How to Ask Your Boss for a Better Worklife Balance

How to Ask Your Boss for a Better Worklife Balance How to Ask Your Boss for a Better Worklife Balance You are feeling exhausted at work. It seems like your life is out of control. You are not sure you can handle it anymore. It may be time to have a discussion with your boss about feeling healthy and productive. It may be time to ask your boss for a better work-life balance. This post explains how to do it. Remember to audit yourself beforehand You may be feeling overworked and exhausted, but that does not always mean it is the boss’ fault. Before confronting the boss about your busy schedule, check if you are doing all you can to do to improve your work-life balance. Are you committing to projects you cannot complete? Are you managing your time wisely? Try some applications like Time Doctor that measure what you are spending time on throughout the week. Audit yourself and your work habits to see what can be cut out. See if you can discover work-life balance by yourself. Take a step back and review your priorities Do you have a hard time saying no? If so, it is very easy for your priorities to get out of hand at work and home. Take a step back. Review if you are bringing your work home with you or bringing home issues to work. Make a list of your priorities. Write them down. Organize them by highest to lowest priority. Next, read the list out loud to yourself and see if it makes sense to you. You are verbalizing and annotating your work-life balance, in order to be honest with yourself before addressing your boss. If you are positive you need a better work-life balance it is time to do the following. Ask for a brief meeting Set up a meeting that will only last about 15 minutes. Make sure it does not interrupt the boss’ work-life balance. Schedule around his/her time, not yours, and make sure you do not cancel the meeting. Present your findings Do not waste the boss’ time if you are not sure what you are going to say. Do not approach the boss in a confrontational tone that demands he/she takes action to make you feel better. Show the boss what you discovered. Explain how you came to that conclusion. Be quick, calm, and do not feel intimidated. Instead, ask for suggestions. The boss may have a great deal to offer you in terms of advice. You will never know, however, if you have nothing logical to present explaining why your work-life balance is out of control. Try working with human resources The HR department of any company is there to assist you. See if you can move hours around, work longer and fewer days a week, or even work from home. Obviously, not all jobs allow for a person to work from home or change schedules, but it never hurts to ask HR about flexibility a company offers to improve work-life balance. Ask for time off and make the most of it Things like vacation days, sick days, and personal days exist for a reason. When you get to use them, make the best of it! Disconnect from everything work-related. Leave out-of-office messages for emails and make your weekends all about you. Prepare for your vacation properly by following all company rules for time off. Work can always be handled wisely if your brain is recharged and feeling productive. And by all means, when you have time off, play hard. You will feel much better when it comes time to play hard.