Boundaries at work matter now, like they never did before:
- Since the rise of knowledge work.
- Since the connected, global, 24-hour economy.
- Since COVID-19 when most of us had to work from home
It’s not just physical wellbeing
Before the rise of knowledge work, we used to negotiate for boundaries that looked after our physical wellbeing—work hours, rest breaks, safety, and wages.
These boundaries used to be standardised and regulated. We joined the union and they acted on our behalf for better collective conditions.
There’s psychological wellbeing too
Today, as knowledge workers, we also negotiate for our psychological wellbeing—to protect our mental health, maintain work-life balance, and ensure sustainable productivity.
Psychological wellbeing wasn’t on the agenda before. But we’ve gone from everyone talking about stress to languishing to burnout in recent years. It is now. And not only as a private matter. As a workplace one too.
You’re responsible for your boundaries
Still, the psychological boundaries are more subjective. That’s why there’s more responsibility on you to negotiate for yourself. What’s stressful for Johnny may be motivating for Sally.
You’ll do a better job of negotiating for yourself when you know what you need and what you want. So it’s worth taking the time to work out your limits around potential psychosocial risks like work hours, job design and workload. And once you’ve negotiated for what you need and want, your job is to ensure the standards you’ve set don’t slip.
The organisation is responsible too
As a leader, you represent the workplace and can make all the difference when it comes to preventing psychosocial risk and promoting psychological wellbeing on your team. Boundaries at work are a two-way street.
These resources might help
Back in 2021, I wrote an article for the Law Institute Journal (LIJ) on this very topic. It’s about lawyers, but the principles apply for any knowledge worker. The LIJ just republished it as part of a collection of hot topics on lawyer health and wellbeing. It’s of ongoing importance.
How would you rate yourself? How well are you managing boundaries at work… on both sides of the street?
Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels
