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O P I N I O N
Set them free Arbitrary or unduly bureaucratic rules demotivate employees, impose unnecessary constraints, and can even spark an office rebellion.
Y ears ago, I started work at a new office where I had two administrative assistants supporting me. One late afternoon in my first week, I walked out of my office to go speak with a colleague and noticed one of the assistants sitting at his desk with a notebook at the ready. He was just sitting there. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was waiting for me to go home.
Bill Murphey CONTINUING ED
had a policy manual, so use that space to make your expectations clear. Make your policy manual elec- tronic, so anyone can refer to it at any time. The culture of that organization had been such that you were expected to stay at the office until “Tell your employees to go home. Your employees have lives outside of the firm. Encourage them to attend life events, such as evening classes, youth sporting events, or midday school events.”
I was dumbfounded. In a very caring, but not-so- subtle manner, I ran him out of the office and told him to never do that again. He was not allowed to simply wait for me to leave. If he was done with his work for the day, he could leave at any time, even if it was before the end of the “normal” business day. ❚ ❚ Tell your employees to go home. Your employees have lives outside of the firm. Encourage them to attend life events, such as evening classes, youth sporting events, or midday school events. If their personal life is in order, chances are their work life will fall into place. ❚ ❚ Make your expectations explicit. Let your em- ployees know what is expected of them, so there’s no guessing. According to Zweig Group’s 2016 Policies, Procedures, and Benefits Survey , 97 percent of firms
See BILL MURPHEY, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER August 29, 2016, ISSUE 1166
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