Company Rules that Cause Good Employees to Quit

Company Rules that Cause Good Employees to Quit People employees included tend to behave how you expect them to. If you trust them and treat them like adults, more often than notlage, they will behave as such and get the job done. If you micromanage, create policies daily and think they are all slackers, you might be asking for it. Too often, what could be great employers spend too much time penalizing the many for the mistakes of the few and cost themselves outstanding employees along the way. If your employer refuses to budge on the issues below, it could be a sign that theyre a bad match for you in the long run. 1. Working from home is a no go (no flexibility in general).I get it. There are some roles where it simply isnt feasible to work from home 100% of the time and get your work done as well if you were on site. However, that doesnt mean that you cant do a work-from-home day every once and a while to catch up on the things youre never able to accomplish in the office because of all of the interruptions. Places that refuse to even entertain the idea of letting you work from home every so often are missing the point. Youre not sitting on the couch eating bonbons and watching soaps. Working from home is just that. Working.And if your employer is telling you that you cant do your job anywhere but at their location, and on their timing, is a little short sighted, especially if they ask you to be attached to your phone and responsive more often than not And lets not forget places that lack flexibility in general in terms of schedule. If youre an early bird who can come in early, deliver on tasks and be out the door by5 p.m., yet your company says, No, the hours are 9 - 530 even though you came in at 8.thats just silly. It would be one thing if you werent delivering, but if they care more about butts in seats than getting great work done, they will lose people. 2. Unpaid parental leave. This is a HUGE deal. Becoming a parent is a major life change. Attemptin g to do so with no payment whatsoever only adds to the stress that youre under. Organizations who truly care about the big picture and the lives of the people who work for them recognize this and do their best to help fund this time for the family. Whether its short term disability or paying salary outright, there are options that organizations can provide that would help them keep their new parents happier, performing effectively and longer term within their business.3. Dress code. There are business dress codes out there that are pages long. I kid you not. If the people youre hiring cant figure out how to dress themselves without pages of copious notes and details on how to, youre doing something wrong. In order to have a thriving culturethat retains its employees, organizations need to have faith in their teams. Assume positive intent and help them out when they need it. Most businesses create policies, because quite frankly, conversations telling someone they arent dressed appro priately are awkward and no one wants to have them. So, they figure, lets spell it all out in this manual that no one ever reads and were golden. Wrong. And unnecessary. treatthemlikeadults4. Approvals for everything. Empowering people to make decisions, to make change, to create new ideas and processes is everything. If a business creates red tape more than anything else, whats that about? If you need to head out early for an event, its one thing to shoot a text to your babo to communicate, its a totally different ballgame if theres a several level step process to get approved to do so. Places that function that way feel more like a prison than an employer to most people. No one will stick around in that realm in the long term. Environments that are founded on things like the policies listed above arent conducive to people doing great work which is what people want to do. Its no wonder that a policy-driven placethat hasnt taken the time to get to know what truly motivates their em ployees, and craft an environment around that, loses its people. If you find yourself seeing your current employer left and right as you read, it may be time to rethink things. Or, at the very least, have a conversation about more progressive policies with HR--Kelly is a human resources pro and coach who helps people find and achieve what they want career-wise and beyond. Coaching, training, recruiting if you name it in the world of HR, shes done it in a variety of industries. Her advice has been featured on The Muse, Career Contessa, Levo, Workology, among others. Learn more by scoping her out at www.kellypoulson.com.