How to set Healthy Boundaries at Work

Setting boundaries in your personal life is just as important as setting boundaries at work. Boundaries serve as guidelines to let others know how we want to be treated, our limits, and what’s ok and not ok. Most of us spend an average of 40 hours or more at work. So ensuring we are treated with respect by our supervisors and coworkers is crucial to maintaining our mental health. If we don’t set boundaries at work we set ourselves up to be disrespected, overworked, and unappreciated. We sacrifice our happiness, at the expense of trying to please others.

Our jobs are crucial to both our financial health and self-esteem. So standing up to supervisors or coworkers isn’t easy. We need our jobs in order to provide for ourselves and others, it’s not uncommon to be afraid to do anything that might cause chaos or disrupt the status quo. We don’t want to come off as difficult or not a team player. However, there also consequences for not setting boundaries; your mental health, productivity, and personal relationships may suffer.

Our mental and well-being are more important than a paycheck. If you don’t set boundaries at work, you’re giving your employer permission to take advantage of you. So here’s what you can do to set healthy boundaries at work and create a healthy balance between life and work.

Don’t be afraid to say “no”

When a supervisor or coworker asks you to something you’re not comfortable with or cause you extra stress. Don’t be afraid to say no. For example, I have a pet hedgehog and since he’s nocturnal I feed him in the evening. Which means I can’t work past a certain time, otherwise my hedgehog will have to go a while without food. And it’ll cause both me and my hedgehog stress. I’m declining the request to stay late because I’m a bad employee, but because I have responsibilities in my personal life that I need to take care of.

We all have personal responsibilities, and we can’t let work stand in the way of taking care of them. Even your coworkers and supervisors, so chances are they’ll understand.

Make Your Working Hours Clear

Ensure your employer is aware of when you can and can’t work by sticking to your hours of availability. When you work a full-time job, you spend a lot of time working. So keep the time you’re not working to yourself. A balance between work and personal life is important for your mental health. When work starts to interfere with your personal life, your performance at work starts to suffer.

What Boundaries at Work look like

Set Boundaries with Coworkers

When setting boundaries at work, it’s important to remember your coworkers are not your friends but your colleagues or associates at work. Be careful what you share about your personal life, and reframe from talking about subjects that breed resentment or misunderstanding. Like politics or religion. Don’t worry about what others may think of you and stay consistent with maintaining your boundaries. So you don’t break their trust from flip flipping back and forth. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a friendly relationship with your coworkers. It’s more about setting boundaries of what’s okay and what isn’t to limit conflict in the workplace.

Address Issues Right Away

When something happens that upsets you at work, it’s not uncommon to ruminate about the situation. Then bring it up later down the line. However, when you wait to address issues, the person may not be as understanding since so much time has passed since the event. So an effective way to ensure your coworkers don’t violate your boundaries is to tell them clearly and politely at the moment, instead of holding it in.

Communicate Effectively

When it comes to setting boundaries in the workplace, it’s all about clear communication. Your coworkers and supervisor won’t know what your boundaries are unless you communicate them. We all have the right to feel comfortable in our working environment. So when someone does something or says something, don’t be afraid to be clear about what your boundaries are. Remember when bringing up issues, be polite and reframe from raising your voice or making rude remarks. So that you can communicate effectively and the person you’re speaking with understands.

Setting boundaries in the workplace is an aspect of self-care. It’ll help prevent you from burning out at work. By setting boundaries, you define the lines of what’s ok and what’s not ok to your coworkers and supervisors. So you can protect your mental health and balance both work and your personal life.

Related post: 6 Ways to Remove Negativity from your life

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Angela Louise
Written by Angela Louise
Angela is the owner and chief content creator for Weird Louise and is working towards becoming a full-time blogger. In addition to blogging here on Weird Louise, she is an artist and owner of the Social Awkward Club. She also has a passion for helping others discover ways to live their best lives.