One thing that is perceived along side of startups is freedom. It is like corporate employees are slaves and startup employees are free. They can come and go at any time , work on exciting stuff and do awesome work. Not reality but the perception part.
This perception also sometimes puts entrepreneurs in trouble. How much freedom should be given and what is not acceptable?
We will look at some pointers that can help you decide.
Role Expectations
Be clear on expectations for each role. What is that is expected and when is that expected.
For Sales it could be calls, demos and visits.
For support it could be being on time for shifts.
For Dev it could be features, bugs
Be crystal clear on the role expectations and communicate it with respective teams
Accountability
Once the expectations are clear set the accountability for individuals and teams
CRM Updates
Status Reports
Standup / Checkin process
Retrospective
Being available for critical issues
Give non ambiguous expectations on what parameters the team is accountable. End of the day it is what matters.
Freedom
Once the role expectations are clear and the accountability is set, then you can objectively be clear on the freedom for employees
Flexi hours
Work from home
Planned time off
One important point to note is, the flexibility for each team varies. Flexi hours can work for eng team as long as deliverables are met on time but it would not work for support team.
But support team can have an option to give flexibility on how shifts are rotated internally.
Thumb Rule
Accountability and Freedom go hand in hand. The key for both is the communication part. When either is not communicated the output is less than ideal.
Have an open dialogue on the freedom to give employees to share their views but make sure the accountability is never compromised.