I don’t want my new hire working extra hours

A reader writes:

I manage a fully remote team. It can be difficult to draw a line between work and life when you work from home, so I try to emphasize the importance of work-life balance within my group. I don’t send emails outside of traditional work hours, I’m flexible about appointments, and I encourage my team to use all their vacation time before year-end.

I have a new employee, Jolene. Day 3 of her first week, Jolene said she would work on something “later tonight, after dinner.” I reminded her then that I don’t expect her to work on this project at night – if she ever needs more time on something, she can let me know.

Today is the start of her second week, and she just told me how much time she spent reviewing her notes over the weekend. How can I make it clear that she is not responsible for working on these (not-high-priority) projects outside of traditional work hours? (And working nights and weekends does not impress me.) I’m worried that she will start telling other people on my team about her late hours, and they’ll think the expectation is changing for them. I also don’t want her to get burned out, right as she’s getting up to speed.

For context, Jolene has freelanced for a while, and this is her first full-time job in about five years. I wonder if she is still suffering from the old “Cult of Busy.”

I answer this question — and two others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

Other questions I’m answering there today include:

•  My colleague apologizes constantly for missing work
• Interviewing when there’s already a candidate who’s “acting” in the role

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