31–40 of 82 posts
I would add dress code to this list. "We have smart casual dress code in this software department. So you can't wear shorts event if its 40 degrees celsius. Oh and shirt is mandatory"
"Oh and shirt is mandatory" So wait, coding without a shirt on is how a thing? My god man. If there is air conditioning, slacks shouldn't be a problem though shorts aren't extraordinarily unsuitable. You can wear a shirt man.
Trust them to produce, and if they are not producing, let them go This is incredibly wasteful and an easy to way to lose good people. Take a few minutes to conduct a 'performance review' and see why they aren't producing. Sometimes it's an easy fix. I've seen companies fire people who where world class at Y simply because they weren't performing at X, despite the fact that the company also had a different department…
Your world class Y people should have valued communication. They should raise red flags every time they need management to remove an obstacle in order to increase their productivity and realize their full potential.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We had a chap who wore leather, except sometimes a T-Shirt expressing quite harshly an opinion about a globally recognised major religious figure from antiquity. I was glad to see a dress code come in.
When I worked in the medical field, doctors would occasionally visit unannounced. We were required to wear a shirt and tie, with an available jacket, at all times.
I don't even own a suit :-)
Edit: A few years back I turned down a second interview at the same organisation after they insisted I turn up "in standard business attire" - i.e. a suit.
I would add dress code to this list. "We have smart casual dress code in this software department. So you can't wear shorts event if its 40 degrees celsius. Oh and shirt is mandatory"
"Oh and shirt is mandatory" So wait, coding without a shirt on is how a thing? My god man. If there is air conditioning, slacks shouldn't be a problem though shorts aren't extraordinarily unsuitable. You can wear a shirt man.
> (Don't do) Performance reviews > Trust them to produce, and if they are not producing, let them go. If you are firing someone for performance, you have done a performance review . It's just that it might be entirely in your head or based on office gossip about who appears most productive. You wouldn't optimise a program without a profiler, so you shouldn't make hire/fire decisions on productivity without some means…
Anyway in most of the EU, by law and by convention^ people don't get fired often. When they do, it's a part of a greater process where a department is reorganized, jobs have been made redundant or somesuch. Firing individuals for below average performance is rare. It needs to be an extreme. If it is dines, it's done as part of a performance review) evaluation process with feedback, time...
The reality is that
^The convention part is important. Regardless of laws, it's very hard to operate a business that's firing a lot. Firing someone is like exiling/outlawing them, to borrow analogies from older societies.
If you try, you'll encounter a huge pile of difficulties. Moral/culture will be one. Politics will be another.
> (Don't do) Performance reviews > Trust them to produce, and if they are not producing, let them go. If you are firing someone for performance, you have done a performance review . It's just that it might be entirely in your head or based on office gossip about who appears most productive. You wouldn't optimise a program without a profiler, so you shouldn't make hire/fire decisions on productivity without some means…
Idk about the US, but I imagine it's more similar to the EU than the press suggests.... Anyway in most of the EU, by law and by convention^ people don't get fired often. When they do, it's a part of a greater process where a department is reorganized, jobs have been made redundant or somesuch. Firing individuals for below average performance is rare. It needs to be an extreme. If it is dines, it's done as part of a p…
> Faced with a rule-driven culture, the best employees ... are usually the first to go, because they’re in high demand and have more opportunity than most. What’s left is a pool of people who are mediocre at what they do ... And that is when I stop reading any article. EDIT: She's stating rules in the workplace make good employees leave and only mediocre employees remain. The term BS automatically applies here.
Clean-desk policies, bans on "personal items" (want a photo of your family on your desk? nope), strict uniform policies ("failure to wear the company polo shirt AND jumper, even if it's 30C, will result in dismissal")...
Individually the rules don't mean much. But when they're added together -- and especially if they're changed (removing 'dress-down Fridays', say) can end up creating a bit of a "death by a thousand papercuts" scenario.
Because really, who's harmed by someone putting a photo of their wife and kid on their desk? Or a quiet little office toy (a stress ball maybe?) they were given at a trade show?
But easily the biggest way you can show that you don't trust your employees is to pretend to listen to their concerns and suggestions for improving the workplace, only to laugh at them and dismiss them. That type of treatment is just about guaranteed to lose you good people.
Let your staff work on their own initiative, foster their creativity, and they'll produce magic. And when they're slipping a bit - have a polite, private conversation, away from the eyes of the madding crowd and office gossipers, and ask how you (As a manager) or the company can help them.
TL/DR: Treat your staff like adults.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We had a chap who wore leather, except sometimes a T-Shirt expressing quite harshly an opinion about a globally recognised major religious figure from antiquity. I was glad to see a dress code come in.
I feel absolutely blessed that I can wear camo cargo shorts and metal band shirts at work. Obviously I don't wear any of the graphic or gory ones, or from bands with obviously offensive names, and I will choose a nice polo shirt if I know I'm going to be having meetings people from other parts of the organization, especially if they're higher up in the hierarchy. That said, the best head of development we ever had wo…
However, this statement in the article is pretty dumb: "If you don’t trust the people you hired, why did you hire them?" How about because they interviewed well and you thought you could trust them but once they started working they proved themselves untrustworthy. That's not rocket science; it's something that happens and is not particularly rare.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Idk about the US, but I imagine it's more similar to the EU than the press suggests.... Anyway in most of the EU, by law and by convention^ people don't get fired often. When they do, it's a part of a greater process where a department is reorganized, jobs have been made redundant or somesuch. Firing individuals for below average performance is rare. It needs to be an extreme. If it is dines, it's done as part of a p…
I’ve fired and been fired for sub-par performance. I’m from the EU. Its not that rare at all.
Assuming we're just talking about "not quite the best" work performance here.