Company Culture

This week I’ve mostly been working from my garden. 

I use the word “working” in the loosest possible sense too. As those of you who have had the misfortune of being on a call with me in the last couple of weeks will already know, I have quite the cough. My hours and my output aren’t exactly where they would normally be as a result.

I’ve been taking it a bit easier, working fewer hours. Not really felt up to even going into my home office even though it’s a rather elaborate setup perfectly designed for and by me. So, I’ve been working in the garden.

It’s amazing having that flexibility, right? So why don’t we all have it?

At HMx Labs we don’t have a Remote Work Policy. We don’t have a Work From Home Policy either. Instead, I just expect people to behave like adults. Both employees and managers.

I love working from home. When we hired a new developer recently, WFH wasn’t the panacea it is for me and many others. Not everyone’s home is a conducive work environment. No problem. We hired some coworking space a short walk from her home.

Do I really need to know if you need a few hours to go and see the doctor? Maybe that’s something you’d rather not even share with your boss or colleagues? 

If an employee comes to you to tell you’re they’re unwell and your first response isn’t to do with their welfare, then you’ve failed. It’s that simple.

I’m more likely to have to tell our employees to stop working and go rest (because they won’t unless I do!) than I am to be worried they’re trying to rip me off. I trust our employees to do their work. If you can’t do that, I’d politely suggest your mistake was made when you hired. 

Any corporate policy that is designed to control employee output or behaviour is just a sticking plaster over the fact that you probably hired the wrong person. Either that or you’re not treating them fairly. 

On the flip side, if you’re an employee and you give your employer reasons to not be able to trust you, then you’re as much a part of the problem as toxic employers and late-stage capitalism.

P.S: Yes, that is an Intel MacBook Pro. With a butterfly keyboard. And I like it. I don’t want an HDMI port. I like 4 thunderbolt ports. I even like the keyboard and mine has been trouble free so far. I don’t want it to be thicker and heavier! I’m probably the only person that was disappointed with Apple’s new design language in the Apple Silicon based machines. 😆 The massively improved battery life wouldn’t go amiss though. At some point I will have to upgrade I guess.