How to leave work on time and (still) get everything done. Find good reasons to leave work early
“Don't quit your job before you find a new one,” we've heard this mantra a million times. Are you tired? Are you sick? Do you need a break? These are all excuses, whispers an inner voice (which sounds suspiciously like the voice of a colleague, a friend, or one of the young people at the next table whose conversation you accidentally overheard). If you leave now, you will lose. Don't quit your job. Don't make a mistake.
What can you answer to this voice? At a minimum, this is this: the option that seems safe to us is not always the most reasonable. When under extreme stress, we switch to survival mode. And in this mode, we are not inclined to think soberly and thoroughly. We are afraid of risk. We think about only one thing: relax and forget.
In addition, in such a state, the chances of finding something better tend to zero. Trying to break out of one captivity, we easily fall into another if we cannot adequately weigh all the pros and cons. It happens that a person simply does not have the strength to fight for Better conditions. He is exhausted, his fighting spirit has disappeared - only a limp, lifeless body remains. Can you hope to impress the next personnel officer in such a state?
Before deciding whether to stay in a stressful or unpleasant job, take stock of your situation. Perhaps you just need a break to recover. Here are some points worth taking a closer look at.
You don't feel safe
Your safety comes first. If you don't feel safe at work, you should quit, even if your finances aren't in the best shape. Some jobs may be real places increased danger- as disadvantaged areas of the city, zones of radioactive contamination and military operations.
If you are being harassed or threatened at work, tell management. If you remain silent, no one will defend you. If attempts to defend your rights lead nowhere or after a “lull” the pressure on you resumes with new strength- leave boldly and as soon as possible.
Work is ruining your health
Remember: your health is always more important. The word “stability,” so beloved by many, acts like a slow poison. We become passive, not ready for action - even when our previous life brings only suffering. Is your job killing you - physically or in any other sense? Then you should quit as soon as possible, while you still have some strength left. In some places people work in fear all the time. How can you go to an interview in such a state and expect to be appreciated?
You feel unsure of yourself
Over time, the hatred of work can become so strong that in search of salvation you will be ready to clutch at any straw.
It could be a simple “hack job”, work under the wing of a friend, the advantages of which boil down to the fact that it brings in a little money and allows you to escape from the hell of your former life. But often such respites drag on, and your determination to look for your dream job quietly evaporates.
You need a break
“I was fed up with my job,” says Alexander, “But I was simply not ready to take on a new one right away. I didn't have enough time and inner space to understand what I wanted. I was in a terrible state. I had to leave before I could think about anything else."
Alexander quit, despite the fact that his colleagues considered his action to be madness. But he himself admits that he felt relief: “My blood pressure probably dropped by half the minute I left the building.” He decided to take a three-week internship at a new company and got the job a week after graduating.
“This job was completely unrelated to my previous career, I was paid less, but so what? - says Alexander. - I work, I help people. Now I see meaning in what I do. And I can calmly plan my next steps.”
You don't have time for yourself
“I’ve never quit a job without knowing where to go,” says Barbara. - But now I had to do it. My previous job consumed all my energy. While I was there, I couldn't imagine my life outside the office. I felt stuck and couldn't move. Now I can concentrate and understand what I really want.”
If, when returning from work, you feel completely overwhelmed and squeezed out, you will simply not be able to look for a new job. It could all end with new job you won't be satisfied either. Listen to your body - it won't deceive you.
If you need to quit your job first just to look at yourself in the mirror and figure out who you are and what you want, do it without delay!
About the expert
Liz Ryan- founder of the consulting company Human Workspace.
Working on a traditional 5-day, 40-hour work schedule, it is physically impossible to cope with all personal matters that do not relate to work. The fact is that most official institutions have exactly the same schedule: visiting parent meeting, a doctor’s office or the same traffic police cannot be moved to weekends. The need to leave workplace in the middle of the working day can occur to any person in almost every organization - this is quite common. life situation. But not for management. The boss is visited daily by certain employees, in the position of each of whom he must “enter and let go.”
