It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.
Remember the letter-writer who worked long hours but didn’t want her staff to feel pressure to do that too? Here’s the update.
I did end up taking a lot of the advice you gave me. The first thing I did was start scheduling any emails to my direct reports that I sent after normal work hours to arrive in their inbox during the following work day, using Boomerang, which I think helped a lot. I also did take the time the next time one of them mentioned working extra to just say that I was working so much because of the odd situation we were in, and that it was important to me that no one felt they had to follow suit (actually, I pretty much just used the script you gave me, so thanks for that). I think it really helped! No after-work emails from them and the next time someone took a sick day there was no mention of trying to work from home instead.
The other thing I really took to heart was … that my own hours were insane. It was definitely fun and fulfilling for about a year, but I certainly started to feel it wearing on me. Luckily we were able to hire someone in to replace my colleague who left, and she’s been really up front with our board about how much work any one person can be expected to do, which has led to a restructuring that I think is really good and healthy for the team.
Also and not necessarily related to this at all, I went back to grad school, so I’m now working in a reduced role anyway — but the changes have certainly stuck, and my new boss is really good about making sure that I’m only working the number of hours that I can fit in with my school work, so maybe the lesson here is that it’s important to have a manager who cares about your work-life balance and can help you enforce it, even when your inclination is to work more than you, uh, life.
So thank you again!!
update: I work long hours but don’t want my staff to feel pressure to do the same was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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