Studies show that job stress is the main reason for anxiety in many Americans, and it continues to affect more people as the years go on. Setting clear work boundaries, and sticking to them, allows people to achieve an excellent work-life balance. Boundaries help protect employees’ time, energy, purpose, and contentment. A lack of work boundaries can leave you feeling stressed and overwhelmed. To understand how to set healthy limits at work, it is crucial to learn your boundaries and establish them. This will help you to achieve a work-life balance while decreasing stress and anxiety.
Understand your worth and value
Knowing your experience, skill set, and expertise and how these can benefit an organization is essential. Understanding your worth and value will make you more aware of what you can offer to your colleagues and clients. When you value your time, energy, skills, and expertise, you will be more particular about the job tasks you take on rather than saying “yes” to everything thrown your way.
Learn your boundaries
An essential step in setting healthy boundaries is to learn what your limits are in the workplace. If you are unsure of your boundaries, try looking at the responsibilities stated in your job description. It would be best to ensure that your roles and responsibilities align with the organization’s job description. If you are still unsure of your limits or believe your expectations are too much, you should communicate your concerns with your supervisor or manager.
Communicate your boundaries
Once you have identified your boundaries, you can now discuss them with your manager, supervisor, and coworkers clearly and confidently. Communicating your needs with others is vital to ensure a good work-life balance while also assisting your organization in increasing productivity and teamwork. If a coworker or customer constantly calls you after business hours, you should discuss this issue with them. It is better to reinforce your limits right now than wait a day or two. You should inform your manager or supervisor directly if they continue this behavior.
Set limits
As previously mentioned, establishing limits will achieve the work-life balance necessary to reduce stress and anxiety. Examples of limitations you might want to set are not checking work emails or answering phone calls or text messages during a specific time in the evening, such as between 6 and 9 PM. By doing so, you will be able to focus on family time, have dinner, and communicate with family members before returning to work.
Prepare for pushback
Once you establish healthy boundaries, it should be expected that other people may be negative towards it. This is a sign that boundaries were necessary and they are working effectively. It is important to remember that employees who are the happiest and the most productive are those who set limits in the workplace.
At Kona HR, we can offer various approaches to managing people and the workplace culture and environment based on your company’s needs. HR management empowers people to contribute to the company effectively and productively while maintaining the organization’s goals and core values. To learn more about our HR Management, visit us at: https://www.konahr.com/hr-management/
