Aspiring employees receive a lot of advice early in their careers about how to advance. One common piece of advice is: Be one of the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave to show your boss that you are committed to the job.
Brianna Doe felt that way. When the marketing expert started her career about a decade ago, she would often arrive at the office early and work long hours “to show that I was driven and motivated, and that I wanted to grow within the company.”
Do was keen to show her manager and people outside her department that she could “go above and beyond,” and felt that “a great way to do that was to be the first one in and the last one out,” Do told CNBC Make It.
However, “I also experienced intense cycles of burnout from doing this.”
Looking back, Do realizes that well-meaning advice often comes with the warning that working long hours shows your dedication to your work at the expense of your personal time and life.
“I never had any kind of work-life balance in my life,” says Doe, who now runs her own marketing agency, Verbatim. “I think that view is outdated these days, especially now that we’re entering a new era of setting boundaries and prioritizing mental health.”
Stacey Haller, Senior Career Advisor At ResumeBuilder with over 30 years of recruiting experience, I agree.
“I think people these days are becoming more aware that just because you sit in an office for eight hours a day doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a productive employee,” she says.
A better way to progress
Instead, there are plenty of other ways to use your time to show how passionate you are about your business and how much you want to grow.
“Build relationships, find a mentor, get to know the team,” Haller says. “Observe successful people, see how they work, and ask for advice.”
Gen Z workers, in particular, are well positioned to prioritize building work relationships that can help them in the years to come, Haller says: “That’s what you should do in the office. Don’t focus on arriving early and staying late just to make yourself think you’re a hard worker. That won’t work.”
This message also needs to come from the top. Du believes that bosses should reassess their expectations if they are focusing on how much time an employee spends at the desk rather than what they accomplish or how they express their ambitions.
“If your new employee does a great job, asks you for more opportunities and wants to work on different projects, that means a lot more than someone who stays on longer than you,” she says.
With all of the above in mind, Haller adds that it’s important to follow your team’s guidelines regarding when to come in and when to leave the workplace.
Commit to the culture: Be on time, don’t be late, don’t miss meetings and “don’t have lame excuses,” Haller says.
Ultimately, she says, “If everyone is there from 8:30 to 6 p.m., you have to be there from 8:30 to 6 p.m. But if you’re going to be there at 7 p.m. just to deliver a message to anyone but yourself, that’s a little crazy.”
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