Employee burnout, work-life balance, and overall employee well-being are huge topics of conversation right now. A lot of people will be able to relate to this reader note:
I feel used. I’ve been at my job for just over a year. My boss is aware of my work ethic and has enthusiastically expressed satisfaction of our department’s accomplishments. My peers say they don’t know how I do it. I know how: I work day and night. I sacrifice family and friends to meet the company’s ever increasing demands.
I’ve work a minimum of 65 hours per week since Day One. I’ve asked for qualified help in the form of at least two degreed experienced professionals. My manager hired a part-time high school kid. So many promises have been made and broken. Trust is severely damaged.
My manager received a new boss that was supposed to help alleviate the stress. So far with his “great ideas and strong leadership” I have more projects and more work. How do I get heard and get my life back? Do I even try?
I need to start my reply with an admission. I’ve worked over 65 hours a week for the vast majority of my professional career. I probably work over 65 hours a week now. But that being said, I don’t feel that I’m “sacrificing” my life.
And that’s an important distinction. The issue isn’t how many hours you’re working; it’s how you feel about how many hours you’re working. I know people who feel the same way this reader does when they work 45 hours a week. So, here are some considerations when evaluating your work and life demands:
Establish priorities. We all need to decide the priorities in our life. This includes our health, family, friends, hobbies, faith, community, etc. Then decide the order of those priorities (aka prioritizing what’s important to us). For example, attending an event related to your hobby might be less important than a family celebration. Or vice versa. Chances are everything is not at the same level of importance.
Focus on priorities. Regardless of the number of hours, ask yourself, “Are your priorities being taken care of or ignored?” Also ask yourself, “Have I make it clear to my manager what my priorities are?” Your manager has their own unique set of priorities too. And unless you tell them otherwise, you’re asking them to guess what your priorities are.
Ask about priorities. I’ve learned about this one the hard way. I used to drive myself crazy because I thought everything was a priority. Then I learned to ask where projects fell in the list of priorities. Often my manager didn’t know what I was working on. Or if they knew, they didn’t have the specifics. So when they gave me a new project, they didn’t realize what they were doing with my workload. Instead of just taking on the extra work, I asked where the new project fell in their list of priorities.
It’s hard to know if this situation can be salvaged. I have seen employees speak with their managers about their priorities and managers make changes to improve the situation. I’ve also seen employees tell the company that everything is a priority and the company cannot possibly remedy the situation. The answer lies in whether employees are able to manage their work demands.
Organizations need to realize their employees have things that are important to them – their priorities. They vary by employee. It’s the job of a manager to find out what each employee’s priorities are and work to ensure that employees aren’t ignoring their priorities. Because when they do, resentment grows and it translates into and employee disengagement and poor performance.
Image courtesy of HR Bartender
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Cathy Shanes says
Meeting your employer expectations regarding your performance is a good intention, but working till you are blue in the face is not a good way to do so. Clarifying the priorities in a place where you’re expected to multitask is vital, otherwise you might find yourself trying to do all things at the same time and achieving nothing and confirm the myth of multitasking.
steve dunn says
I am doubtful about sharing your [my] priorities with my boss. However, meeting your [my] own priorities is important. My experience/expectation is a company will use everything you have to give them until it isn’t good enough and then you will go away. The best way to work less or do less or whichever way is required to improve your personal being is to say no and do less. If that means tuning up your boss, so be it; if it means finding a new boss, well there you go. However, I will say that it appears that in this instance the employee set the bar with what they did for the first year and it will be difficult to walk it back.
Harold says
I think there is some great advice in this post, thank you. I think it is good to ask about priorities with your boss. They should know what your workload is and how you can work together to make it possible to do all tasks. Time management for yourself is also very important.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks so much for the comments. I agree that time management and priorities go hand in hand.
Setting priorities and communicating them isn’t being naive. It also isn’t a justification for not working to the company expectation. If your organization doesn’t respect your priorities, then you have some decisions to make.
There are plenty of companies that respect their employees. They realize that a positive, energized workforce works harder, treats customers better, and brings more to the bottom-line.
Tom Gimbel says
I’m a firm believer that work-life balance does not exist. Think about it, there aren’t enough hours in the day…8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours to spend with friends and family. To me, the goal shouldn’t be work-life balance, but work-life happiness. I write more about achieving work-life happiness on my blog: http://thelasallenetwork.com/work-life-balance-doesnt-exist-aim-for-work-life-happiness/