Against this background, managers develop whole strategy: how to identify liars and liars, how to refuse those who ask strongly, and even how to force an employee to work twice the free time provided. Like, if you solve personal issues while working, do your work in your personal time. Careerist.ru tried to answer the question of what is the best way to ask your boss for time off so as not to make money disciplinary sanctions and not end up getting fired?
The main thing is responsibility
But what if the result of your work does not claim to be impeccable, deadlines have been overdue for a long time and regularly, but you still need to leave? Here you can’t do without concessions and negotiations with the boss. Convince him that you will stay late in the evening for several days, go to work on Saturday, and even if you really need to, you will sacrifice part of your vacation. An additional Homework. Like, you need to supervise the work of the repair team or look after a sick child, but understanding all the responsibility, you promise that you will take all necessary work on house. You need to understand that the boss does not just give permission not to go to work - he is also responsible for such permission. Therefore, in order to painlessly ask for time off, in addition to requests, offer him a sensible solution to the current problem, which will give results to both you and your employer.
By being a truly responsible employee and clearly showing your responsibility to your employer, you will definitely not earn the image of a slacker. The more lost working time you manage to compensate, the fewer complaints your superiors will have, even if your absence is long.
Don't be confronted with a fact
Even if you are a very valuable person for the company and have never been asked to take time off to resolve personal issues, you should not present the employer with a fact - like, “I need to leave.” It's obvious thatthe need to leave, be it 2 hours or 2 days, must be reported to the boss in advance. If such a need arises constantly, it is worth preparing for a more thorough and serious conversation. It probably even makes sense to discuss the possibility of working in a flexible schedule - in this case, you need to promise your boss not only maintaining, but also increasing productivity and efficiency. There is no doubt that this is possible - the practice of using a flexible schedule is very common even in Russia, and almost half office workers I am sure that their effectiveness will only increase with such a schedule.
Convince the employer that even if you are not present at work time in the office, the work will still be completed on time and with high quality. Perhaps it would be a good argument existing example results that were achieved when working outside the business center. Perhaps your boss should even think about transferring his employees to remote work?
Please note to your boss that his desire to help you sort out personal issues is extremely important to you, and if one of the types of such help is a floating, flexible schedule, you will be even more grateful to him. Of course, the final result depends on corporate culture in the company, but most issues, including schedule conditions, are discussed individually. Therefore, if you can find arguments that prove your effectiveness regardless of your work schedule, it will be much easier to negotiate a flexible schedule.
If we're talking about about an isolated case,it should be agreed upon not only with superiors, but also with colleagues, especially if the company practices employee interchangeability. So that your time off does not become an unpleasant surprise for them, warn them and, if possible, complete at least part of the work to be performed in advance.
If the boss is against
But all of the above works only in “normal” companies, where normal corporate relations are built, and the boss does not perform the functions of an “overseer of the plebeians.” As we know, this happens quite often. In such companies, as a rule, they are fined for being late and punished for talking on the phone - asking to take time off, even for a good reason, is out of the question. By the way, even in exemplary companies, management is not always inclined to trust their employees regarding the validity of the reasons why they want to take time off. According to insurers from AXA PPP Healthcare, which conducted and published a corresponding study in The Independent, at least half of the managers they surveyed demand that those who ask for time off unquestioningly show up at the office, even if there is a good reason.
However, employees are also no slouch - according to the insurance company, 2 out of 3 employees who want to take time off are ready to lie to management, because they are sure that the real reason will not be an argument for the boss. In the end it turns out vicious circle- the employee does not tell the truth, because he is sure that they will not let him go, and the boss does not let him go, because he is sure that he is being lied to. In such a case, we would recommend using legal methods.
