Work Life Balance Part One by Tina Erwin

     The first time it happens to you, you find yourself a little stunned. How did this happen? When did it change? Did I miss the memo on this? Who decided that this was okay?

      Scenario One

       You come into work Monday morning and your officemates are not there, they are all in a meeting, a meeting you obviously didn’t know about. You aren’t sure what the meeting is about, but it looks like the entire staff is there and you quietly slip into the back.

       When your boss notices you, she embarrasses you by asking you why you didn’t read your email that she sent you. You explain that you didn’t get an email about this meeting on Friday. No, she says, the email I sent out at 4pm yesterday afternoon, you know, Sunday afternoon. Why weren’t you reading your email?

       Now you can boldly go where no executive has gone before and observe that you weren’t aware that this organization worked 24/7 or you can mumble a humble apology for missing the meeting.

       Leaving the meeting, your officemates look at you like you are a complete failure. What’s wrong with her, you can hear them thinking.

       There’s nothing wrong with her! She had no idea she was expected to work seven days a week. There was no memo that discussed office expectations of never having an entire day off.

      Scenario Two

       You make a presentation to a group on a Saturday. Your entire staff gives up their Saturday to do this special work task that will bring in more business. You have all worked night and day to get this done. The presentation is a wonderful success. Everyone is pleased. Their Saturday workday ends around four. Everyone is exhausted from the tension of the workup and then the successful presentation. You tell everyone to have “a great rest of what’s left of the weekend!”

       Monday morning, as you are reading your email, you notice that the Chairman of the group hosting your presentation the previous Saturday, sent out an email at 7am Sunday morning demanding an edited copy of your power point presentation to share with several hundred people. It was due to him before Monday morning.

       Your power point will take time to edit, condense, review and then send to him. You had no idea that you were expected to check email all day Sunday, to work all day Sunday, on a serious deadline no less.
       You can’t help but ask yourself: why was this such a fire drill? Why was this an emergency?

       So, how do you handle this since you have obviously missed his rushed deadline?

       Scenario Three

      Your boss is tired all the time. She works literally from dawn to dusk and expects everyone else to do the same. She is also sick all the time. She never rests and she sends emails out like there is a quota for how many a person can send and she maxes out that quota every day. She sends them day and night, memo after memo, Saturday, Sunday and holidays. It never ends.   

       She expects you to read and answer her emails promptly. She has no family, no ties that bind her, only the identity that is her job. She thinks you are a slacker if you aren’t constantly reading and responding to email. Push, Push, Push, get it done.

       She’s burning everyone out. Since her day and her week never ends, obviously neither does anyone else’s.

       Part two: The devil that is email.