I learned that she had a 2 hour commute to work every day, which was killing her … because the company had a formal no-work-from-home policy. Needless to say I

I learned that she had a 2 hour commute to work every day, which was killing her … because the company had a formal no-work-from-home policy. Needless to say I created a new policy and she was granted work-from-home Wednesdays. Why was the no-work-from-home policy ever created? Did employees just stay home and lie about their work? I take the 37Signals-type approach on anything like this, don't create rules or policies until they solve a real problem (not just a hypothetical problem).