6 Days A Week - Part 4 of 5 Keeping Work In Its Place
This is the fourth article in a series about keeping work in its place. As a reminder: emails are equivalent to messaging and I'm specifically referring to work situations involving remote teachers and students in educational contexts.
I wish this story had a happy ending. But it doesn’t. This was a direct report of mine that did spectacular work. She was a gem of an instructor; I'll call her Gem for this story. She gave me great feedback that I implemented with other hires.
But I lost her. I lost her to burnout.
Very early on in the hiring process, I made sure that I emphasized that I was hiring for 5-days-a-week schedules. I would say specifically “5 days, not 6, not 7.” Sometimes I’d meet a traditional faculty candidate transitioning to online who would tell me that they provided their mobile phone number to their students because --and they would always say this like they were a saint-- that way they could help the student anytime. I didn’t advance them in the hiring process. What they thought was excellent customer service actually told me that they didn’t have self control. Further, they couldn’t see themselves as part of team, relinquishing control to others, trusting others, and the environment that they were applying to was about to go so fast and so intense, that it would eat them up.
(True story: Once I sat in a focus group of new online faculty hires and they reported how surprised they were with how much they felt tied to their laptops. “Tied” was the actual word they used. The Vice President running that focus group knew I was sitting in the group. He turned to me and asked “Have you ever felt tied to your laptop?” “Never” I said a bit breathlessly because I was wondering what the new hires were doing so wrong to be "tied." But that was because I knew how to keep work in its place.)
So this faculty member Gem was leaving a few clues around. First, I had hired her for a 5 days a week Monday - Friday schedule (within those 5 days, we also asked faculty to work 10 hours that were “student-facing” which meant that they had to be hours where students could reasonably meet with the faculty member...this usually meant 2 evenings per week. The other 30 hours could be at more faculty convenient times.) I saw emails from her to her others with time stamps of Saturday or Sunday. Later on, I became famous for my checking of time stamps...my direct reports actually learned to use “delayed send” if they didn’t want to get caught overworking.
I asked her about those time stamps. “Why did you feel the need to answer So-And-So on Saturday?”
“Oh, I have my laptop open on the kitchen table. So I saw the email come in and I wanted to help her.”
‘Laptop on the kitchen table’ told me that:
- She wasn’t always working from a space that encouraged professional behavior. We firmly asked employees to provide “dedicated home office space” that reflected a professional atmosphere with our students. #NoBedsInTheBackgroundPlease Even though she obviously was not on camera to answer an email, she didn't separate work from home.
- Working from a non-ergonomically planned space could bring on problems like carpal tunnel syndrome or back pain. When you don’t work at a desk, I worry about a compensation claim.
I was already worried.
“I’d prefer if you don’t check email when you are not at work. While I appreciate your dedication to our students, this probably could have waited.”
A few more months went by. I see the timestamp problem again and it is discussed around the team. I had another private conversation with her.
“I need you to work when you are supposed to be working. I need you to not work when you are not supposed to be working. It’s very important that you get rest and get away from work because then, when you come back to work, you are happier, more productive, and can help more students.”
Her response-- a peel of laughter--the ‘mad scientist’ kind. She said:
“You don’t understand!
I like helping students!”
Uh-oh. I was up against the “what could ever be wrong with helping a student?” argument. It was the #EducationIsAnInsatiableMonster rearing its head.
I said “I’m very serious. When you work on your days off, I get very concerned. The next stop on this train is burnout. At burnout, you help no students.”
She ignored me and kept going. I started trying to figure out how to word this problem for her written performance review. I’d given her two verbal warnings so it was time to up my rhetoric.
It ends up, I didn’t have to.
She called me one day. She said “I’m resigning.”
Stunned, I said “Why?”
She answered, “Because I want to spend more time with my daughters.”
I screamed into the phone, “That’s funny, because I wanted you to spend more time with your daughters too. Only, I wanted to PAY you to do that. And I wanted you to be able to tell your daughters that Mommy is a Full Professor. Now you won’t!”
No, I didn’t scream that into the phone.
I accepted her resignation and wished her well. But ever since that day, I’ve known...she never learned the lesson I was trying to teach. She burned herself out. She’ll do it to herself again in other jobs.
If you like my article series, you might want to check this out: You are not your job: Writer Arthur Brooks on why careers shouldn't dictate your identity
This was the article that started this series: Defending a Teacher's Right To Disconnect.
Article 1 I am the woman who did not check her email and lived.
Article 2: You replied too quickly!
Article 3: I'm going camping!
Article 5 will be: Measuring Remote Team Productivity or What Happens When It All Goes Wrong
#KeepWorkInItsPlace #RemoteWork #TimeManagement #SelfControl #EducationIsAnInsatiableMonster #Working6DaysAWeek #Leadership #Success #Failure #Management #Email #Burnout