How to say no at work

Are you someone who finds it hard to say no at work? If so, it’s important to remember that saying no is crucial for your health, well-being, and productivity. Being able to say no without feeling guilty helps protect your time and conserve your energy, which can prevent burnout.

Interestingly, the Microsoft Work Trend Index reveals that 62% of Australian workers reported experiencing burnout, significantly higher than the global average of 48%. The report also highlighted that 66% of Australian managers suffer burnout compared to 53% of international managers. This indicates a pervasive issue that affects not just employees but also those in leadership positions​ (HCAMAG).

These revealing statistics highlight the importance of establishing boundaries and mastering the art of saying no in the workplace to manage workload and avoid burnout. In this blog, we will explore the significance of setting boundaries, graceful ways to decline tasks at work, and techniques for assertive communication, task prioritisation, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Why Set Boundaries?

Boundaries are limits you set to protect your well-being and ensure a healthy work-life balance. They include physical, mental, and emotional limits that are vital for maintaining professional relationships, preventing burnout, and promoting productivity in the workplace.

Types of Boundaries:

Boundaries include physical, emotional, mental, professional, and digital, and all play important roles in preventing burnout and improving productivity at work.

Physical

Maintaining your personal space and respecting others’ physical comfort zones is an important physical boundary. These boundaries also include limits on working hours, ensuring work doesn’t interfere with personal time.

Emotional

Emotional boundaries protect your emotional well-being. It’s crucial to disclose only personal information that you’re comfortable sharing. It’s also okay to learn how to say no at work gracefully when given a task that overwhelms you emotionally and to seek support when needed.

Mental

Avoiding overthinking about work tasks during personal time is a mental boundary. Limits on your mental load ensure work-related stress doesn’t dominate your headspace during downtime.

Professional

Understanding your job description, declining tasks outside of your responsibilities without compensation and ensuring work relationships remain respectful and appropriate are important professional boundaries.

Digital

Responding to work emails or texts during personal time is overstepping a digital boundary. Try to set limits on when and where you interact with work-related technology. It’s important to use only your personal devices (phone, laptop, or tablet) for non-work-related tasks, further establishing a digital boundary between work and home.

When you set physical, emotional, mental, professional and digital boundaries in your professional life, your chance of experiencing burnout, decreased productivity, and stress-related illness is significantly reduced. If you’d like to learn more about increasing your energy in the workplace, take a look at our course Optimising Energy for Peak Performance.

Learning How to Say No at Work

You might struggle with saying no at work for many reasons, including fear of conflict, guilt, and the desire to please others. But doing so isn’t just in your best interest. Firm boundaries can also benefit your workplace, increasing focus, better quality work, and improved mental health.

Developing the skills to say no with grace comes with developing your communication skills, specifically assertive communication, as opposed to passive and aggressive communication styles. You can learn more about assertive communication with our professional development course, Building Self-Esteem and Assertiveness Skills.

So, let’s take a look at the techniques you can use to say no without causing offence or compromising your boundaries.

Use Direct and Respectful Language

It’s important to be firm and polite when you use direct and respectful language to say no at work. It can take some practice, but when you adopt this communication style, your boundaries will remain firm while protecting your workplace relationships. Here are a few phrases you can use in typical workplace scenarios:

• Declining additional work: “Thank you for considering me for this project. Unfortunately, I’m at capacity with my current workload and won’t be able to take this on right now.”
• Setting limits on availability: “I’m happy to help, but I need to leave by 5 p.m. today. Can we continue to work on this tomorrow?”
• Managing interruptions – “I’m in the middle of something at the moment. Can we schedule a time to discuss this later?”
• Delegating tasks – “This task seems urgent. Given my current workload, I think (colleague’s name) might be better placed to complete it by the deadline.”
• Clarifying responsibilities – “I’m currently focussed on (project), my primary responsibility. Can we find another resource for his new task?”
• Handling unreasonable requests – “I understand this project is important, but given my current workload, I won’t be able to meet the deadline without affecting the quality of my other work.”

Offer Alternatives

When you learn how to say no at work, offering other solutions or compromises maintains relationships, demonstrates problem-solving skills, promotes collaboration, and manages expectations in the workplace.

In the techniques for saying no (above), suggesting another person, proposing a different timeline, and recommending other resources or tools work well. You can also consider offering partial assistance, splitting the task or suggesting a different approach to say no while maintaining professional relationships and respecting your boundaries.

Practice Makes Perfect

It’s challenging to learn how to say no at work gracefully and confidently. If you struggle to protect your workplace boundaries, practice assertiveness in low-stakes situations to build confidence. Practising at home with your family or managing your social relationships and time with friends might be helpful. Keep practising to gain the confidence to incorporate these techniques at work. Eventually, it will come naturally, and you’ll feel comfortable setting and protecting the boundaries you need to stay focused and mentally well in the workplace.

Prioritising Tasks

When you become an expert at prioritising, you’ll be unstoppable when protecting your boundaries. So, let’s take a look at strategies to improve your prioritising.

The Eisenhower Matrix

This is an excellent tool for prioritising work tasks based on urgency and importance. Simply download the template, a square divided into four parts, to determine which tasks to tackle, delegate, or eliminate to make the most efficient use of your time.

Time Management Techniques

Learn to manage your time better, and you will automatically protect important boundaries in the workplace. If your to-do list is out of control, you might benefit from our professional development course, Plan and Apply Time Management.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is crucial to avoid burnout, improve mental and physical health, and increase overall productivity and job satisfaction. This balance helps you to better manage stress, pursue personal interests, and develop stronger relationships. Contrary to popular belief that longer work hours lead to greater productivity, overworking can actually reduce performance and compromise personal relationships. Striking a balance allows you to be more focused and effective at work while also enjoying a fulfilling personal life, leading to growth in both your personal and professional life.

Tips for Striking a Balance

• Set clear work hours – make sure you have set work hours and stick to them.
• Take regular breaks – ensure work breaks are part of every workday to recharge and improve your productivity.
• Practise Self-care—schedule self-care activities, such as exercise, hobbies, and spending time with friends and loved ones, to protect your mental and physical health.

 

Learning how to say no at work can be challenging, particularly if you’re naturally an overachiever or a people-pleaser. However, it’s crucial for your professional well-being. Hopefully, this blog has provided helpful strategies and techniques for using assertive communication, time management, and work-life balance to set and maintain firm boundaries in the workplace.

Are you interested in relevant courses to improve your confidence at work? If so, contact us today at 1300 76 2221 to speak to a friendly Course Consultant.  Alternatively, you can Live Chat by visiting us online. We’re here to help!