Setting Boundaries
Discover more from How to Lead Everybody (with their permission)
Some industries require that people be on-call after “regular business hours.”
If you are supervising a nighttime activity like road construction, then maybe someone DOES need to be on-call 24/7. But for most industries, not so much.
Set boundaries, and encourage your people to set them, too. Let people know that they do not have to respond to texts, calls, or emails on Saturdays. Set the “do not disturb” features on your phone to get an uninterrupted sleep each night. If you LIKE to work non-traditional hours (e.g., get up at 5am, etc.), consider either setting the delivery features for the outgoing emails to arrive around 8am, or use a subject line like “For when you get into the office today,” so that people know they can wait to open it.
If someone does need to be on-duty after hours, try to find a volunteer “night owl” to cover that time (or split the coverage into shifts with a night-owl and an early-bird), and offer a “perk” in return, such as a late arrival time. Some people will be okay with a rotating on-call that each team-member takes in-turn, but first check to see if you have someone who actually LIKES the consistent off-hours schedule. Sometimes that is a great thing if the person’s spouse also has a tilted schedule, and they either want to spend time with them or they want to tag-team childcare with them.
(Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash)