When it comes to workplace safety, preventing trips, slips, falls and accidents come to mind. But what about employee boundaries?
Employee boundaries can include a range of different rules and restrictions. For instance, you might discourage employees from texting, emailing and calling you or each other after business hours, unless it’s an emergency. Another boundary includes ensuring employees understand what is expected of them in terms of performance.
Boundaries have to deal more with interpersonal communication, yet are just as important as safety rules and regulations. That’s because they can impact morale, productivity and retention and if you don’t think twice about them, it can have a negative effect.
Instead, make sure that employees understand safe boundaries and what they mean in the workplace by:
Respecting them yourself.
If you want your employees to do something, then you too need to follow suit. Your people look to you for guidance on how to act in the workplace and if you’re constantly barging into people’s offices or texting them outside of office hours, then it’s going to set the tone for the whole team. Instead, think about the boundaries that are important to have in your workplace and then make sure you’re following them.
Communicate them.
Boundaries are important in work and in life. In their personal life, employees will know when a boundary is crossed with a feeling of discomfort or anger. However, in the workplace, boundaries can be more blurred and difficult to set and maintain. That’s why communicating about them regularly is so important. Set the boundaries you expect your people to follow and then make them a part of the culture.
Have consequences for not following them.
If an employee is regularly crossing over set boundaries, then it’s important that there are consequences for them to face. Otherwise, they’ll just continue to break them and damage your team’s morale, collaboration and energy in the process.
Setting and enforcing boundaries isn’t always easy. No one wants to be seen as the bad guy or be tough on employees. However, if you want a healthy workplace culture overall, then boundaries are critically important. So look at it from a long-term perspective. When you have and enforce them, you’ll have a stronger culture and team, impacting productivity and profits in a positive way in the future.
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