People rally around worker who received a bad review for setting boundaries with their boss

Setting boundaries that work for a person is an integral part of thriving at a workplace and doing well at your job. It is also essential for a person's mental and physical well-being. But when a person gets penalized for prioritizing themselves, managing things at work can get difficult. A similar thing happened with an employee who got a bad review for setting boundaries at his workplace. The man is a senior consultant and shared in a post on Glassdoor the things he asked for at his workplace that resulted in him getting penalized.

“I got a bad performance review because I set some boundaries. Were my expectations unrealistic?” the man asked. His first request was, “My boss would often call me after hours for help on random stuff. I asked if it’s non-critical if I can do it the next day.” The second request was for his manager, “Manager dials me several times a day. Sometimes I’d be on a call or doing heads-down work. I asked if they could give me an IM before dialing me.” The man's third request was regarding his lunch break.

“I don’t often get a lunch break, but when I do, I get called asking if I can get to my PC ASAP. One time, I was away running an errand during my lunch break and said I couldn’t get there soon. So, I started blocking my lunch, and I guess they didn’t like that," the employee revealed. The person was quite disappointed over what happened, especially as his company claimed that he needed to be more available for the team. It is not unusual for people to want to prioritize themselves so they can do their tasks more efficiently, but some companies might flag that as incompetent behavior. Many people took to the comments section of the post to support the employee.

University College London 1 remarked, "No I don't think they are unrealistic. It's about organizational culture and different ways of working. This almost sounds like micro-management - I do not think it is unrealistic to set boundaries, especially as you are trying to deliver what you have been tasked with - you need time to concentrate and do the work. It sounds like there is a mismatch in expectations between you and your boss. Maybe having a conversation with them about this could help, ask them precisely what their expectations are. Depending on your boss's response to this you may both then be able to reach a compromise you're both comfortable with or - if there is no room for maneuver you have the choice to move on to a role that does offer more work/life balance." 

A marketing analyst wrote, "Sounds like a toxic workplace. So many red flags. Time to go!" Accenture 3 commented, "I'm also a consultant and work with an entire office full of people who work heaps of hours, but we are very respectful of boundaries like the above." Senior Associate 1 suggested: "It's wrong and unfair. But the review likely won't change. You could try talking to HR but that will likely just get you put on a PIP... but if might give you some time to start lookin for a new job. I was in a similar situation and am really glad I quit."