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Performance, Not Policy

Employee handbooks should promote the freedom to make decisions grounded in context

Kevin Meyer
Mon, 08/01/2016 - 14:13
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Few people realize how employee policy manuals, usually given to you on your first day and then mostly forgotten, shape an organization’s culture and thereby its fundamental performance.

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To give you a reference point, one company I worked for had an employee manual of 40+ pages. Every section highlighted “Compliance Is Essential” in bold, with “Required to Conform” sprinkled liberally throughout the document. The manual ended with a meaty discussion of the punitive measures that would happen if someone deviated from the policies. And this was a company considered very innovative in many ways.

The other extreme is Zaarly, a San Francisco-based startup. Its employee handbook, posted online for even non-employees to see, directly addresses culture. The “Rules for Work” section begins with “We don’t have these.” And in a style prevalent throughout the document, it adds that “If you want to coast, we recommend you apply for a job at Craigslist.” Included are some good thoughts on teams, work, and communication—but no rules.

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