Employees normally perform the tasks and duties assigned to them during the 8-to-9 hours at work. However, some might always work beyond the time limits. These workaholic employees have certain reasons to work overtime such as strict deadlines, career ambition, achievement orientation, burdens of responsibility, and more.

A workaholic colleague might not have as much impact as a workaholic boss. Linda Hill, a professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of Being the Boss stated that working for a manager who is task-oriented and has a higher need for achievement can be motivating, but if the said leader is an office-obsessed, iPhone-glued workaholic, then the outcome can be quite the opposite.

See also: Work Addiction and Hustle Culture: Toxic Behaviour to Avoid

The company’s culture is a significant reason for the bosses’ higher orientation at work – which could mean working over the weekend, bringing the tasks home, and even working extra hours per weekday. Whether the boss is piling on too many tasks, wants constant face time, or comes with unreasonable expectations to ask for your 24/7 availability, here are some tips on how to deal with a workaholic boss:

Understand the Boss’ Perspective

Does the boss really love to work extra hours, or does he have to do it? HR managers should be able to understand employees and if a leader is highly dedicated or a workaholic. There must be a reason why the boss would be putting in extra long hours at work.

One most obvious is the onus of leadership and responsibility to achieve the company’s goal, and managing the workforce could possibly make the leader sacrifice their personal time and invest more hours at work. These extra hours demand reinstate employees’ commitment to performing, test stress endurance levels, and ability to work under pressure situations.

Know the limits

Everybody knows their own limits in terms of capacity and efforts. To offset the workaholic boss’ working rhythm is not easy, but it is worth a try. When the employees directly refuse to take up new challenges, employers might choose to respond negatively.

How do you know your limit if you have never tried and tested? Try working some extra hours for a few days and over the weekend to see how it affects your performance and ability to perform the regular tasks and meet deadlines.

Maintain clear communication at all times

When the employees are putting in extra hours at work every day, it is the right time to have clear communication with the boss. To communicate in an emotionally impolite way is not recommended, as it can bring negatively impact one’s career.

HR managers are ought to support their employees and accompany them in an open-hearted mediation. Employees could speak about the obstacles and challenges towards accomplishing the job and extra man-hours required of them to the bosses.

Also, alternative solutions should be proposed to sustain employee productivity levels at work with no working weekends or nights at work.

Such clear and concise communication should enable establishing an understanding between the employer and employees at work to create a conducive environment at work.

A workaholic boss can be irritating at times, but it is better for the employees to face the challenge first before giving up altogether. It is equally important for HR managers and senior leaders to review the effectiveness of workaholic attitudes, as this could provide insights on employee engagement, productivity, and performance output.

Next read: The Art of Taking a Break: How to Actually Relax