Bosses, Lead By Example With Your Time Off
If your actions aren’t aligned with your leave policies, the message you send to your employees might be wrong.
You’ve done, I’ve done it. You are out of the office attempting to take some much-needed rest and relaxation, and something compels you to open your phone and sneak a glance at your inbox. Hiding in your inbox is a task or message that will only take minutes. Without thinking, you fire off a response.
I get your rationale. If you take care of this one quick thing, there will be one less item haunting your to-do list upon your return. It feels like no harm has been done by sneaking a few minutes of your leave time to get some work done.
Yet there is a possible unintended consequence to robbing yourself of your hard-earned time off. As a leader, you are modeling the way for your employees. Whether you mean to or not, you are sending them the message that they, too, should stay available during their time off.
I can hear your heavy sigh already. You were trying to tick something off your list. You don’t expect your employees to do the same. It’s a different set of rules for you because you’re the boss.
Boss or not, the problem is that while you may have the best intentions regarding your…
