Stop Solving People Problems with Policies
Stop Solving People Problems with Policies
By:
Regina Dyerly, sHRBP, PHR
Partner / Chief Operating Officer | Vida HR
One employee repeatedly arrives late, so you rewrite the attendance policy. Someone stretches a flexible schedule beyond what was intended, so flexibility disappears. Another employee pushes the casual dress policy too far, and suddenly everyone has a stricter dress code.
It may feel like you have solved the problem, but have you?
Sometimes the workplace does not need another rule. Sometimes a manager just needs to manage.
Policies Feel Easier Than Conversations
There is a reason employers reach for policies when something goes wrong. Policies feel objective and consistent, and because they apply to everyone, they can seem like the fairest response. They also allow a manager to avoid an uncomfortable conversation with one particular employee.
A company-wide rule can create the appearance of action without requiring a manager to address the actual behavior. The message goes to everyone, the manager can say the issue has been handled, and no one has to sit down with the employee and explain what needs to change. The underlying problem remains, the employee receives no meaningful feedback or accountability, and everyone else absorbs the consequence.
We have essentially punished the whole class because one person would not stop talking.
Your Good Employees Already Know What Happened
Employers sometimes underestimate how closely employees are paying attention. They generally know who regularly arrives late, who is not getting their work done, and who has stretched a flexible schedule or occasional perk well beyond what was intended.
They also notice when everyone loses something because management did not address the issue with the person responsible.
For employees who were already meeting expectations, a company-wide restriction can feel less like accountability and more like punishment. Over time, it can also send an unintended message: good judgment is not particularly valuable here because everyone will ultimately be managed according to the person who exercises the least of it.
If every policy is written in response to the employee who demonstrates the worst judgment, eventually you build a workplace around your least responsible employee. That is probably not the culture most employers are trying to create.
Is It a Policy Problem or a People Problem?
Before changing a policy, identify which problem you are actually trying to solve.
If employees throughout the organization are confused about an expectation, managers are applying a rule inconsistently, business needs have changed, or the same issue keeps appearing in different departments, you may genuinely have a policy problem.
However, if 24 employees are successfully working within an expectation and one is not, rewriting the rules for all 25 probably should not be the first response. That is more likely a people problem, and people problems require management.
That may include clarifying expectations, providing direct feedback, coaching the employee, documenting the issue, and applying appropriate corrective action when the behavior does not change. Those steps can be more uncomfortable than issuing a new rule, but they are also a fundamental part of managing people.
Sometimes the Policy Really Is the Problem
None of this means employers should never change their policies. Repeated confusion, exceptions, or violations may be telling you that a policy no longer works.
Perhaps your attendance policy was written for a workforce that operated differently five years ago. Managers may not understand how much discretion they have, or a policy may not clearly explain what is expected. If employees continually find workarounds, the process itself may no longer make sense.
That is useful information. The important distinction is whether you are revising a policy because you have identified an organizational need or reacting to one particularly frustrating employee. One is thoughtful management. The other can quickly become policy whack-a-mole.
Do Not Make Everyone Pay for One Person’s Poor Judgment
When employers solve individual problems with company-wide rules, they gradually remove discretion from the employees who have demonstrated that they can handle it.
Most organizations say they want employees who use good judgment, take ownership, solve problems, and do not need to be micromanaged. Those qualities need room to exist. If every misuse of flexibility results in less flexibility for everyone, employees eventually learn that there is little benefit to exercising good judgment because the rules will always be written for the lowest common denominator.
This does not mean every employee is entitled to every privilege indefinitely. In fact, the appropriate response to someone abusing flexibility may be for that employee to lose flexibility. Depending on the circumstances, the employee may need clearer expectations, additional coaching, or corrective action. In some cases, the solution begins with a manager finally having the conversation they have been avoiding.
Before You Reach for the Handbook
The next time an employee situation makes you want to create a new rule, stop long enough to ask:
Is this happening with multiple employees or primarily one person?
Is the existing expectation genuinely unclear?
Have managers been applying it consistently?
Has the employee received direct feedback about the problem?
Would changing the policy solve an organizational issue, or would it simply make this individual situation easier to manage?
There are absolutely times when a policy change is the right answer. However, a policy should not become a substitute for leadership.
Policies should solve organizational problems. Management should solve individual ones. Before reaching for the handbook, make sure you know which kind of problem you actually have.
Stop Solving People Problems with Policies
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