Working under Pressure

Speaking | Script is provided below and you can understand the content easier.

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Hi Desmond, I’ve worked for the existing employer for almost one year. It was so busy that I could not catch up with you before.

No worries, Sandy. How are you recently?

I’m too anxious to sleep lately because I do not take enough rest during weekend.

What’s going on?

I’m so tired and worried because of my work. I’ll burnout and it’s crazy!

Oh, is it related to your boss? Tell me more and what’s happening?

My boss is a workaholic lady. She is staying late at the office and sending emails to teammates at all hours.

Did she assign tasks or ask you to feedback during weekend?

Yes, of course. It’s very common that she expected us to follow up and reply during non-office hours.

It’s terrible. I cannot survive under such high-pressure work environment.

I am working long hours. I’ve to sacrifice my personal time to meet her demands.

Nevertheless, many books wrote that a little bit of stress could help you stay focused, energetic and able to meet new challenges in the workplace. 

Unfortunately, my demanding boss is consistently focusing on the tasks and getting them done. I’m so exhausted.

For such kind of boss, work is her life. Therefore, work expands into every part of her life.  

She pushes me to complete different tasks with unreasonable timeline.

It’s so disgusting and I could not stand it if it happened to me.

During Monday morning, my inbox is full of emails because she sent emails over the weekend.

I can’t imagine that you must feel extremely stressful every Monday due to the numerous tasks.

Having unreasonable expectations about “24 hours a day and 7 days a week” responsiveness, did you encounter such situation before?

I think you’re not the only one. My friends have told me similar issues before.

Oh, really? I just think that I’m the unluckiest staff.

If a boss does not focus on performance, the competitiveness of the company must drop and it would also affect each of the staff.

I am aware of it. However, I think that having a considerate boss can also help the growth of the company.

Reality is always cruel. Unless that you’ve performed the research before accepting an offer, you can now either quit or find ways to make some changes.

Working long hours will negatively influence my health.

It’s no doubt that it should not last for a very long period.

It’s undeniable that working under pressure can help me to advance in my career efficiently. It gains my skills and experiences in a much speedy way.

Right. You can stay focused and be trained up with good time management skills.

I felt my productivity has improved quite a lot. I can overcome problems and issues by adopting effective solutions since I joined the company one year ago.

If working long hours lasts for long period, you must re-consider if you should continue to stay at the existing employer or not.

That’s my consideration as well. Needle has no two ends.

You may need to prioritize the demands of your career and the demands of your personal life.

It’s not easy for me and how can I achieve it?

If you still love to stay at the existing company, you may have no choice to re-select your boss.

I think work-life balance is the most important. Do you think it’s time for me to speak up?

Well, at the moment, you should demonstrate the style of working mode to your boss.

It’s okay and I can do it. I think the development of the company is quite good with creative products. It can attract me to grow with the company together.

Similar to my friend who met workaholic boss before, he made some changes and finally got the balance.

How’s that? Can you share his story to me?

I remembered that he told me not to complain of your boss. Instead, you should prove your high-quality deliverable.

You mean that I should impress her with established evidence. It can help justify my worth. Correct?

Yes, just do your job well with qualitied output.

I should show her that working long hours doesn’t necessarily mean high productivity and high quality.

My friend highlighted to me that he made his accomplishments visible to his boss. Results were far more important than the hours that mattered.

It sounds great by shifting the focus from number of working hours to quality of output. I should figure out how to work best.

You should also step into her shoes and understand her situation. For example, what are the pressures she is responding to?

Considering my boss’s perspective? Oh, is it useful?

The origin of stress always comes from the unrealistic deadline by the top management. You should figure out what makes her achieving the result or successful.

That may be true. I cannot confess this possibility.

My friend stated that he gradually delivered on quality and his boss got used to his working style.

If I can step up my productivity as well, my boss will not treat working at weekend as a must or measurement of performance.

Correct, we all should work smarter rather than work harder.

Should I set manageable goals each day so that I can have more control of the tasks to be completed?

Definitely yes. Nowadays, it’s so difficult to disconnect from work and therefore boss will keep contacting you even after office hours.

With technology, flexible work brings in benefits covering greater productivity and more job satisfaction.

However, setting healthy boundaries is crucial because it can help you to separate your work life and personal life more effectively.

I’ll try to communicate with my boss clearly on my actionable plans. It may help to provide a clearer picture with priorities of each task.

You should keep doing this and it’s somehow a good practice to manage her expectation.

I hope her mindset can be changed gradually by judging on my performance.

If she still has unreasonable demand, please get prepared to negotiate with her.

If I’m required to speak up in the future, such demand usually includes heavy workload and taking up another task whereas some tasks are still not yet completed under my responsibility.

My friend also explained that by voicing out the issue for discussing the solutions would lead to a win-win situation.

I understood that staying firm was important. If not, she may overstep a boundary.

If you can do it, it can help to avoid your emotional response persistently.

I do not want to be physically or mentally collapse caused by overwork or stress.

By positively framing your case and clarifying expectations up-front, I think your boss will be more receptive to your suggestions. 

Thanks for your advice. Nowadays, the lines between our work and personal lives were blurring.

The importance of maintaining a work-life balance may be one of the biggest imperatives of the workplace now.

I got your point that highlighting what was and wasn’t working in my schedule and workload.

It’s cool and such communication can make all the difference.

Be honest about what I can do on my own.

Right. If you cannot speak up and be a quiet quitter, the same problem will arise at your next employer.

Absolutely, maintaining work life balance is really challenging.

Please be reminded that it’s essential to your health as well. Without a healthy body, you cannot continue to work and achieve your goal!