Lately, my boss has been constantly messaging me privately outside of working hours and on WhatsApp. At first, I thought it was urgent work, but it feels like the topic is drifting outside of work. I've been trying to set boundaries myself, but it feels overwhelming. What should I do in this situation? How can I politely create some distance?
I think you should definitely cut off topics that stray from work openly. For example, you can start with a sentence like, 'Let's discuss this topic at work.' Once you set a boundary, it becomes easier to follow through. When a similar situation happened to me, I solved it just like that.
Honestly, this situation is really strange, sis. I mean, why would someone message privately outside of work hours? We talk about these kinds of things in friend meetings, and they tend to be quite bothersome. Why not just say, 'I prefer not to discuss things outside of work'?
You know that tension of checking WhatsApp in the morning and thinking, 'Did they write again?' It's pretty exhausting. Have you ever tried taking your time to respond to their message in situations like that? If it's not urgent, I would do that; it works pretty well.
Actually, it's quite common for bosses to write outside of work. But of course, the topics they write about can vary. Casual conversations outside of work might seem like an effort to create a certain intimacy. How serious it is, I think it's worth taking another look.
This behavior is very dangerous in labor relations. It clearly smells of abusing the balance of power. You must express your consent clearly because the challenging party is that one, and your discomfort is completely natural.
Honestly, it's not nice behavior for a boss to write like this so casually. People should maintain a certain seriousness at the workplace. Especially as a female employee, I think you should definitely share this situation with your partner or family. I mean, you can't just leave it hanging like that.
Friends, thank you so much for the advice. Now, here's the situation: the messages start off work-related, but after a while, they shift to questions like 'how are you?' and 'what are you up to?'. When I don't write back, I feel more pressure at the office the next day. I don't know, what do you think I should do?
But come on, there might be something else going on. Does a regular boss just out of the blue write "how are you" or something? I think they might have a different intention in regard to you at work. Or maybe they do this with other employees as well, just to check in.
