May 31, 2006Does the Boss Mean What He Says?
I work in an environment where people can come in just about whenever they want to as long as they leave after the designated time. Consequently, I’ve noticed many don’t put in a full day or they stay until well into the evening, not necessarily because they have so much work but because it looks better to leave late. I like to get here early (7:30-8:00 a.m.) but I want to leave by 5:00. My boss says it’s alright but will notoriously leave me a message at 5:10 or 5:25 and then acts like he expects a response at that time…how can I handle this? I have already addressed it directly. The last straw was when a new employee got permission to arrive at 6:30-7:00a.m. and leave by 3:30-4:00 pm. I get the job done yet I feel demeaned at this treatment. How do I handle it?
Meryl Responds
If you are confident in your employment, I recommend you take your boss at his word and unapologetically respond to messages the following morning. I suspect your boss sends things out when it’s ready to send and doesn’t think about what time it is. I send my assistants things at very odd hours sometimes, and don’t expect a response at those odd hours. I wouldn’t read too much into his messages, as women are often prone to do.
If you are less confident in your employment you may want to reaffirm your agreement and say something like,
I got a message from you at 5:20 yesterday and I get the impression that you expected a reply at that time. Since we agreed that my day ends at 5:00 I want to make sure you are comfortable with my responding in the morning.
Chances are he will say yes since he agreed to those hours. It sounds to me like you need to be clear in your boundaries and teach your boss that you are gone after 5:00. He may test your boundaries but it sounds like he will respect your boundaries if you do.
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
| TrackBack URI
You can also bookmark
this on del.icio.us or check the cosmos
If the method for sending out the requests and assignments is email, check to see if your system has a way to set your account up to let senders know you are out of the office. If it does, then all senders immediately get a message letting them know you are not present to get their message. Everyday at the end of your work day, you could set it up, and everyday when you come in, turn it off. You will still get the message. It will be there when you come in in the morning, but the sender will get the reminder message immediately that you are not there to receive the message. If the boss asks you about it, you can just say that you were getting messages that suggested not everyone was familiar with, or was remembering your hours, and you thought that would be an immediate way to remind them.
Comment by Kathleen DuBois — June 8, 2006 @ 7:37 am