Here is an example of a good boss. TL;DR: Your boss should always advocate for you when people higher up on the corporate ladder are asking you to do things that are unreasonable and/or not in your job description. Work/life balance is important for everyone, but especially when your job is not life and death. If someone isn't going to die/get injured because you didn't do the thing that's not in your job description, you should not be expected to do the thing.
First, a little background. I work as an email developer for an office supply distributor. My job basically is to build and send out all email communications, both internal and external. I work on a couple landing pages (web pages) too, but email is my main role.
Here is the cast of characters:
CW icon: my boss, Marketing Automation Manager
LS icon: my teammate, who fills in for me when I'm gone, but mostly works with our customers (people who buy products from us). We have a bunch of email marketing programs they can sign up for that we create for them that pulls in their logo and links to their website. She supports and trains them. She's also basically the cishet version of my spouse. They both have fibromyalgia, autism and ADHD.
E: Director of Communications
C: Senior Director of Customer Care and Sales
J: Director of Marketing Operations (my boss' boss)
G and C: Managers of External and Internal Communications, respectively
Laughing react is from my boss. Don't you love how E is using words like "empower" to make it sound like being on call 24/7 is a thing we'd want to do? Like we'd feel we were missing out on an opportunity by not taking on extra work that's not in our job description and not something we'd get paid extra to do because we're salaried.
For real, nobody ever died because they couldn't order post-its.
And here's the thing: we have a really awesome team. We do work really hard and we are really appreciated. I can't tell you how many times when I actually go into the office that people tell me this. I hear it at least once a visit. I only go into the office for free food because there is literally no reason I need to be there to do my job. I don't collaborate with anyone. I just copy/paste and wait for people to get their shit together.
E literally just had her 1 year anniversary with the company a few weeks ago too. Oh, I looked her up on LinkedIn and apparently her bachelors is in textiles and weaving. So there's that.
I've been here for 7 years and my boss for 9. LS only has 3 years, but she's fit in amazingly well and done such a great job with her responsibilities. LS and I are happy in our roles and honestly have no desire to move up and take on more responsibilities. The reason we love our jobs is because of the balance and flexibility we have. Being able to shut your laptop and rest or just live your life is important to us. Are we willing to hop on if there's something urgent and we're not busy? Sure. But as my boss said, we're not taking our laptops to the grocery store and whipping them out to send out something that absolutely can wait because nobody is going to die if they can't order paperclips. We don't sell medical supplies (other than first aid supplies). We sell a wide range of office supplies, but literally nothing anyone would result in someone dying if they didn't get in a timely manner.
So yeah, if your boss can see thought the "opportunity for empowerment" bullshit, they're a keeper.
