process deciding where to draw the line.
People should be able to kill time on the internet during their breaks. When internet activity is unnecessarily restricted, it does more than demoralise those who can’t check Facebook; it limits people’s ability to do their jobs.
Many organisations restrict internet activity so heavily it makes it difficult for people to do online research. The most obvious example? Checking the Facebook profile of someone you have just interviewed.
Banning mobile phones: If I ban mobile phones in the office, no-one will waste time texting and talking to family and friends — right?
Wrong, because organisations need to do the difficult work of hiring people who are trustworthy and who won’t take advantage of things like this.
They also need to train managers to deal effectively with employees who underperform and/or violate expectations (such as spending too much time on their phones).
This is also hard work, but it’s worth it. 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.
Stealing employees’ frequent-flyer points: If there’s one thing that road-weary travelling employees earn, it’s their frequent-flyer points.
When employers don’t let people keep their points 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’ points sends the message that you don’t appreciate their sacrifice and that you’ll hold on to every last dollar at their expense.
Draconian email policies: This is a newer one that’s already moving down a slippery slope.
Some organisations are becoming 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.
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.
Pathetic attempts at political correctness: Maintaining high standards for how people treat each other is essential as we live in a world that’s rife with animosity and discrimination.
However, going on a witch-hunt because someone says “Bless you” to another employee who sneezed (real example) creates an environment of paranoia that stifles self-expression, without improving how people treat each other.
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. His books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. He can be contacted at TalentSmart.com. This article first appeared on the TalentSmart website.
