Policies can be annoying. Rules and restrictions may be well-intentioned, but sometimes, they also feel irrelevant. The average work-from-home policy is a great example.
Organizations that allow employees to work from home often set limits on frequency and duration. Some firms even require advanced permission. (Funny how kids only get sick at the last minute.) These policy restrictions frustrate managers with unproductive tasks while distracting employees from focusing on their work.
When a work-from-home policy becomes tedious, employees don’t take advantage of the benefits of working from home. They stay in uninspiring cubicles instead of coffee shops. They commute instead of connect. Sadly, so much headache could be avoided if more companies adopted the one-sentence work-from-home policy.
The One-Sentence Work from Home Policy
Throw away your complicated work-from-home policy, and replace it with something much simpler. Are you ready?
Finish your work well from wherever you want.
That’s it! And that’s enough. If employees complete their work on time, and if they do a quality job, then location shouldn’t matter. Ultimately, most managers just need their employees to be productive, not present. So why waste the effort to prop up pre-internet ways of working?
Work Is an Activity, Not a Location
There is a big difference between “going to work” and “getting to work.” Of the two, only “getting to work” creates value. Managers should focus on improving the quality of the work and the efficiency of completion, rather than juggling the logistics of employee location.
Write a policy that gives your employees the freedom to work in ways and places (and attire) that are better for them. Happy employees with the flexibility to work how they want to are more productive, healthier, greener, and more loyal. Shedding unnecessary weight from your work-from-home policy makes that easier.