We all have those days at work, when we are pinpointed for the little things, and that hurts our emotions and freedom.
Are you captivated by those meaningless office rules and policies? Do not fall silent, cork up your feelings. It is not that these rules are a bad thing, a company surely needs to set those rules to maintain the discipline in office and for better work outcome, but nobody likes those dumb rules, which have nothing to do with work like limited breaks and lunch time, leaves and many more are discussed below.
What is the point in making the employee work disheartedly, when you are always talking about making office a happier place for employees? The small restrictions at work are the quickest ways to reduce productivity, and it lowers the morale of the team making them feel like being treated as children who don’t know anything. And, ultimately what it all does is inflame bitterness towards management.
Though rules and policies give a power of control to management, but it also crushes creativity, passion, and enthusiasm of employees to work when employed unnecessarily. If the employee is not happy with policies under which he or she has to work, there wouldn’t be any positive outcome from the employee side. And, it certainly increases the chances of sending the good employees packing.
Want to know what those rules can be?
Here is a list of 9 rules that are the most responsible for driving employees at office mad.
Take a look and see if you can relate to any of them:
1. Disciplinarian Attendance Policies
If you are hiring employees, it is on certain basis that they are being hired and you do trust them. In some workplaces, employees are not allowed to come and go according to their convenience. In such cases, the boss happens to send a message, “We don’t trust you.” If you are hiring salaried employees you probably should trust that if they leave early one day they would stay late another day or someday in the following week. They shouldn’t be enquired every time they have to leave early or any such case. If the thing is repeatedly happening and someone is not showing up, they then need to be cut loose.
2. Restrictions on breaks and lunch times
Your every professional is being paid a regular salary for the results they are bringing for the growth of the company. But if you keep your employees under ridiculous restrictions of exceeding lunch time by a few minutes or taking a long break, they will feel underappreciated, especially when many often they are compensating the same time in the evening or work overtime.
3. Strict Dress Code Policies
These days everybody is quite sensible in dressing up appropriately for work. Hiring professionals doesn’t mean you have to force some strict dress code policies for them like those tucked in shirts, professional shoe, formal trousers and all. In case someone wears objectionable and insensible attire, they can be addressed for the same, but the employees shouldn’t be bound to any strict policies related to dress code.
4. Draconian Bathroom Breaks Rule
Really? How cruel is it to ask employees to take less bathroom breaks. Why should anyone stop a human from using the facilities? No matter how many times they need to take the trip, it is really undervalued to stop the employees. This is something very ridiculous and degrading, and a well-managed company would never make such stupid restrictions.
5. Banning Mobile Phone Use
It’s ok to ask employees for being considerate in using their cell phones, but forbidding them certainly is a hell lot of thing. This is next to impossible and it says too much about the company’s work culture. Though phone distracts the professionals from their work, so its usage should be minimized but certainly not diminished as it is equal to killing away their social lives. Completely banning cell phones will show a lack of trust in employees and will leave them frustrated and effortless to work for a company that doesn’t think them capable enough to work responsibly.
6. Leaves and time off
In a full-time employment, the employees are paid for the work they do and not on how much time they sit at their desks. A lot of companies often give warnings to employees who fail to show up on time to the office, but they do not care about those extra minutes they sit for after the normal office hours. This is quite discouraging for employees and should be avoided. At least a few minutes of flexibility in time should be provided for employees. Moreover, the strict documentation for leaves and late time off are really frustrating for employees and it leaves them taking a bigger decision as a solution to this frustration.
7. Opposing Self-Expression
There are some companies putting senseless restrictions on people as to what they can have on their desks and what not. As the employees spend the whole of their day in their office at their desk, they should be allowed to keep things that keep them happy and joyful. Things like photos, plants etc., should be allowed and this will make them smile and bring more creative ideas at work.
8. Not letting employees use the Internet
In today’s world, how awful it is to live without the internet and there are companies that block certain sites such as Facebook and other social media. It is quite appropriate to block unprofessional sites, but companies go extreme and block other useful sites that are necessary for online search content related to work.
9. Pay structures
It is actually a thing of the past to have inflexible salaries. In order to show appreciation to employees work, HR and managers should revise the pay scale of employees. This will always keep the employees trying hard to figure out new ideas and work in a better way for the company. Any percent increase in salary of the employee would be a great surprise for them and also a big motivation.
So, to keep the employees motivated for work, a progressive manager needs to prevent such silly rules. Putting silly restrictions will bring no better results for the company, but only spoil the overall productivity. All you really need to do to keep great employees intact is stop setting useless company rules, AND most importantly Treat them like professionals!
