After holiday parties fade into memory and annual bonuses are distributed and spent, your company can give one more gift to its workers that will last for years to come.
It’s the present of eliminating corporate policies that are outdated, unnecessary, and unfriendly to employees.
Chances are your organization has several of these rules. And while they may have seemed like a good idea when they were implemented, a closer look now will show that it’s time to get rid of them and move on.
According to a recent Forbes article by Liz Ryan, CEO and founder of Human Workplace, many organizations are still following archaic rules that they should have abolished decades ago. “They don’t realize that every policy they shove down their employees’ throats is another reason for a talented person to leave them and work for a more deserving organization.”
To avoid that problem, and to get 2017 off to a great start, you should consider eliminating these corporate policies:
1. Rules that link time off with a disciplinary infraction.
“If an employee needs time off to deal with a personal issue (a kid’s illness, a court date, a plumber’s visit, an automotive repair, etc.) and they don’t have available paid time off to cover the absence, then don’t pay them—but don’t put a black mark in their personnel file! You hire adults. Don’t treat them like children,” the Forbes article says.
Even better, offer a little flexibility to help them take care of such obligations.
2. Regulations that limit flex work.
Today’s workers crave options to work from home occasionally, shift their schedules, or otherwise enjoy flexible work options.
Discover a better way to recruit remote talent
Founded in 2007, FlexJobs is the most experienced remote & hybrid hiring platform.
- Unlimited job posts
- Low, flat membership fee
- Access top-level remote advice
- Unlimited resume searches
- Reach the right candidates
- And so much more!
Instead of maintaining policies that make this difficult, work with your employees to come up with a plan for formalizing work flex in ways that will be beneficial to both them and the company.
3. Policies that require an employee to receive her current manager’s approval if she wants to move to a different position in the company.
As the Forbes article notes, you can’t stop your workers from applying for jobs with other companies. If you make it difficult for them to transfer within your business, they’ll probably just leave.
4. Requirements that managers rank their employees against one another.
In the Forbes article, Ryan pulls no punches in describing her feelings about such programs: “Vile and pointless stack-ranking programs are ineffective, expensive, and trust-killing atrocities.”
5. Detailed dress code policies.
Instead of specifying every little thing employees can or cannot wear, direct them to “dress appropriately for a business office, and err on the side of caution,” the Forbes article suggests.
While this may lead to a few awkward conversations for managers, chances are those chats would happen anyway.
If your company offers flexible work options, you should make sure your policy takes that into account. (In other words, are pajamas always acceptable attire if you’re working from home, even if you’ve got an important conference call on your calendar?)
6. Rules that prohibit managers from giving positive references to great workers after they’ve left the company.
“These horrendous policies assume that your managers are too stupid to give a reference without sliming a former employee and thereby exposing your company to a defamation charge,” Ryan says in the Forbes article. “Are your managers that stupid? If so, how stupid are you for hiring them?”
7. Policies that base a worker’s pay increase on anything other than his market value.
Flat-rate, across-the-board increases may make a manager’s life easier—at least in the short term—but they also tell your top performers that they’re not valued. And if they feel that way, they’ll soon be the best workers for your competitors.
8. Onerous (and often unenforceable) non-compete policies.
These used to be rare, but they’ve proliferated in the last few years, and many companies are imposing them on workers who are unlikely to dash to a competitor with highly sensitive trade secrets.
Instead of blanketing the workforce with non-competes, use them sparingly and wisely. And while you’re at it, try building a corporate culture of flexibility, appreciation, and personal development that will encourage your employees to stay.
9. Requirements for tracking keystrokes or other trivial data.
In a LinkedIn article, Ryan says companies should eschew policies that track workers in this way and hold them up to arbitrary yardsticks. “Would you expect to get whole-hearted effort from people whose every move at work is sliced and diced and measured?”
This can lead to challenges for remote workers, who need some kind of time-tracking system, at least. But there’s plenty of software available to help you get the information you really need without appearing to be a dark overlord of data.
10. Anything else in your employee handbook that treats employees like potential criminals.
As the Forbes article says, if there is an “us” and a “them” in your company, your corporate culture is broken. “All the energy you might spend protecting your company against your own employees is energy that should go to serving your customers, delighting your shareholders, and making your organization an amazing, vibrant, human place to work.”
Follow these suggestions, and you’re sure to see an addition to workers’ morale, loyalty, and engagement by subtraction of policies and regulations that don’t really help your business, anyway.
Looking to hire flex workers?
Request an Invite to FlexJobs
Which of these 10 corporate policies has been most irritating to you during your career, and why? What other rules that are unfriendly to workers would you add to this list? Please share your ideas in the comments section.
Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com
Don't forget to share this article with colleagues!
