30 Times Someone Tried To Enforce A Stupid Rule And It Backfired

Rules should make your life simpler, not more complicated. So the more rules we create, the happier we should be, right? Well, according to this survey, the abundance of rules at work does the exact opposite. After receiving more than 7000 responses from Harvard Business Review readers, the researchers found out that organizations had become more bureaucratic over the past few years. And the issue is even more serious at bigger companies. “'Bureaucratic drag' slows work down, wastes time, stifles innovation, and causes employees to focus too much on internal matters rather than their customers,” the results show.

Schools are also falling for the same bureaucratic trap. A Secret Teacher told the Guardian that endless rules can do more harm than good for the students. The school where the Secret Teacher works punishes them for listening to music, wearing a coat in class or having ties too short. “It has become almost too easy to remove a student from a class to the hallway or to senior management. Many of my colleagues take this approach,” the teacher said.

And while the educator understands the need for rules in general, he or she rarely uses military-style discipline for things this minor: “Relaxing some of the rules has helped me treble one class’s output since the start of last year.” Students should not miss large amounts of school due to unnecessary rules and teachers should be the ones who help and support them.

However, if such rules make your work life miserable and there's nothing anyone can do, here's a few ways how to cope with them. First, do your research. If the rule is as pointless as you think, you should find some information to prove it and form your argument to your manager or HR.

Second, there's still a lot of meaningless policies in a number of workplaces, like strict dress codes or tattoo bans. You can try a little rule-bending to show that it's completely irrelevant and that your employer should move with the times. The more people oppose them, the faster they're going to change.

And lastly, one of the best ways to get rid of an unwanted regulation is to suggest a better alternative and put a human face on the issue. If you take the time to invite your higher-ranking colleagues to discuss the issues with you and your coworkers, you might be able to think of a better solution.