work boundaries

The state of California has proposed new legislation that will discourage managers and supervisors from contacting their employees outside of contract work hours. If enacted, this legislation could significantly impact modern work expectations in California and potentially across the country. 

Setting work boundaries is crucial for individuals to avoid burn-out and keep a healthy work-life balance. However, it is challenging for professionals to set these boundaries with their supervisors and bosses when each party has a different understanding of the expectations. A legal obligation to honor contract hours as the only available hours for an individual will set a clear boundary, beneficial to promoting balance for both direct reports and executives. 

When managers stay past normal work hours and email, chat, or contact others on their team they send implicit communication that those receiving the communication should be working as well. Even if a superior says they do not expect overtime, their sending of emails or messages implies to others that they should be working as well. Getting a late-night email from a boss can be stressful and lead to overworking and burnout of professionals across all levels. Limiting these communications will enable individuals to truly log off at the end of the day and step away from work. 

The California law is based on a concept called “right to disconnect.” Right to disconnect means that once an employee is outside of explicitly stated contract hours, they have no obligation to respond to any communication unless related to an emergency or schedule change within the next 24 hours. Several countries around the world have adopted this mentality working to promote work-life balance and mental health, France, Canada, Portugal and others work to support their citizens (CNBC).

Nevertheless, monitoring employee contact outside of contract hours is a challenging task and will likely take weeks or months for the turnaround in the government to report a complaint to eventually charge a fine to the individual in violation. To better promote work-life balance in this sphere, managers and leaders should consider new ways to limit work to work hours. For example, managers should set clear, explicit team expectations for work and communication habits. Additionally, managers and leaders should be considerate in utilizing their team's preferences and experiences to create a team norm. 

To further promote work-life balance, managers should consider “transition time” to and from work that will optimize efficiency and energy within a team. Transition time is a short amount of time in between different parts of a person's day that allows a small break to reflect and prepare to move forward while leaving the stress from the previous focus behind. Transition time helps mitigate stress and burnout and aids in creating feelings of control and preparedness. Many individuals may have transition time on a train or in a car during a commute. Through the COVID-19 pandemic transition to online work, many individuals lost their transition time between work and home life changing professionals' ability to recharge and prepare for the next phase of their day. 

Although it is sometimes challenging for managers to limit work contact, managers should be deliberate in promoting transition time. When a team member has adequate time to mentally prepare for their day, they will have higher energy and show increased efficiency while at work. On the other hand, without transition time, individuals may come into work feeling disorganized or unprepared, leading to a disheveled and inefficient work day. Once managers have set clear expectations with their team, they may focus on promoting autonomy for their team's growth and learning. 

Moving forward, promoting transition time for remote or hybrid employees is a great tool for improving focus and preparedness in the workplace along with prioritizing mental health and work-life balance. Transition time is a critical component of a person's day that encourages well-being and productivity. Here are 3 tips for individuals trying to find transition time to cultivate healthy habits and optimize performance. 

Transition time can appear in all different mediums. For example, some individuals may like to sit and listen to music or meditate. To be effective in using transition time, individuals should consider making lists to prioritize what items need to be handled in a day in which order. For example, an individual may get to work and create their work to-do list for the day and after work, they could do the same thing for their home life. Or, an individual could use transition time every day after work to create their to-do list for the next day. Either way, lists are a great tool for transition time to focus on activities and priorities. Knowing the order of tasks, time constraints and priorities allows for increased productivity and efficiencies throughout the day. 

2. Recap Activities

Transition time could be a moment of reflection or a recap of big events. For example, if an individual is nervous about a meeting, they may take time before to prepare their resources and a moment after to reflect and recap the meeting. Using transition time in between different focuses enables individuals to leave the stress from the first task behind and move into the next task energized and prepared. 

3. Set Boundaries

As discussed above, after-hours communication and messages from bosses can be a significant stressor in an individual's personal life. Using communication boundaries and set expectations can add to the impact of transition time. If an individual logs off for the work day at the end of contract hours and takes a moment to reflect and prepare for the next day but is later contacted by their boss, the value of their transition time is lost. Transition time works best when individuals are shifting from one focus to another, but if after-hours communication is occurring, this deteriorates the benefit of transition time for the direct report who is now asked to shift back to work mode. 

In working to prioritize mental health, work-life balance, and boundaries in the workplace, it is crucial for direct reports and their superiors to fully understand the mental impact of burnout and its causes. Managers who promote balance and well-being for their employees will see increased productivity and focus within their teams. 

In most organizations, middle managers are the essential link between big ideas and practical execution. Senior leaders set ambitious goals, and frontline teams bring those goals to life, but it’s the middle managers who must interpret and translate both sides. They have to have an understanding of the exact expectations, but also the limitations. This role as liaison between executives and frontline teams comes with an immense amount of pressure. You’re evaluated on your output, yet responsible for protecting your team. In this position, saying “no” feels like too much of a risk. There’s often a level of ambiguity about exactly what authority you have as a middle manager, making it feel like boundaries are a luxury reserved for those who run the organization, when in reality, setting boundaries is one of the most essential functions of a middle manager. Setting boundaries helps to not only protect your own peace but also to prevent team burnout, protect the quality of your work, and make you a better leader.

When middle managers fail to set boundaries, the consequences are felt by both the team and the organization. Without clear limits, teams become overwhelmed, and burnout begins to affect morale and performance. A middle manager who always says yes to taking on more than what is reasonable signals to others that their capacity is endless, causing the issue to worsen. Over time, saying yes to everything will lead to diminishing work quality, leading senior leadership to lose trust. This loss of trust is not due to a lack of effort from the manager's end, but rather because the workload was never sustainable to begin with. Never saying no or setting boundaries will lead people to start to expect constant availability and unquestioned compliance, making it even harder to push back in the future. In this way, saying yes to everything becomes far riskier than learning to say no.

Because middle managers sit at the intersection of competing demands, one of the most critical leadership skills they must develop is the ability to set boundaries. These boundaries are not about resistance; they are about creating the conditions for sustainable performance. Some of the most essential include:

Setting boundaries is about more than just knowing where the limits are; it’s about knowing how to communicate them. Middle managers can only do this effectively when they have a firm understanding of their team’s true capacity, which requires tracking workload patterns, noticing when performance dips or improves, and identifying the conditions under which the team does its best work. Using tools such as AIM insights can give you a better, more in-depth understanding of exactly how your team is performing and under what conditions. With that insight, boundaries become easier to articulate because they are grounded in evidence rather than emotion. Good communication from the start is essential; waiting until a deadline is slipping or a project is already off track makes boundary‑setting feel reactive instead of responsible. A good practice is framing conversations around trade‑offs rather than refusals. Be clear about your reservations, what can be done, and what support is needed. This will help to avoid the perception of refusal while still protecting your team. Practicing these conversations in low‑stakes environments builds confidence for the moments when the stakes are higher. Ultimately, setting boundaries is less about saying “no” outright and more about creating clarity, aligning expectations, and ensuring that the work you commit to is work you can deliver well.

 Boundary setting is a leadership requirement, not just a luxury for the higher-ups. The pressures of middle management make it easy to fall into patterns of overcommitment, blurred responsibilities, and constant availability, but these habits ultimately undermine both performance and credibility. By recognizing where limits must be drawn and communicating those limits frequently, middle managers protect their teams, strengthen organizational structure, and ensure that the work they take on is work they can deliver well.