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If you have a manager, it's literally their job to manage your performance as an employee, and that includes your work-life balance. Some managers are bad at th

by nimih 5y ago

If you have a manager, it's literally their job to manage your performance as an employee, and that includes your work-life balance. Some managers are bad at their jobs (or belong to organizations which would prefer to burn out their employees or otherwise don't care about work-life balance), but if someone is working too many hours, or not taking enough vacation time, or is burning out because they're overwhelmed by their responsibilities or lack of support (either perceived or real), it's within their manager's power to identify those issues, and it's generally within the manager's power to fix them.

slibhb 5y ago
There's something creepy about deciding that it is someone else's job to manage your work-life balance. Who is better positioned to do that than you? People have to recognize their limitations and negotiate with their employer to make sure the employer does too. Sure, that requires attentive managers but it also requires employees who don't cede control of their lives to their employer.
- compiler-guy 5y ago
  It's not creepy for a manager to notice that you are working 12 hours a day and tell you, "Hey, this doesn't seem long-term sustainable. Why don't you scale things back so we have some slack for when a real emergency happens."
- throwaway3699 5y ago
  Ultimately though, if your workload is too high then a manager is the only person who can relieve that pressure valve, just a little bit. They have the power, which means usually they have to adopt the responsibility (what e.g. Junior IC is going to ask their boss for less work while also going through a rough time?)
  - filleduchaos 5y ago
    Not only do they have the power, relieving/handling that pressure is a good chunk of the very job description. If you are in charge of administering a team of people and you are doing nothing to coordinate their collective and individual workloads, then what exactly are you for?
- _carbyau_ 5y ago
  I see my manager as a "negotiator on behalf of the company" for work life balance. If I want to change something, I run it past them. If it messes something up they come back and say no and why. And I decide if it is worth it to keep working here. Or between us we come up with something else to keep both parties happy. At my workplace currently, management is pretty flexible and happy to go through whatever HR paperwork required.
- smileysteve 5y ago
  They're not managing your work life balance; they're managing your replacement cost (and their own career). If an employee burns out, it can definitely be a systemic issue, so a domino effect of people quitting or at least low morale. A major component of management is operational effectiveness and redundancy. If someone burns out and you don't see it, your team is suddenly undersized and you needed to hire (and have a recruiting budget) yesterday.

by nimih 5y ago

slibhb 5y ago

There's something creepy about deciding that it is someone else's job to manage your work-life balance. Who is better positioned to do that than you? People have to recognize their limitations and negotiate with their employer to make sure the employer does too. Sure, that requires attentive managers but it also requires employees who don't cede control of their lives to their employer.

compiler-guy 5y ago
It's not creepy for a manager to notice that you are working 12 hours a day and tell you, "Hey, this doesn't seem long-term sustainable. Why don't you scale things back so we have some slack for when a real emergency happens."
throwaway3699 5y ago
Ultimately though, if your workload is too high then a manager is the only person who can relieve that pressure valve, just a little bit. They have the power, which means usually they have to adopt the responsibility (what e.g. Junior IC is going to ask their boss for less work while also going through a rough time?)
- filleduchaos 5y ago
  Not only do they have the power, relieving/handling that pressure is a good chunk of the very job description. If you are in charge of administering a team of people and you are doing nothing to coordinate their collective and individual workloads, then what exactly are you for?
_carbyau_ 5y ago
I see my manager as a "negotiator on behalf of the company" for work life balance. If I want to change something, I run it past them. If it messes something up they come back and say no and why. And I decide if it is worth it to keep working here. Or between us we come up with something else to keep both parties happy. At my workplace currently, management is pretty flexible and happy to go through whatever HR paperwork required.
smileysteve 5y ago
They're not managing your work life balance; they're managing your replacement cost (and their own career). If an employee burns out, it can definitely be a systemic issue, so a domino effect of people quitting or at least low morale. A major component of management is operational effectiveness and redundancy. If someone burns out and you don't see it, your team is suddenly undersized and you needed to hire (and have a recruiting budget) yesterday.