Setting boundaries on time when you're senior and expected to work long hours...

[Wonderbug81]

Having looked back at a few posts on here about senior workload, it seems generally accepted that most people have to do at least a few additional hours, if not up to 20 or 30 beyond the contract for some types of roles.

I have a very busy senior role where it's expected that we do extra hours. I usually do about 50-55 hours a week. It could easily be closer to 65 hours to keep on top of workload but I just can't manage that so I accept some things will always be behind. My boss is really happy with my work but would love it if I could do more!

Looking for tips or advice for those of you who do work longer hours but who have managed to put some boundaries in place (with the company/boss/team etc) so it doesn't get out of control!

Thanks

It is crazy. I thought it was crazy when I joined. It's interesting how I'm becoming a bit numb to it all as time goes by because there's so many of these behaviours across the whole company.

Making my exit plan...

Oh I totally agree with you. I have left organisations where that was the expectation and I have no interest in staff working crazy hours on a regular basis. But the mental hours/presenteeism thing is an organisational/team culture and if that's the culture of the big bosses then it is going to impact your ability to progress, even though it shouldn't.

Yes sadly, while it shouldn't be expected to work late/long hours or be present (we have a 4 day week policy), it's definitely the culture.

I knew before I wrote my original post that I would be leaving, but as I've only been there 9 months I'm trying to bide my time while I search for something else and have a year's tenure on my CV. It's also a tough market right now.

What's a 4 day policy?

Sorry 4 days in the office policy!

Ah ok. Not good. I'm very grateful for my WFH contact.

This made me think your main issue is your manager who should be managing upwards. 'Yes the team can pivot from your previous direction or investigate your latest harebrained idea but that means x won't get done or y will be delayed. Your later posts confirm its your boss. I'm pretty good at managing my hours generally but when I worked for someone like your boss it was a nightmare so a new role could be worth looking at!
Other than that - how time critical is your actual work - I'm at the point where I'll only respond quickly if its media related or actual operational (ie impacting real time systems). If its a report or a project that's had time to plan but did it badly can wait or find a different solution.

Yep definitely my boss and the SLT (which means most teams behave like me, constantly chasing tails and working long hours).

Some elements are related to media but most aren't. We are client serving as a business but most of my work isn't.

I plan on leaving, just want to get a full year on my CV which is a few months away. And market is bad too.

I always tell new senior staff your first priority is not to get burnt out. I keep a priority order task list for the team which I update and recirculate weekly. The expectation is that everyone prioritise their own work in line with this and I accept and my boss accepts stuff at the bottom may slip and sometimes get cancelled. Be ruthless. Be clear that if you had a bigger team you could get more stuff done and the decision maker about hiring budgets is accountable for the things that can’t get done. Pick a soft close time after which you won’t add anything else to your own list for the day and stick to it. Eg if you wait until 4 to ask me to do something I am obviously not going to do it today!

I used to do so many extra hours and then I gave my head a wobble and decided no more.

I am now, I believe it is called, quietly quitting!

I do my set hours (only 22 a week) and wont do overtime. I asked to swap one of my days so I could attend a funeral and was told no - I have therefore told them that I wont be attending a meeting or a training day that, at their request, I swapped my working days for. It works both ways.

I am very behind on my work but thats not my problem - I have told management on a number of occasions that I cant get my work done in the hours I work. They have ignored me.

My work/life balance is now fabulous.

I work to live, not live to work. I know I will not lie on my death bed and wished I had spent more time at work!

Good luck and thank you for starting the thread. It’s been very interesting.

In the same boat - with a small very resource constrained global team.

We have kicked off the year determined to change so have held stakeholder meetings explaining what is in our scope and what is not. Have been able to reallocate work to other teams & push back on scope that would otherwise have come our way.

We are also using Smartsheet to create intakes (briefings) so the sub tasks across projects can be reported. We have started a weekly stand up looking at new requests priorities, progress and risks for the week. I am expecting the team to plan for monthly sprints. That way if new things arise or times shift we can more easily discuss trade offs.

I am also setting out a list of my expectations to the team covering a range of topics from prioritisation, 4Ds (Don’t, Defer, Delegate, Do), expectations for varrying standards / quality according to the importance of the topic.

While I am still working long hours I am feeling more confident about my team’s workload and pressure. I am also confident about taking time to do things that matter irrespective of the time of day (e.g. watching an important fixture).

This is a really interesting thread, thank you for starting it. I’m currently senior leadership, and my next step up would be to “very senior leadership” with these kinds of expectations about working an extra 20 hours a week and being contactable when on holiday etc. It’s what stops me from going for it even though I’m capable of the actual work. I think very little is actually that urgent it needs dealing with out of hours (in my line of work), and rather it becomes a perpetual cycle from those in very senior leader positions to continuously operate like that. I honestly think if everyone stopped doing it, working life would become a lot calmer across the organisation.

It gives things a false sense of importance when they are dealt with outside of business hours. If I am working an extra 20 hours a week, part of that will be my delegating additional stuff down/out and I really struggle to see how that doesn’t put more on the plates of those below me with an expectation to get it all done in their hours. In our work you could work endlessly and the “job” still wouldn’t be done!

I'm glad you've managed to find a way through. The absolute dream.

Finding it hard to totally quietly quit, there's an expectation to set an example for not only my own team but other junior members of the team. I am pushing back in terms of workload though. Just takes a lot of energy.

Please don't let this put you off. I was quite senior at my old company and both my boss (and their predecessor) and I had a much better work life balance. I stayed there a long time knowing how good I had it but it shows that the companies/roles are out there.

I found my current job in a very difficult market after redundancy. I didn't have the luxury of investigating the culture etc.

I have to admit - paying my mortgage off has really helped!!!

i just don’t need the money from work now. We are currently £1800 a month better off since paying the mortgage and a couple of other long term bills. That’s more than I earn.

I like my job and don’t want to retire yet but lots of things annoy me about my work place. Knowing that I can just say stuff your job if it all gets to me is incredibly liberating!!

Oh wow that really is the dream then.

Something to work towards!