Started a new job back in September at a and was excited. I was very up front in interviews about work life balance being my top priority. I have health issues, and I’m also just not interested in killing myself for a corporation that doesn’t care about me. Boss assured me people have great WLB. The first week I start, I’m working until 9pm. They regularly reach out on holidays & weekends and beg us to work. It’s also not the work I signed up for — I’m supposed to be doing internal coms (which I handle on other accounts), and this is all media monitoring.
I’ve had other jobs where I’ve had to sometimes work late and holidays, but at those places it was a genuine emergency (by job they said we’d all need to be available over holiday break because our client was open. I politely let them know I’d be on vacation with little service and unavailable. (All true.) My boss was clearly annoyed.
I’ve decided when they reach out during off hours I’m simply not answering. No more 9pm emails, weekends, or holidays. Over the holiday my boss was texting us all in a groupchat and I just…never responded. Two of my coworkers do the same, and it’s usually two others who are constantly working extra — I feel bad, but I also just genuinely never signed up for this. Am I a jerk if I just stop answering emails / texts once it’s past 7pm / on days off? I feel bad, but it’s clear if I give them an inch they’ll take a mile, and I don’t really care about getting promoted. I just want to do my little tasks and survive the end of times.