Ms. Thatcher said: “I want to make my expectations very clear in advance.” “Their vacation time is their time – and it will be respected.”
Many workers are focusing more of their attention on family and non-work activities, and trying to be discussed in job postings for some job-seekers red flags that a role can be a one-way ticket to burnout. Some bosses are telling their employees that if the job is fine, it’s just a job.
Some employers are pledging to respect work-life boundaries in their job listings, and some managers say they prefer to discuss work-life balance during the early stages of the hiring process.
Ms Thatcher, a senior environmental engineer at the Washington State Department of Transportation, said her managerial approach stems from her own early career as a geologist. At the time, she worked 12-hour shifts at an oil field and was on call even though it was technically closed.
She said, “It took me a very long time to realize … to understand that the weekend is not a cure-all.” “This is what I want to pass on to other people.”
Ms. Thatcher’s department offers flexible-scheduling options, such as working 10 hours four days a week or alternating Fridays with longer days in between. Before someone on her team takes time off, Ms. Thatcher schedules a handoff meeting to address notes on projects, deadlines and deliverables that emerge in the person’s absence.
Trivia Barber, founder and chief executive of Priority VA, a staffing agency based near Savannah, Ga., recently posted a job for an executive assistant to an entrepreneur.
“You can expect the same appreciation and respect as before,” the job description states. Mrs. Barber said hundreds of applications came in, and dozens of candidates enthusiastically pressed for interviews because they were fascinated by the language.
Before posting the job with those promises, Mrs. Barber says she grilled the executive, Frank Mocerino, to make sure he could live up to the expectations he was setting. Will he call an assistant at 10 pm? 4 o’clock in the morning? Will they be expected to bring a laptop on vacation? Have Slack on their phone? Everyone’s answer was “no,” which she said made her think she could stand behind the ad.
Mr. Mocerino helped his company focus on wellness in 2015 and wanted this philosophy to spread to his employees. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that his company, Om Store, is an online retailer that sells metal bowls used for meditation and organizes workshops on the practice. He said he felt that people would need to work outside traditional business hours to assume the role of executive assistant.
“They deserve to be done at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. when they need to check their phones or computers when they’re out with family, or having dinner with friends, or putting their kids to bed.” Not needed,” said Mr Moserino, who is based in Marengo, Ill.
Sycamore, Ill. Katie Kirkpatrick of K finally got the job and started this week. She said she was looking for a remote position with the flexibility to care for her daughter, who had recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Initially, she thought the job description was too good to be true, but she said she felt reassured by the interviews she had with her new boss.
“It’s a totally different pace for me,” said Mrs Kirkpatrick.
Balancing promises is one thing, but candidates won’t know the realities of any job position until they start. Some bosses can fail to deliver on their promises, and a lot of jobs — especially in a market where it’s hard to fully prepare employees — include long hours, extra assignments, and client demands outside of 9 to 5. Demands need to be answered.
An analysis of thousands of employee reviews on the job-posting and ratings platform Glassdoor shows that mention limits grew nearly 30% between 2019 and this year. According to Glassdoor, three out of four comments about how employers treat boundaries were negative.
Ayman Al-Abdullah, an executive coach and former CEO of software marketplace AppSumo, said he advises his executive clients to be clear about their expectations throughout the interview process. Using words like “work-life balance” and “limitations” to woo candidates while only promoting those who work continuously on weekends is not appropriate, he said.
“The last thing you want is to feed and switch candidates,” Mr. Al-Abdullah said.
In April, Charlene Holder and her husband opened a LaVida Massage franchise in Rome, Ga. When he hired a massage therapist, he said he talked about his own experience as a masseuse. One owner, she said, would add additional clients to her schedule at the end of the day, making her hours longer, and book a prenatal massage, a service she explicitly said she didn’t want to do. .
One of LaVida’s recent job postings read: “You’ll be working for someone who knows what you’re putting your body through, who knows your passion for healing, and who knows your limits.” Will respect and respect your personality.”
When Shirlisa Duncan was hiring staff for her boutique Golden Leaf Studios in Missoula, Mont., earlier this summer, she told her new team of retail employees that they could set boundaries at work, and that they will help maintain it.
Workers shouldn’t look at the app that employees use to communicate if it’s not their shift, and people shouldn’t feel pressured to show up at work if they feel drained or anxious, she says. that she tells them during the interview process.
“His time at the store is shop time,” said Ms. Duncan. “Private time is private time.”
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.