Comments on: Career Suicide? Telling The Boss No

By: Q&A Round 3 :: The Answers » Derek Semmler dot com

Q&A Round 3 :: The Answers » Derek Semmler dot com — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:50:42 +0000

[...] Career Suicide? Telling The Boss No [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:09:54 +0000

When I started working for the company I'm with now, I started as a freelancer/contractor. I think that helped, somewhat, to set the expectation that I would do "after hours" work on a case-by-case basis. Now that I've been hired on full time I still need to explain that I won't neglect my family in order to work on a fully functional web site. The standing agreement I've made is that IF work needs to be done, above and beyond the 9 hours I work in the office each day, it will have to wait until after my kids are in bed. That's been met more often than not with huffing, puffing and attitude, but at least it can never be said that I wasn't willing to work into the wee hours of the night. Daniel's last blog post..A Question of Ethics and Morals

By: Tyler @ Building Camelot

Tyler @ Building Camelot — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:30:16 +0000

I consider myself extremely lucky because my boss is a family-first guy. He's the first to say that he's leaving early because we wants to hang out with his family. If you tell your boss no and you have a valid reason, it shouldn't result in career suicide. Standing up for what's important speaks volumes about a person's character. If you show that you have your priorities straight, your boss will see that and probably respect you more. Tyler @ Building Camelot's last blog post..Pregnancy Week 22: My Wife Won The Battle

By: Kelvin Kao

Kelvin Kao — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:50:15 +0000

I think this is like any negotiation. You cannot just give in to every demand. Sometimes you just need to tell them no, and there might be some arrangements that can be made to make both sides happy. Of course, you won't know until you show resistance. Kelvin Kao's last blog post..Today, We Celebrate

By: Steve Lissenden

Steve Lissenden — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:27:26 +0000

I recently was point in a position where my job was transitioning from one company to another. The new boss told me with one week to go before the transition date that the only job available for me would me I would need to be staying away from home three days a week.

My daughter was born nine months ago and thought of spending almost half the week away from her was not a happy thought.

So after discussing it with my wife I decided that I could only give my time to my daughter I couldn’t buy it and that if I had to resign my job then so be it.

Was this career suicide? Not so far.

My current employer upon hearing that I was not prepared to work with the new company on the terms they was offering came through with an offer to stay on with them. They have no work in the local area so they are enabling me to telecommute!

My loyalty to that company has increased significantly. They will get the utmost from in return and the beauty of this arrangement is I see more of my daughter than I did before.

Getting my priorities straight and saying no when it matters worked for me and I think in the long run most right minded people can tell the difference between being unhelpful and being principled.

Keep it coming Derek, I agree with a lot of what you post and look forward to reading more.

All the best,
Steve

By: cory huff

cory huff — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:28:52 +0000

Funny how I just wrote a very similar post about this today Derek. I'm in total agreement with you. I had to learn this the hard way. Family has to come first. No one ever got to the end of life and said, "You know, I wish I had spent more time on my career." cory huff's last blog post..How Important Is Your Relationship With Your Wife?