Jobs are important. They give us the money we need to pay our bills and buy things we want, they can help give us a sense of purpose, and even meet new friends! But, when your job starts taking over the rest of your life, it’s time to set up some boundaries. 

Why is it important to create and stick to boundaries? They help reduce stress and burnout, and help you to keep enjoying your job instead of feeling dread every time you have to clock in. 

These are the steps to take when you want to create and stick to boundaries, and how to communicate them with your team. 

Create your boundaries early in your tenure

There’s no better time to establish the boundaries you want than in the first week to month when you start a new job. This way, you don’t set certain expectations that mentally or physically drain you in the long run. 

Some examples of boundaries you can set:

• Not answering emails or phone calls outside of your normal working hours
• Setting realistic timelines for taking on new work instead of just saying yes to everything 
• Not talking about your personal life during work hours or with your coworkers 

Communicate

Setting boundaries is important, but if no one else respects them, you won’t get very far. As with every other aspect of hospitality, communication is key! Let your manager or team members know what your boundaries are (in a polite way of course). 

Let people know what times/methods are best for reaching you and how to reach you outside of those times during an emergency. Or, what your current workload looks like and if you have any bandwidth to take on anything additional. 

Get support

If you’re finding it hard to stick to your boundaries or get others to respect them, get support! Ask your manager if they can help set a team precedent for everyone to respect hours of communication, or to help you delegate work to other team members if you are overwhelmed. 

Depending on your relationship with your manager/team, try being honest with them about feeling burnt out or stressed. People can’t read our minds and likely don’t know how you are feeling if you don’t tell them. More often than not, once they become aware, they are happy to help! 

Switch jobs if your boundaries aren’t respected

Unfortunately, not every workplace has a culture that supports or respects workplace boundaries. If you are finding yourself part of an organization like this, even after you communicated your boundaries and asked for support, and you find yourself with that earlier mentioned dread of clocking in, it may be time to look for a new job. 

We spend 8+ hours at our jobs, which is roughly ⅓ or 90,000 hours of our life, so it’s important to enjoy it, and not let it negatively affect the other parts of our lives.