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Antiwork

Alright you boss haters – how’s it gonna work when you are the boss?

You start a business, or somehow in their infinite wisdom (or foolishness) they put you in charge, what will be the rules and policies? Here are mine. I'm an actual business owner who got sick of working for other idiots so I started working for a bigger idiot – myself. 1 About a third of any person's decisions are pretty good, about a third don't matter, and about a third of any person's decisions are really bad. Any employee is encouraged to tell me when I'm full of shit, and I'm required to sit down, shut up, and listen to them. There will be no repurcussions if and when someone tells me I'm full of shit. 2 People who work here are expected to get a certain amount of work done, and get a say in how much and when. I do not care when this work gets done, when…


You start a business, or somehow in their infinite wisdom (or foolishness) they put you in charge, what will be the rules and policies?

Here are mine. I'm an actual business owner who got sick of working for other idiots so I started working for a bigger idiot – myself.

1 About a third of any person's decisions are pretty good, about a third don't matter, and about a third of any person's decisions are really bad. Any employee is encouraged to tell me when I'm full of shit, and I'm required to sit down, shut up, and listen to them. There will be no repurcussions if and when someone tells me I'm full of shit.

2 People who work here are expected to get a certain amount of work done, and get a say in how much and when. I do not care when this work gets done, when you work, when you do not work, where you work, or how you work. I do care that our clients get what we promised them, with high standards and on time.

3 Everyone here including the boss is expected to learn new information and skills as fast as they will go into your brain. Everyone trains everyone else.

4 Everyone eventually leaves every job. This is just a temporary position, just like all the others. If you feel like you need to go somewhere else, then bravo! Please let me know as early as possible so we can work out the smoothest possible transition. If there's something I can fix about your position to make it better then see rule #1.

5 If this job was easy I'd have hired someone else. You are here because you are among the best in the business. Our clients hire us because we're among the best in the business. If there's something you don't know how to do see rule #3.

I usually buy lunch for people that work for me, about once a week, where we talk about what's going on and how we'll get everything done, for about two hours. We Slack every morning about what's needed that day. Mostly I never see them other than that. They can work at my home office but most people get more done somewhere else.

Every employee has invoked rule #1 at least once, and often prevented real blunders.

Most people told me six months to a year before they needed to quit.

Everyone leaves with way more skills than they started with.

Add your workplace policy wishlist, and don't hesitate to tell me if you think I'm full of shit.

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