How often have you used this phrase as an HR pro?
When all logic and explanations fail, HR Pros are often found guilty of taking refuge under this clause or so does it seem. Most employees dread this, as it signals the end of a rational argument with their employers.
Often, too well defined policies prevent employees from contesting its existence and rationale. The myriad maze of policies and the consequent multitude of procedures leave employees dazed. Though implemented with the right intentions, most policies do not end up doing what they were meant to do and consume significant organisational energies, lead to procedural delays in decision making and strengthen bureaucratic practices.
So, the key question remains...
- Do we really need a policy for everything? Or Should they be considered only for the essentials?
To answer this we would need to understand the very purpose of their existence in the first place.
As organisations grew, so did the complexities related to their activities.
There were multiple things to be done and they needed to be done in a particular way to yield a desired result.
A lack of clarity on how things needed to be done often caused confusion. As a result, organisations began to document the preferred manner in which their activities could be carried out. These documents were referred to as the basic guidelines of employee actions and were tightly linked to their value systems.
Over a period of time, policies became the foundation of every action that an employee could take. They were intended to make employee accountable for their actions and enable clear decision making. Thus almost every conceivable action such as the number of hours to be spent at work, dressing, vacations, wage hikes etc etc were determined by the policies.
And so it did serve a purpose at least for a while.
Now the other side of the story...
With a more inventive, freedom loving and knowledgeable talent entering the workforce, the relevance of organisational policies is in question today. The present day employees want to be treated as responsible adults.
Rather than working in an environment filled with bureaucracy and predetermined procedures, they would love to spend their waking hours experimenting with their intuitions and creatively challenging the status qou.
Though we cannot arrive at a conclusion on this debate, it would be interesting to watch out how this space plays out in the future.
Change in Action
Certain firms have not just gone beyond just removing policies, but also made radical changes in the way they perceive their employees. Take for instance, Netflix which has decided to remove the vacation policy itself, giving employees the freedom to chose their time off.
Read the Harvard Business Review on How Netflix Reinvented HR for more details on their policy makeover.
Also Sir Richard Branson, made a dramatic change in Virgin Atlantic's Leave policies - rather he completely revoked the policy itslef - something called Un Policy.
Read the entire article on Virgin Atlantic's Leave policies here....
You might also like a more light hearted view on weird Employee Policies that rocked the world here...
As organisations grew, so did the complexities related to their activities.
There were multiple things to be done and they needed to be done in a particular way to yield a desired result.
A lack of clarity on how things needed to be done often caused confusion. As a result, organisations began to document the preferred manner in which their activities could be carried out. These documents were referred to as the basic guidelines of employee actions and were tightly linked to their value systems.
Over a period of time, policies became the foundation of every action that an employee could take. They were intended to make employee accountable for their actions and enable clear decision making. Thus almost every conceivable action such as the number of hours to be spent at work, dressing, vacations, wage hikes etc etc were determined by the policies.
And so it did serve a purpose at least for a while.
Now the other side of the story...
With a more inventive, freedom loving and knowledgeable talent entering the workforce, the relevance of organisational policies is in question today. The present day employees want to be treated as responsible adults.
Rather than working in an environment filled with bureaucracy and predetermined procedures, they would love to spend their waking hours experimenting with their intuitions and creatively challenging the status qou.
Though we cannot arrive at a conclusion on this debate, it would be interesting to watch out how this space plays out in the future.
Change in Action
Certain firms have not just gone beyond just removing policies, but also made radical changes in the way they perceive their employees. Take for instance, Netflix which has decided to remove the vacation policy itself, giving employees the freedom to chose their time off.
Read the Harvard Business Review on How Netflix Reinvented HR for more details on their policy makeover.
Also Sir Richard Branson, made a dramatic change in Virgin Atlantic's Leave policies - rather he completely revoked the policy itslef - something called Un Policy.
Read the entire article on Virgin Atlantic's Leave policies here....
You might also like a more light hearted view on weird Employee Policies that rocked the world here...
