Everyone wants the best for their business, and we all have different ideas for achieving what we think is ‘best’.
But sometimes, decision-makers miss the mark. And sometimes you could park a bus in the gap they miss by.
Let’s take a look through some of the world’s most unbelievable company policies and procedures. Maybe we can learn a little from these terrible, terrible mistakes.
Take a look below or download the PDF here.
Written text version of the infographic
And before you ask, yes. Every single one of these is real. A genuine human actually thought each of these was a good idea.
Look Good or Leave
At American Apparel, they have a rather unusual requirement for prospective employees. They need the technical skills required, sure, but they also have to look the part. Applicants are required to submit a photo, and if they’re judged to not look ‘on-brand’, they’re out.
This even applies after you’ve been hired. If you ditch the look, you get ditched from the job.
No Time to Pull Over
Amazon is hardly famous for its culture and treatment of employees, but this is next level. An undercover reporter said that deadlines for delivery drivers were so tight, employees were forced to perform their ‘toilet breaks’ in the vehicles. And if you were wondering, that includes both numbers.
The reporter claimed that tiredness and toilet breaks aren’t considered by Amazon when planning delivery routes.
The Customer Is Always Right
At the Apple Store, call that phone of yours anything you like. Apple phone, iScreen, mini-television – whatever. It’s believed that in the USA, employees are banned from correcting customers’ pronunciation of products. If only Seeree was so polite…
New employees are told to walk around the store silently for weeks and learn from experienced employees.
Cash & Dash
Zappos want to know their employees are dedicated, but this one might push it a bit far. After a few weeks of answering phones, each employee is offered $3,000 to leave. If they take it, they obviously weren’t committed enough.
The catch: You only get one chance to work for Zappos. So, you can’t claim the $3,000 twice.
Cats vs Dogs
At Google, there is a clear line drawn in the sand. They welcome dogs into the office, but not cats. They claim cats are banned mostly because they’d be stressed out by the presence of dogs. But couldn’t you make the case that dogs should be banned for disturbing cats?
No mention was made by Google of their policy on birds.
Disneyworld
We couldn’t even come up with a cute name for this one, so let’s just get it out there. Employees sharing costumes also had to share underwear. Pre-2001, dressing as Goofy meant exchanging every element of the costume with the next employee.
Apparently, employees wouldn’t exactly leave the underwear in a terrific state. If that makes a difference at all.
Looking to keep your employees in close touch with your business’ policies and procedures? Stay on top of all processes, procedures, playbooks, and broader business operations with Way We Do. Read more at https://www.waywedo.com/ to see how your business operations can be optimized… it’s definitely a better idea than any of the ones above!
