The Place Of Work Boundaries To Promote A Healthy Work-Life Balance

The word “work” doesn’t always evoke warm feelings and associations. Of course, that may depend on the work you do and whether you enjoy it. Work is such a fixture in our lives, and having a healthy relationship with and appreciation for your work can help you deal with work-related stress and anxiety. One way to cultivate a healthy relationship with your work is to have boundaries.

Do you need work boundaries?

Every healthy relationship needs boundaries. Between two people, boundaries serve to distinguish them as individuals with their unique needs and preferred ways of meeting those needs. Boundaries help them to remember that they are individuals, and they prevent the development of pathologies such as codependency. Having work boundaries is slightly different, but employs the same background idea.

While your work isn’t a person, it can press in on us just as another person could. The pressure to meet deadlines, accomplish certain milestones, generate new ideas, and steer clear of certain dangers that will wreck your business can press in on every facet of your life. If you’re a business owner with people depending on you for employment, you carry that pressure with you in the decisions and business moves you make.

You need work boundaries so that your work doesn’t swallow your every waking hour because you have needs (such as rest, for example) that need to be met. You also need work boundaries because you can begin to identify yourself too closely with your work and begin to root your sense of worth and purpose in your work.

Henri Nouwen writes: “In our production-oriented society, being busy, having an occupation, has become one of the main ways, if not the main way, of identifying ourselves. Without an occupation, not just our economic security but our very identity is endangered. This explains the great fear with which many people face their retirement. After all, who are we when we no longer have an occupation?”

Creating daylight between ourselves and our work by having healthy boundaries is a way to prevent ourselves from being swallowed up and defined according to what we do, no matter how important it may be.

Examples.

In the months following the COVID-19 pandemic, many younger people began a trend called “quiet quitting.” In fairness, quiet quitting doesn’t mean that people were slacking off at work and making their way slowly toward exiting their work situation.

Rather, a more charitable way of looking at it is that after the stresses of social distancing, working from home, and everything else that came with the pandemic, people wanted work to occupy its place but not take over their lives.

There are several ways to establish healthy work boundaries. Some of these include the following:

Signaling to others that you’re working.

Some people use headphones to signal that they are working and shouldn’t be disturbed, while others set their instant messaging apps or phones to the “Do Not Disturb” setting. That way, your colleagues know that you’re working.

Not checking or answering work emails after hours.

Some people have workplace devices, and when they get home from work, they put those devices away until the following workday.

Keeping your work and social life separate.

Some people try to keep their work life and everything else separate. Thus, while they are friendly and have friends at work, they don’t socialize with them outside of work, engage in someone else’s bad mood, conduct romantic relationships with work colleagues, have certain kinds of physical contact with colleagues, or discuss personal information in work settings.

Taking a break.

Aside from the daily breaks during and at the end of the workday, another boundary is to demarcate time to rest and set aside work to focus on other things. Taking a holiday can help you see that there’s more to life than working. Also, if you’re feeling ill, take your sick days and use them to rest and recuperate.

Saying “No” to extra work.

If you believe in Jesus, that should inform your work ethic. Working hard means working to the agreed-upon standard set in your employment, but it does not necessarily mean saying “Yes” to every request your boss or colleague makes. It may be detrimental to your career prospects but being able to say “No” can help you maintain a good work-life balance.

The benefits of work boundaries for your well-being.

Having work boundaries carries several benefits, including the following:

It lowers work-related stress.

A lot of stress at work is generated by having poor boundaries and not establishing limits for yourself and others.

It reduces your risk of burnout.

Being overworked and stressed can cause burnout, and setting boundaries can reduce that risk.

It increases your productivity.

Your productivity can increase when you focus on your own tasks and avoid workplace distractions.

It helps you to maintain a reasonable workload.

Accepting a fair amount of work at any one time helps you focus on your work responsibilities and have a reasonable workload and work hours.

It helps set an example in the workplace.

Setting boundaries can help you avoid falling into the trap of greed, which is a form of idolatry (1 Timothy 6: 6-10). Having boundaries may also lead to a happier and healthier work culture.

If you’re finding work to be overwhelming or stressful, and if work occupies a significant portion of your life, it may be that you have no or poor work boundaries. Work is a valuable part of our lives, but it should not obtain ultimate significance or become how we identify ourselves.

Speak with a Christian counselor or a life coach who can help you set healthy work boundaries to promote your well-being and a healthy work-life balance.