Maybe it’s just the profession I’m in (property & casualty insurance) but it has been such a challenge since I’ve been in this industry to keep the line that separates my personal life separate from my professional life.
Colleagues want to know if I have social media, then they want to add me. Bosses want me to use my personal social media to be an admin on our company social media pages. My social media is for my own personal enjoyment, not for advertising for you.
Then there’s the events they want us attending during the weekend. During what’s supposed to be our time off. Time off that, after a 40 hour work week, we are entitled to! After working my ass off all week, listening to clients gripe in my ear non-stop, sometimes even insulting me when they don’t get their way, I need a BREAK. I do not want to sit in a booth at some lame event on my Saturday, when that’s time I need to decompress and spend with my husband. I’m sorry but full time employees already spend more awake time at work than in our own homes. More time with our colleagues than our loved ones. STOP asking for more time! Time is one thing we cannot add to our lives. We only get so much time. Some of us want to use what precious little free time we have to take care of ourselves, go on adventures, experience life, and be with people we love. It’s an extremely selfish thing to ask your employees for more of what they cannot add to their lives. More of what they already have to give so much of…
And no, I’m not adding you on my personal social media. Nor am I using it to have access to our company page. My personal social media is just that. PERSONAL. I don’t want to have to worry about what my colleagues or boss might think when I post/comment/like something. Or if I need to vent about work. And the weekends are MY time. You had me enough. You want to run a booth and pass out flyers to get more recognition and make more money? This is your agency. Do it yourself and leave your employees alone when they need their personal time.
We need to stop asking employees to blur the line between their personal and professional lives. And we need to stop asking for even more of their time and energy when they are already giving more of it than they can give to their loved ones and themselves.
I work to live, not live to work.