4 Outdated Rules Every Business Owner Needs to Ditch

Whether you like it or not, things have changed. The traditional “rules” of work simply don’t apply to a majority of jobs anymore.

Whether you like it or not, things have changed. The traditional “rules” of work simply don’t apply to a majority of jobs anymore, and that can be a hard truth to hear. Many of us are already overwhelmed with the sheer volume of tough decisions, changes, and new responsibilities we have to juggle, but — in order to do what’s best for our businesses — it’s critical to take a hard look at how things used to be, what’s changed since then, and, most important, how we must respond to those changes. 

Old Rule: Traditional office hours
New Rule: Active hours

For many industries, the introduction of remote work created a major shake-up that, if we’re honest, not everyone was completely prepared for. However, as working from home continues to change how we do business, it’s important for usemployers to realize that we can’t change the entire work format and enforce the same rules. “This is how we’ve always done it” is irrelevant. Circumstances have changed, and it’s time for business owners to adapt. 

Sorry folks, but the traditional Monday-through-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule is officially dead, and it’s time for business owners to make the leap. Instead of keeping with an outdated format that, let’s be honest, was never actually great for productivity, don’t be afraid to rethink things. 

Replace your traditional work hours with predefined “active hours” that work for you, your employees, and your business. That might be 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day (or some other chunk of time that makes sense), and encourage your employees to be available and/or on call during these hours. 

Don’t forget to ask your employees for input on what works best for them — and it doesn’t necessarily need to be the same active hours for each employee each day of the week. Whether they’re working from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., or 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., when they’re working matters significantly less than whether or not the work is getting done.

Read more: https://www.entrepreneur.com/