I've heard this argument before that it requires a certain type or caliber of employee to offer a flexible, results-based work environment. When trying to implement these policies in another company I was always told that "we don't have those kinds of people."
I think if you treat people like they're "those kind of people" they may just start acting and producing like "those kind of people".
Excessive accountability and other policies designed to maximize productivity often have the undesired effect of making people feel mistrusted. It is employees that feel like a part of something, whose efforts matter that do the best work.
I love this quote from Cristóbal Conde, president and C.E.O. of SunGard:
"If you start micromanaging people, then the very best ones leave.
If the very best people leave, then the people you’ve got left actually require more micromanagement. Eventually, they get chased away, and then you’ve got to invest in a whole apparatus of micromanagement. Pretty soon, you’re running a police state. So micromanagement doesn’t scale because it spirals down, and you end up with below-average employees in terms of motivation and ability."
I think if you treat people like they're "those kind of people" they may just start acting and producing like "those kind of people".
Excessive accountability and other policies designed to maximize productivity often have the undesired effect of making people feel mistrusted. It is employees that feel like a part of something, whose efforts matter that do the best work.
I love this quote from Cristóbal Conde, president and C.E.O. of SunGard:
"If you start micromanaging people, then the very best ones leave.
If the very best people leave, then the people you’ve got left actually require more micromanagement. Eventually, they get chased away, and then you’ve got to invest in a whole apparatus of micromanagement. Pretty soon, you’re running a police state. So micromanagement doesn’t scale because it spirals down, and you end up with below-average employees in terms of motivation and ability."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/business/17corner.html?pag...