I once worked for an interesting video game software company - the employee handbook contained an "Employee Bill of Rights". The most interesting item was freedom of speech - a manager telling an employee "you can't say that" was subject to dismissal, according to the handbook.

Now, I don't know if this clause was ever enforced, but I found this to be a refreshing change from the usual politically-correct employee handbooks telling the employee what they can and cannot say, and outlining all manner of obligations the employee has towards the company. (I later found out from a company old-timer that this clause was rumored to be a result of the company founder's own abuses towards underlings!)

This was in 1992. Needless to say, shortly thereafter, as the company grew from its smaller beginnings into the behemoth that it is today, the corporate mentality took control, the previous handbook was discontinued, and the replacement handbook was just another run-of-the-mill corporate handbook full of rules that employees were expected to abide by - things you can't say, protected classes of people (as in sexual and racial harassment), etc. - but nary a peep about the employees' broad rights to be treated with dignity and respect by the company.

So, I'd like to propose a revival of the notion of an employee's bill of rights - that a progressive company should and must enumerate the employees' protections against abuses of power on the part of company management.

Here's a starter list:

1. An employee is to be treated with respect and dignity by company management.
2. An employee is to know where he or she stands at any given time. Waiting until review time to tell an employee about longstanding problems is incredibly bad management.
3. An employee is entitled to a reasonable amount of preparation for an upcoming candidate interview. This includes time to read the candidate's resume, devise a list of questions, and time to put current tasks away before the interview. Dropping the candidate's resume on an interviewer's lap 15 minutes before the interview is a big turn-off and not conducive to good hiring outcomes.
4. A salaried employee should never be pressured by management to work long hours to complete a project when the tardiness is not due to the employee's poor performance.
5. More to come...

Suggestions?

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