How to Establish Healthy Boundaries at Work
If life is all about balance, then why has job stress become a normal part of our everyday lives?
Staying late after work, taking on extra responsibilities, and always saying yes has become ingrained into office culture as a way to show dedication. However, this lack of balance is unsustainable and ultimately leads to high levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout.
If you’ve recently realized you lack work-life balance, check out our top tips for establishing healthy boundaries at work.
Determine the cause of your stress
The first step to setting boundaries is recognizing you need them! Time to take an honest audit of your work life with these two approaches.
Too much on your plate? Create a list of your current daily responsibilities, then ask your boss to create a list of your actual responsibilities based on your job description and/or employee contract. This practice can reveal disparities between what you’re doing and what’s actually expected of you.
You can also create a list of things that cause you anxiety and stress at work, including situations, people, or company structure. This practice allows you to see and directly address the root of your problems.
Establish your personal boundaries
Once you’ve addressed what’s causing you stress, you can determine which boundaries you need to establish. Create a separate list of things you want to prioritize for yourself ie.) not checking your email after work hours, not staying late after work, or not working through your lunch hour.
Communicate clearly and be upfront
From your boss to your colleagues, it’s important to be clear and vocal about your boundaries. This might look like a formal conversation between you and your boss, an email signature that states how often and when you respond, or letting your colleagues know when you prefer to be contacted during work hours.
It’s also about saying no and taking the time to respond to requests instead of immediately accepting them. It can be difficult if you want to please others or have a habit of saying yes, but practicing this essential skill until you no longer feel guilty is the key to firm boundaries!
Develop a structure
Use your boundaries to create more structure in your daily workflow. Having a predictable schedule will make it easier for you to tell when you’re overworked, crossing your own boundaries, and allows you to easily decline requests that don’t fit your timeline.
If your boss has a tendency to message you at all hours of the day or likes to pop into your office unannounced, maybe you can schedule a more efficient weekly meeting to touch base.
Be ready for pushback
Setting boundaries for yourself might rub others the wrong way, and that’s okay. Just be prepared for people to respond negatively or to not respect your boundaries at first.
It’s important to be persistent with vocalizing your boundaries and to practice responding to objections before they happen. That way, when lines are crossed, you can communicate clearly and take action rationally vs. emotionally.
Remember that establishing boundaries at work doesn’t make you a bad person, regardless of the pushback you might receive. In the long run, you’re protecting yourself and showing others that you respect yourself, and therefore, they should too.
If you’re someone who struggles with work-life balance, setting boundaries in your professional life can greatly benefit you by relieving stress and allowing for better focus at work and in your personal life.
Whether you’re back to work at the office, or working remotely, we hope these tips on establishing boundaries can help you achieve a better work-life balance!
