simplerich

Retail managers are frequently on call far too much and get too many calls and not enough money for the time they put in.  Burn-out is one of the biggest problems I, as an Area Manager have to deal with. My managers, those that work one level under me, love their stores and their employees and they throw themselves into their jobs… all of themselves. Which is great! (Disclaimer: This isn’t always true, and when it’s not it doesn’t work. It takes a great deal of commitment to be a great manager.)

Managers, in spite of what their employees may think though, are people too. Managers need to recharge their batteries. Managers have to get a hobby, get a life, get out of the store and into something else as completely as possible periodically. If all they do is their job they burn out quickly. They aren’t as effective and they aren’t as ON when they’re on. If they take time to recharge their batteries when they’re off then they’re not on trickle charge all the time. Being on slow trickle while they’re at work means they’re not fully AT work. Part of them is off somewhere hooked up to the charger.

I like hockey. I run. I read. I do things that aren’t related to work when I’m not at work. It helps recharge the batteries and gets my mind off work so when I’m at work I’m not fantasizing about what I’d like to do if I weren’t at work. I’m actually doing things when I’m not at work rather than thinking about them while I am at work. When my managers take my advice and go get a life outside of work they’re so much more effective at work. I don’t know if I ever had a boss tell me to NOT think about work before or to take care of my non-work life as if it were as important as my work life. I wish someone had. I might have even listened to them.