This is very true. Work product outside of office hours is a sign of a good candidate. Somebody who's always tinkering, reading or enriching themselves is obviously beneficial to both parties. This is a character trait that should be obvious upon hire or review.
Unfortunately, minimum hours requirements need to exist in some businesses to set the expectations. It's up to the manager on how to enforce that. If I have a employee that is clearly meeting project deadlines and is a positive impact in the company, I'm going to be less scrutinous on their hours. But, that person can't just skate by on 30 hours. I've seen far to many culture/team issues arise from somebody who is productive on paper but doesn't put in a "fair" amount of hours compared to other employees. "They work more than you" doesn't always go over well with other employees.
My point was about finding the balance between what the business needs and what the employee needs. Your point about autonomy (ie trust) is paramount to all of this.
Unfortunately, minimum hours requirements need to exist in some businesses to set the expectations. It's up to the manager on how to enforce that. If I have a employee that is clearly meeting project deadlines and is a positive impact in the company, I'm going to be less scrutinous on their hours. But, that person can't just skate by on 30 hours. I've seen far to many culture/team issues arise from somebody who is productive on paper but doesn't put in a "fair" amount of hours compared to other employees. "They work more than you" doesn't always go over well with other employees.
My point was about finding the balance between what the business needs and what the employee needs. Your point about autonomy (ie trust) is paramount to all of this.