Do\u00a0you ever stop to think about how your startup\u2019s employee-friendly policies are affecting your team?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean the Ping-Pong table or the free gym membership. I\u2019m talking about the things that have a more fundamental impact on your employees\u2019 lives, such as\u00a0vacation time and working hours.\u00a0While your perceived \u201cgenerosity\u201d may work in terms of getting new hires in the door, certain trendy tactics used to increase productivity may actually be working against you.<\/p>\n
Here are a few policies I\u2019ve considered and happily discarded for my business:<\/p>\n
Ever watch people go out to lunch with their boss? It\u2019s fascinating to see how they wait for unspoken instructions. Does the boss order alcohol? Does she order an appetizer?<\/p>\n
People determine their actions by how the most dominant person at the table sets the pace. When people aren\u2019t given clear standards and expectations, they don\u2019t know how to behave.<\/p>\n
If you tell your team that they have \u201cunlimited\u201d vacation time or that there\u2019s \u201cno vacation policy,\u201d you\u2019re not setting the pace at all. You\u2019re telling them to be scared for their job every time they ask for time off.<\/p>\n
I know you think that\u00a0your<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>team is different. They understand that you genuinely want them to relax and disconnect for a while.\u00a0However, your \u201copen\u201d policy doesn\u2019t actually convey that sentiment.<\/p>\n
Having an open vacation policy isn\u2019t generous to your employees \u2014 it\u2019s confusing and unfair.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The employee\/employer relationship is not an equal balance of power. If there\u2019s any uncertainty that an action they take might not make you happy, your employees will err on the side of not doing it.<\/p>\n An unlimited vacation policy puts the onus on them to read your mind to determine an \u201cacceptable\u201d or \u201cnormal\u201d amount of time to take off. At most companies with this policy, people don\u2019t go on vacation at all.<\/p>\n At my company, employees get four weeks of paid vacation upon joining the team. The first year we implemented this policy, people struggled to take all their time off since they couldn\u2019t roll their time over to the next year.<\/p>\n In November, a few people found themselves with weeks remaining, so a number of employees took a lot of time off at the very end of the year.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t ideal, but we learned to help people plan ahead better. I wanted to make sure vacation time was a reality in our company, not an empty promise. To do that, we had to send a message loud and clear: It\u2019s crucial to the company that people actually take time off.<\/p>\n Companies love to say they \u201cfocus on outcomes, not hours.\u201d Why track something as old-fashioned as time when you can be all about results.<\/p>\n But by not having set working hours, you\u2019re telling your employees you expect them to be available 24\/7. If you don\u2019t know people\u2019s schedules, how can you have any idea when you\u2019ll receive a response from them? The unspoken truth is that you expect an immediate turnaround \u2014 all day, every day.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes we just all need to work overtime to just get it done.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Having no set working hours can easily morph into a \u201cjust get it done\u201d culture \u2014 no matter how long a project takes or how unreasonable the deadline is.<\/p>\n Occasionally, your team may need to work overtime to get a project completed, but how often do you find yourself in \u201cemergency\u201d mode? Do you always seem to find a reason why this needs to be finished now?<\/p>\n It\u2019s a habit we get it into, and it makes our work sloppy and burns us out. Asking your team to put in extra hours can be avoided by simply building more time into your deadlines. No, it isn\u2019t easy; you really have to fight for reasonable timelines in a culture of \u201cdo it now,\u201d but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t run a service business, so our external requests often come in the form of people wanting to interview me for their podcast or blog. No one ever seems to schedule in advance. They want to know when I\u2019m available\u00a0this week<\/i>.<\/p>\n My response? No thanks! You can publish this later. I can be in the next issue. There\u2019s no reason for this to be an emergency, and I\u2019m not going to let you pull me into the land of endlessly frantic work.<\/p>\n You should protect yourself from unreasonable deadlines, and you should protect your team from them as well.<\/p>\n Although set work schedules and vacation time may be \u201cuncool\u201d in the startup world, they protect the integrity of your organization and ensure that you are an employer, rather than a drill sergeant.<\/p>\n Since 24\/7 work availability has become the norm, most people don\u2019t think twice about contacting someone with a pressing problem while that person is supposedly on vacation or sending an email at 9 p.m., hoping for a quick response.<\/p>\nNo Set Hours<\/b><\/h3>\n
Protect Your Company From Overwork<\/b><\/h3>\n