Brigette Hyacinth says the employers who are happy to let you work all hours, but look askance when you ask to leave early one day, are the ones to avoid for the sake of your health.
One company I worked for was happy to let you work overtime (without pay).
The moment you said you had a personal commitment and could not stay behind you were treated with suspicion and made to feel guilty.
It’s like all you could give was never enough.
Any employer that does not value work-life balance is not worth working for.
You do owe your employer your best work every day, but you don’t owe your employer your personal life, your health or your values.
I can’t tell you the countless times I have heard some employees say their job is their life.
What happens then if you lose your job or retire?
Your job is not your life. It is a means to live your life.
Never let a job define your self-worth or happiness.
In order to truly be successful, boundaries must be set in our lives.
Many bosses see employees as tools rather than human beings.
Their goal is to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of them.
Working in an environment where you are merely tolerated will only hold you back.
Instead try to work for loyal employers who appreciate your talents and will give you opportunities to grow and develop.
Many organisations profess they treat employees like family.
To treat employees like family you must support, trust, respect, appreciate and care about them.
If you support employees, you will foster a healthy environment and provide the tools where they can perform at their best.
If you trust employees, you will not micromanage them.
If you respect employees, you will not encroach on their personal time by asking them to work late or contacting them after hours.
If you appreciate employees, you will value their contributions.
If you care about employees, you will take an interest in their personal development.
If an organisation is not loyal to their employees, why should they remain loyal to it?
Loyalty is a two-way street.
If you keep throwing employees under the bus at the first hint of trouble, you will never have their loyalty.
Employees know when they are on shaky ground.
Finding a genuinely good organisation isn’t always easy, but there are many that are constantly named as the best places to work who take care of their employees.
They invest in their people.
If you dread Mondays, and you only look forward to Fridays, that is merely existing.
If you have to leave home at 5am and come back at 11pm every single day, working weekends as well, that is not working but drowning.
If your job is keeping you so busy it hardly allows you to spend time with your family then you have a problem.
If your health is consistently threatened due to stress at work, maybe it’s time for a new start.
I had a close friend who worked non-stop.
He was always ‘plugged in’ and wouldn’t even take a vacation.
He was diagnosed with cancer, took retirement and died shortly after.
Sadly, he never got to enjoy any of his retirement earnings.
Our bodies are not machines. You can’t keep going 24/7. The lights won’t always be green.
If you don’t slow down, eventually you will come to a red light and have to make a complete stop.
Don’t take your health for granted — no amount of success or money can replace your health.
No organisation will take care of you if you don’t take care of you first.
We must balance our jobs with other important aspects of life.
Work somewhere where your hard work and loyalty are appreciated and respected.
Life is too short for anything else.
*Brigette Hyacinth founded the MBA Caribbean Organisation that conducts seminars and workshops in leadership, management and education as well as providing motivational speeches. She can be contacted at www.mbacaribbean.org.
This article first appeared on Brigette’s website.
