If you tell your boss "I am going to take tomorrow off", and they say, "Actually, you're scheduled for an interview, can you please come in? But take Thursday or Friday off by all means", you're going to still go to work, right? Informing, in practice, is identical to requesting, and this is really just a language thing that makes it clear that you (a) should inform somebody you'll be gone and (b) you can take any day off except maybe 5% of days have critical meetings or whatever.
It seems reasonable to think this is codified this way because the alternative language of informing doesn't imply suggestion (b), but sure, it could also be due to the founders being control freaks.
> If you tell your boss "I am going to take tomorrow off", and they say, "Actually, you're scheduled for an interview, can you please come in? But take Thursday or Friday off by all means", you're going to still go to work, right? Informing, in practice, is identical to requesting ...
In my experience, "you must ask for permission" is substantially different from "you don't have to ask, but your decision may be overruled". It sounds like your experience is different.
Perhaps the differences I see can be put into another context. Think about the action "eating off someone else's plate", rather than "working from home". Do you see the gap between informing and requesting in that circumstance? The difference seems huge to me.
It seems reasonable to think this is codified this way because the alternative language of informing doesn't imply suggestion (b), but sure, it could also be due to the founders being control freaks.