Oftentimes, managers have such a drive to control everything that employees are inundated with policies and rules that build resentment and discontent. Always be in uniform when on company property. Using the restroom is part of the 15 minute break. Always stay busy, never stand idle. Especially when there seems to be no reason for the rule: Always have your cell phone turned off and not at your desk.
When an employee is overshadowed with the constraint of rules pertaining to their job, he/she loses respect for the workplace. When this happens, he or she is no longer working 'for the company' but 'for a paycheck'. And this is not in the best interest for the company or the employee. What usually happens is the employee becomes disgruntled and begins looking for a better job.
Micromanaging employees is like trying to make sure a child colors inside the lines; it's counter-productive and ends up clouding judgment. Here are some ways to empower employees and maintain a productive work environment:
1- Allow more freedom for employees to review and analyze what they are doing and how it fits into the big picture. Being experts in their positions, they can be more objective about their tasks and offer recommendations for the importance of the task. Perhaps some tasks should be phased out. Perhaps some reworked. Workers will not perform like experts if they are given rules made for children.
2- Allow workers to leave when their work is done. Allowing more freedom requires a shift in managerial thinking. Managers have this outlandish belief that workers have 8 hours to be at work, and therefore it should take them 8 hours to complete their work. But this just isn't true. Trying to do work for work's sake because it's not quite 4:30pm is demoralizing and builds resentment. Work for work's sake is busy work and it only zaps mental energy and creates idleness. Furthermore, the company is paying for this! Does it not seem more copacetic that if the office must stay open til 4:30pm to have a rotation where one person stays til 4:30pm?
3- Rework the notion of full-time job positions to the notion of job descriptions. A company that evaluates job descriptions as expenses is kept from being plagued with useless activity AND paying employees for performing it! So instead of creating a 40-hour position full of duties, the position should be classified with duties with no time requirement. When the employee has completed what they need to do for the day, they can leave.
Because people want more autonomy over their work lives, being able to leave is motivation to complete work and empowers them to do it right. This happens because they are not being micromanaged but are given responsibility for their part in the big picture.
From the book The Human Equation, Jeffrey Pfeffer has found that 'many managers and human resource executives mistakenly believe that placing individual pay at risk increases overall motivation and performance, when it is actually the contingency of the reward itself (determining own hours), not the level at which it is applied (individual, group, or organizational) that has the impact." Better pay would prevent them from dragging out the hours, and a cap could also be installed to prevent 10 hour work days from being typical.
4- Include more flexible working initiatives. Clare Bambra from Durham University in the UK told MedPage Today that these initiatives that "equip the worker with more choice or control such as self-scheduling of work hours.... are likely to have positive effects on their health and well being." Do not penalize workers for taking time off as long as they have made provisions for their work to be completed. If they take time off but are able to work from home while they are off, then pay them for their work time. Being stingy about where and how employees perform and complete work only destroys trust and respect towards the manager and the company.
My point in all of this is that entrusting responsibility to the workers would empower them to become more effective with their time. In turn, this would result in work getting done quicker and labor expenses decreasing. Workers will eventually find a work-life balance but be prepared that it will take time to wipe the crust from their eyes.
Copyright ©2011 Teresa Bruneau
1- Pfeffer, Jeffrey. The Human Equation, pg 92.
2- Bambra, Clare. MedPage Today. Employees Healthier When Boss is Flexible.
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