Posted on 09/28/2010 9:02:20 AM PDT by CSM
The key to overcoming it is to set healthy boundaries at work.
Dave Ramsey calls the classic book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend a life-changing book! Many people think that boundaries only apply to unruly children and intrusive mother-in-laws, but this is simply not true—boundaries can work wonders in many other areas of life—including your job.
When I first went into practice, I hired a woman for 20 hours a week to run my office. On her second day in the office, I gave her a pile of things to do. About 10 minutes later, she knocked at my door, stack of papers in hand.
“What can I do for you, Laurie?” I asked.
“You have a problem,” she told me.
“I do? What is it?” I asked, not having the vaguest idea what she was talking about.
“You hired me for 20 hours a week, and you have just given me about 40 hours of work. Which 20 would you like done?”
She was right. I did have a problem. I had not managed my workload very well. I was either going to have to spend more on help, cut back on projects, or hire someone else. But she was right: it was my problem, not hers. I had to take responsibility for it and fix it. Laurie was telling me what that ever-present sign says: “Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
Many bosses aren’t so lucky. Their employees take responsibility for their lack of planning and never set limits on them. They are never forced to look at their lack of boundaries until it’s too late, until they have lost a good employee to exhaustion or burnout. Such bosses need clear limits, but many employees are afraid to set them, as Laurie did, because they need the job or they fear disapproval.
If you are in a situation in which you’re doing lots of extra work because you “need the job” and because you are afraid of being let go, you have a problem. If you are working more overtime than you want to, you are in bondage to your job. You are a slave, not an employee under contract. Clear and responsible contracts tell all parties involved what is expected of them, and they can be enforced. Jobs should have clear descriptions of duties and qualifications.
As hard as it sounds, you need to take responsibility for yourself and take steps to change your situation. Here are some suggested steps you may wish to take:
Set boundaries on your work. Decide how much overtime you are willing to do. Some overtime during seasonal crunches may be expected of you. Review your job description, if one exists. Make a list of the tasks you need to complete in the next month. Make a copy of the list and assign your own priority to each item. Indicate on this copy any tasks that are not part of your job description. Make an appointment to see your boss to discuss your job overload. Together you should review the list of tasks you need to complete in the next month. Have your boss prioritize the tasks. If your boss wants all the tasks done, and you cannot complete these tasks in the time you are willing to give, your boss may need to hire temporary help to complete those tasks. You may also wish to review your job description with your boss at this time if you think you are doing things that fall outside your domain.
If your boss still has unreasonable expectations of you, you may wish to take a coworker or two along with you to a second meeting (according to the biblical model in Matthew 18), or you may wish to discuss your problem with the appropriate person in your personnel department. If even then he remains unreasonable about what he thinks you can accomplish, you may need to begin looking for other job opportunities within your company or outside.
You may need to go to night school and get some further training to open up other opportunities. You may need to chase down hundreds of employment ads and send out stacks of resumes. (Consult the book How to Get a Job by James Bramlett for information on job searches.) You may wish to start your own business. You may wish to start an emergency fund to survive between quitting your present job and starting a new one.
Whatever you do, remember that your job overload is your responsibility and your problem. If your job is driving you crazy, you need to do something about it. Own the problem. Stop being a victim of an abusive situation and start setting some limits.
(Taken from Boundaries: When to Say Yes, When to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend Copyright © 2001 by Zondervan. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com)
Good article but not to be used as an excuse to be lazy!
;-)
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I don’t think Mr. Ramsey is in touch with the economic situation in the workplace at present. With layoffs rampant, and an excess of laid off workers willing to take your job for less pay, now is not the time to be telling your boss...”Sorry, that’s not in my job description.”
“You hired me for 20 hours a week, and you have just given me about 40 hours of work.”
Yup...that’s why they call it ‘work’, instead of ‘fishing’!!
Smart employers don’t run constant OT regardless of the economy. People working a lot of OT get fatigued, tired people do lower quality work. Having a work force that can get your project done in 40 hours results in a better output. Plus when you force your people to live at work you actually dramatically cut down on productive hours, people that have to do 12 hour days all the time they probably only actually work 6 or 7 hours, the rest of the time they’re on the phone and running their personal lives that you’re not letting them have with those work hours. It’s hard for employees to take a stand, but employers need to understand the basic math, 40 hour work weeks actually help the bottom line.
A dream for those underemployed and still seeking...
...or a dream for those like me working TWO, FULL TIME jobs, just to make ends meet (salary reduction versus layoff forced that)...
...80 hour workweek is unfortunately common place, but the lights are on, the mortgage is paid...
...now if we could get some grownups in charge in Washington to fix the mess, I might actually get something called sleep
...it's been so long I've forgotten what 7 hours of sleep would be like...
...I average 4 or 5 a night.
I chose to work 50 to 60 hours every week most of my life so that I could be successful. If there was an opportunity for overtime, I jumped at it and always said thank you. I took the ‘extra’ money and invested it. Thankfully I was successful at that also.
The result, I retired at 50, quite well to do. My wife retired one year after I did. Grabbing that overtime when I was a youngster was one of the smartest things I ever did.
You’re missing the point of the article.
It isn’t a matter of saying, “Boss, it is not my job to do x, y or z.”
It is a matter of saying, “Boss, you gave me 3 tasks and I only have time to complete 2 immediately. Please prioritize x, y and z so that I can meet your expectations.”
I get the job done in 40 hours or less and they keep throwing promotions and raises at me. I also work for salary so there is no OT pay, I might have gone your route if there was money in it, but there isn’t.
“In this economy a 40 hour week would be a dream for so many!”
my thoughts exactly when I saw the headline.
I just sweep the files under the rug. “Penske file? Can’t seem to find in anywhere. And I just spent 20 hours on it yesterday, too!”
I find myself doing 2-4 calendar hours of casual OT per week, but it is in recompense for the “non-work” discussions and other unproductive time I find myself in. I work in a professional office setting.
But my OT is my choice.
I 100% agree with you - mandatory OT (over extended time periods) is destructive and counter productive. During real crunches, it can be a business saver. But the definition of “real crunch” doesn’t expand past about 2 weeks per 6 months, IMO.
"In 2004, Ramsey's column was dropped from The Tennessean and four other newspapers owned by Gannett, Co. after it was discovered that the identities of those seeking help were duplicated or falsified in several of his columns. "
Definitely. Sometimes OT just has to happen. But if you find that the schedule can only be achieved by having the whole team pull OT for months at a stretch the schedule is wrong.
I’ve gotten lucky lately, landed in a company where the engineering staff is largely middle aged, with spouses and kids and all those great reasons to not be at work. I haven’t come in on a weekend in 4 or 5 years, only have days that go long a couple of times a year. It’s caused me to reconsider my earlier professional years.
John 2:15-16
15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
NIV
“If your boss still has unreasonable expectations of you, you may wish to “
... elect congressmen who won’t make it so expensive and risky for your boss to hire more people.
Our job descriptions all end with “other duties, as assigned”. Covers just about everything.
I’m a stay-at-homeschool mom to five kids. I work 24/7. I wish someone would help me manage my time better!! :0)
COMMERCE BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVEIS DESPOTISM
--Thomas Jefferson
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