How to set and maintain professional boundaries at work

Blurred boundaries at work can cause miscommunication, burnout, and conflict. Everyone wants to form strong relationships with colleagues, but setting clear boundaries is vital to fostering respect and protecting your mental well-being.

Setting boundaries is a skill that benefits everyone at work. It means knowing when to say no, creating a healthy work-life balance, and managing your availability.

Join us as we explore professional boundaries and why they matter. We’ll also explore tips on how to set and maintain boundaries at work.

What are professional boundaries?

Professional boundaries are the limits you set with everyone you interact with in the workplace. The core types are mental, physical, and emotional. Managing your professional relationships is also crucial. These boundaries distinguish professional relationships from personal ones.

While some boundaries are widely acknowledged, others are deeply personal. For instance, one person may enjoy shaking hands at the start and end of a meeting, while another may prefer to avoid physical contact.

This example highlights the importance of clear communication. You create a respectful environment by sharing your preferences and asking about the preferences of others.

You can’t expect others to respect your boundaries when you don’t communicate them clearly. However, you can take action if you’ve set clear limits and someone ignores them. Depending on the behaviour, you may chat with that person or your line manager. You can also file a formal complaint with HR.

Why are professional boundaries important?

Reinforcing professional boundaries empowers you to set clear expectations for how others should treat you.

When you neglect boundaries, it causes a loss of personal agency, which can leave you feeling overwhelmed or undervalued.

Types of professional boundaries

There are various types of professional boundaries, each serving a unique purpose. Let’s explore the most common ones.

Mental boundaries

Mental boundaries safeguard your mental energy, helping to prevent stress, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. They promote a healthy work-life balance, improve focus, and strengthen your sense of self.

Mental boundaries might include:

• setting precise working hours and respecting them
• declining meetings where your input isn’t necessary
• turning off notifications for work emails, chats, and social media when you need to focus
• avoiding work tasks during annual leave
• steering clear of workplace gossip.

Physical boundaries

Physical boundaries involve your body, health, and personal space. These are crucial for maintaining your comfort and safety in the workplace.

Physical boundaries might include:

• taking sick days when required
• not attending work events outside your regular working hours
• declining requests to work on weekends
• politely refusing physical contact, like hugs from colleagues
• turning off your webcam during virtual meetings when necessary
• choosing to eat lunch alone
• offering alternatives to handshakes in meetings.

Emotional boundaries

Emotional boundaries help you separate your feelings and those of others. These boundaries are essential for protecting your emotional well-being. They also build a mutual understanding, helping to create a supportive, balanced work environment.

Emotional boundaries might include:

• communicating preferred working and communication styles to your team
• discussing how you like to give and receive feedback
• delegating tasks when necessary to avoid overwhelm
• not internalising the emotions or unjustified criticisms of others.

Relationship boundaries

Relationship boundaries help maintain professional and healthy interactions between colleagues, customers, and clients.

Relationship boundaries might include:

• not sharing personal contact information
• not borrowing or lending money
• limiting social media connections, except on professional platforms like LinkedIn
• only socialising with work friends at work events
• keeping personal time outside work only for family and non-work-related social activities.

How to set professional boundaries at work

Boundaries are personal and unique to everyone, so it’s essential to communicate them clearly. Let’s explore the key steps to setting and maintaining professional boundaries.

Shift your mindset

Recognise your right to express your needs and limits at work. Professional boundaries are vital for your well-being, safety, mental health, and career success.

Without them, you risk feeling resentful, exhausted, and unhappy. Shifting your mindset means accepting that boundaries are necessary. They will empower you to thrive at work.

Decide what’s important

To set effective work boundaries, you must identify what matters to you. Reflect on your values, beliefs, and priorities. From there, separate your firm, non-negotiable boundaries from your flexible ones.

For example, a rigid boundary might be leaving work on time every Wednesday to take your mother to a medical appointment. A soft boundary could mean staying late sometimes to finish an urgent task while aiming to finish on time most days.

Remember to reassess your boundaries regularly to ensure they meet your needs.

Communicate your boundary

Once you’ve identified a boundary, decide who to communicate it to and the best method. How you communicate here will depend on who the boundary concerns and whether it’s a significant shift from your usual practices.

Advanced communication is vital for some boundaries. For instance, if you want to limit your work hours, add them to your email signature and update your internal chat status. Then, you can log off at the end of your workday and not check emails until your next shift. Set an out-of-office reply if you’re worried about being contacted outside your hours. It should outline your working hours and redirect urgent matters to an alternative contact.

A polite, straightforward approach works best for physical boundaries. For example, declining hugs from coworkers. You can refuse without explanation, but a phrase like, “I’m not a hugger” is helpful. Clear communication helps ensure your boundaries are respected.

How to say no at work

Saying no at work can be uncomfortable, but with practice, it gets easier. Start by declining minor requests. Doing so will build your confidence in setting explicit boundaries with larger ones.

Here are some polite ways to say no:

• “Unfortunately, I already have work scheduled for those days. Would it be possible to help with this next week?”
• “I’d love to attend the summer social, but it’s my daughter’s birthday, and I can’t miss it.”
• “Thank you for considering me, but you’ll need to speak with my manager. They will check my availability for next month.”
• “I’d love to help, but I finish work at 5:30 pm.”
• “Thanks for the written feedback. Please can we schedule a meeting to discuss it in person?”
• “I appreciate the invite to the internal meeting, but I’ve declined as I have nothing to contribute. However, I’d love to be copied into the post-meeting summary email.”