After receiving backlash from her boss and coworkers, she’s turned to the internet to tell her side of the story.
The world’s workforce culture has changed significantly in recent years, ever since the pandemic hit. One woman, who goes by username u/freeefinally, has taken her frustration to the online space after claiming she’s receiving flack for refusing to work weekends and late nights at her job.
The now-viral Reddit post was published on December 2nd, and has received 16,800 upvotes and 1,500 comments to date.
The author introduces the post by explaining that she works a salaried job, and when she was hired she was told that she would be working “reasonable hours”.
What qualifies as ‘reasonable working hours’ in today’s society?
Despite being told in the original job interview that the company valued ‘work-life balance’ and ‘reasonable working hours’, the woman details how in fact those were empty promises.
She even claims that during her interview the boss said that they would "never expect people to stay late or work weekends and holidays".
However, the author goes on to explain that this sentiment didn't go far, and that her boss got ahold of her personal cell number and began contacting her outside of work hours.
She wrote,
“My boss got my personal phone number off my resume from when I applied, and after not long he was blowing up my phone on nights and weekends asking me to come to work."
Protecting one's boundaries, or neglecting one's job?
The woman went on to how she would intentionally not answer her work phone during weekends and holidays. Her boss eventually confronted her about it, demanding why she wasn't answering her phone.
The author then explained to her boss that she doesn't often check her personal phone, and if he needs her, he should call her work phone.
That said, for the woman's own personal boundaries, she makes a point of leaving her work phone on her desk during the weekends, and doesn't answer it outside of work hours.
Research published last year by the American Psychological Association found that work intruding into our personal lives increases stress. Maintaining boundaries between work life and personal life play an active role in keeping stress levels under control.
Her boss then asked how he could reach her outside of her 9 to 5, in case he needs her to get back to work at the drop of a hat. She didn't take this demand well.
Should working weekends be expected in a salaried position?
The woman claims that she asked her boss to give her advance notice if he needs her to address something outside of work hours, and the boss said "that would not be possible" as the team handles many last-minute requests on weekends.
The boss then made it clear that he expected her to be just as available outside of work hours as she is during.
She wrote in response to that request,
"I said that on the weekends I usually have commitments that were made one to three weeks out, and I'm not often able to cancel a previous commitment with under a day's notice."
The boss isn't the only one frustrated with this woman's boundaries.
The woman added that she is not the only employee expected to handle last-minute projects or tasks outside of working hours. In fact, a majority of her co-workers work on weekends and holidays to fulfill their job commitments.
And now, because she is standing her ground and refuses to work on weekends, her coworkers are very unhappy with her as well.
She wrote,
"My coworkers got frustrated and said that if everyone did what I was doing nothing would get done. I said maybe nothing should get done then, if it's coming at the cost of y'all not being home for dinner with the family."
What do you think? Is this employee's pushback warranted? Or should she be a 'team player' and just accept that working outside of working hours comes with the territory?
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