From the point of view of labor legislation,most safe way It is legal not to come to work to donate blood.We remind you that donation is the most humane way to legally get two days off and paid days at work: on the day of blood donation and the next day. Management in in this case can have nothing against it - the law requires that donors be given a day off, and employers are obliged to unquestioningly fulfill this requirement.
The second option is at your own expense. According to Art. 128 TK, such unpaid time off or several days off may be provided to employees for family or other reasons . By the way, in general cases this is a right, not an obligation of the employer. The obligation to provide a day off “at one’s own expense” arises only when the employee was a WWII participant, a disabled worker, had a child, or had a relative die. In other cases, the right to a day “at one’s own expense” is the subject of an agreement between the employee and his management.
The third option is to go on sick leave. However, it only works if the employee is really sick or his child is sick. In the latter case, if the child has not yet reached the age of 7, sick leave is provided to his parent in case of any illness. If the child is aged 7-15 years, his parent has the right to receive sick leave in cases where he is undergoing outpatient treatment or they need to stay together in a medical institution. In such cases, the employer has no right to demand that you go to work, much less threaten to apply disciplinary sanctions. By the way, we do not recommend “buying” sick leave - this is not only illegal, but also criminally punishable.
There are no other “legal” ways to take time off from work. But in any case, we recommend resolving such issues amicably. Remember that even legal way does not guarantee an adequate response from management. That's whybetter be a valuable employee - management always meets them halfway.
Leading American time management expert Julia Morgenstern believes that there are ways:
- finish things faster and more efficiently;
- and gradually develop the habit of leaving work on time.
The specialist gives 3 tips to improve your productivity. Follow them and you will spend less time in the office.
3 tips to become more efficient and go home on time
1. Finish things 30 minutes earlier than usual.
An illustration of this advice is working mothers. They always have a reason to leave work not just on time, but even earlier!
Find an incentive for yourself to get home faster. Soon you will begin to acutely feel the loss of time during the day: unnecessary breaks, delays. It turns out that these small actions “eat up” a lot of time.
Don't let your working day stretch from 7 to 19-00 or from 9 to 21-00.
“Think about another activity that interests you. Dancing, reading, playing the guitar - anything that you have not done for a long time or have never done and that brings you instant happiness, advises Julia Morgenstern. “Make this your daily routine and see how your quality of life changes.”
2. Stop multitasking.
Recent research has shown that multitasking makes us less efficient. It would seem like a paradox, but it is so!
“Learning to focus completely on one project can give you back an extra hour or two,” says Morgenstern. The specialist advises analyzing your day for multitasking scenarios.
For example, a typical morning:
- checking email;
- Project work;
- and communication with a colleague.
If you do all this at the same time, it will take you 3 hours.
Try a different approach. Take a 20-minute break to check your email. Then you will not be constantly distracted by new messages while working on a project. After urgent matters are done, you will have time to have a normal conversation with a colleague in a calm atmosphere.
3. Keep your to-do list in order.
Many people keep a to-do list randomly: on scattered pieces of paper, in several notepads, in the corner of a newspaper or magazine. When they get to work, they spend a lot of time trying to organize it all. And they are constantly afraid that they have forgotten something.
“Pick just one tool (planner, notepad, smartphone) to keep track of everything in order of priority,” suggests Morgenstern. This way you will stop wasting time and energy searching for information.
Additional tip: do the things at the top of the list first. And do them well. In this case, even if you have little time left for other things today, you can return to them tomorrow.
Automate your time management
Today, keeping time under control has become much easier. The reason for this is the automation of business processes. As an example, the Yaware.TimeTracker service will allow you to:
- keep “time wasters” in check;
- calculate the actual time worked for today, week, month.
Increase your personal efficiency and the productivity of your company today! To do this, it is enough for the company's work computers. Test the service for the first 2 weeks for free!
For many of us, leaving work on time is not an easy task. Getting up from your desk and out the door on time should, in theory, be a piece of cake, but in reality it is not. We want to leave work on time, we strive to leave work on time, but still we will not succeed. Day after day the cycle repeats.
