How my healthy work boundaries article triggered Simon Barnett but provoked some great discussion.

I’m feeling like a true Wellbeing Provocateur after getting roasted by Simon Barnett on Newstalk ZB!!

The headline “How to set healthy work boundaries and avoid burnout” got Simon animated, annoyed and triggered!

So much that he and James Daniels spent an entire hour critiquing my article and accompanying mantra “Wellbeing first, work second. Always.”

But it challenged talkback listener’s old school thinking and provoked some great discussion on the following themes…

1️⃣ Wellbeing first, work second. Always.

2️⃣ We do not need to exhaust ourselves in the pursuit of career success.

3️⃣ Different generations have different work ethic and expectations.

4️⃣ You have to earn the right to work life balance.

5️⃣ It’s not the employer's responsibility to make sure you get balance in your life.

6️⃣ There is a mindset now that work owes us everything.

7️⃣ Working from home – that's just stealing from your employer!

8️⃣ Work life balance implies that you're putting your feet up, sitting back and creaming it.

9️⃣ You just gotta have a cup of concrete sometimes!

🔟 Work life balance implies that the life part is good and work's the bad part.

1️⃣1️⃣ There are times when you just make sacrifices.

By the end of the hour they finally got my message!

We do everything we can to avoid physical injury and death at work,

So ethically and legally we should all be setting and supporting mentally healthy work boundaries.

What started as a roasting ended with us almost being in agreement. 

How about we compromise with...

Wellbeing first, work second. Almost always?

This article was originally shared on LinkedIn in October 2024.