Although staying 15-30 minutes or an hour late at work every day may not be that much, when you add up all the overtime hours, it adds up to a huge amount of time. Most often, in this case, we realize that we do not have time to cope with some tasks, and as a result we feel that the situation is getting out of control, because we do not have enough time for everything.
By completing work on time and going home at the end of the workday, we leave time for life outside of work. Being productive during the workday improves both the quality of your work and your personal life. It would seem that leaving time for your personal life is a trifle, but this important step. After all, if Barack Obama can get home in time for dinner, then, of course, we can too.
Here are sometips to help you leave work on time.
What not to do:
Pick up the phone to answer last call a few minutes before you are scheduled to go home.
"Just check your email" V last time. You will again be drawn into a whirlpool of questions, another cycle of messaging will begin, which will take you another 30-60 minutes.
Wasting time during the day and then staying late to catch up on what you should have done earlier.
Create for yourself extra work. Instead, look for ways to be more productive whenever possible.
Working in an office where there is a habit of staying late just for show.
Let work take up the entire evening. Be especially careful if you work for yourself—you may have to do some boundary-setting work as well.
Waste time on email.
Feel guilty. Taking time to calm down, recharge and enjoy free time, you'll feel better and be more productive when you return to the office.
What to do:
Expect it to take longer than expected to complete the job on time.
Leave clear instructions ahead of time for those who remain behind.
Stay late in the evenings when you have a really important task. If you usually leave on time, then working overtime from time to time is common.
Learn to be organized.
Get work done during the day.
Think twice before deciding to take work home. This is especially true when working from a smartphone or tablet (just because the technology allows it, doesn’t mean you should).
Serve good example, if you are the boss.
Try to leave work on time today.
Everyone Good day, CM! I had the following situation: I decided to quit my job (the main reason was the lack of career growth, tired of doing the same job every day, low salary). I work as an office manager, a kind of person who can do all sorts of things. And monitor the life support of the office, and do everything for everyone. You may ask why I got a job there in the first place? I’ll answer right away that at that moment I had no choice, I thought I’d work a little and quit. And somehow I delayed it, the team turned out to be quite good, I learned to live on a small amount, the only inconvenience was the boss - a woman, maybe not bad, but with a complete lack of feeling tact and manners. She doesn't know how to talk, except to yell. What does it have to do with people whom she considers weaker than herself, especially if they cannot answer her in their defense. That’s just the kind of simpleton I am, I endured all her screams and sometimes insults, sometimes I cried in the toilet, and then everything was forgotten. There were no serious mistakes on my part, except for little things that happen to everyone. The rest of the employees, it seems to me, love me, at least they treat me very well, I loved them with all my soul too.
So, I’m bringing her a statement, in response she screams at me and says look for a replacement. He does not sign the application. But I still gave everything to the accounting department and registered it just in case. And a couple of days later I brought a bunch of resumes to my boss so that she could consider and choose another employee. This whole pile lay safely, without moving, for a couple more days, until I approached her and said that I wouldn’t work forever, I needed to look for someone.
Oh girls, she threatened me that if I don’t find a replacement and teach her everything, I’ll be left without a salary!!! And since our salary is a month late, then at stake by the end of my work term is 2 salaries!! And besides, when I said that I would pick up a girl for her, she began to say that she was very busy, and she didn’t have time to watch them, and she didn’t even know when she could! I understand that according to the law, no one has the right not to pay me my salary, but we have it half in an envelope! That is, in any case, I am deprived of this part! I could barely pull myself together and not burst into tears of frustration!
I’m sitting and my brain is just racing with thoughts of what to do now. Of course, I don’t urgently need to leave, and I can still stay to find and train someone. But after she talked to me, or rather yelled at me, I don’t want to do anything out of spite! And plus, I hope that I will find another job in the near future, which means I won’t be able to sit here for a long time. I know that I’ll calm down soon, but now there’s just smoke coming out of our necks from anger.