"Also, there's something else I need to tell you about this job." The man who I would later call my bosses boss began telling me as I sat nervously in a suit across the table. "The state of Minnesota has decided that the Hall Director position at MNSU is non-exempt so we're offering you this salary with the knowledge that you might have some overtime pay over the course of the year added onto it. However, you'll have to record your hours every two weeks. What are your thoughts?"
What are my thoughts? You're asking my opinion on being told that I can only work 40 hours a week and if I have to work more I get paid more? That sounds FANTASTIC!
"That sounds good by me."
I masked my enthusiasm and excitement for what my future employer was saying. I had spent the day falling in love with my future campus and city and this seemed like the cherry on top of a perfect situation.
What I didn't know, though, was that a lot of time, thought, and preparation had gone into moving the Hall Directors at Minnesota State University, Mankato from salary to hourly. There was some hesitation and doubt from some who did not know how everything would get done with Hall Directors only working 40 hours a week and here I was with absolutely no Residential Life experience to speak of, naively excited about a position I didn't know how to do or what would be expected of me.
For the first 2-3 months of my job, I was being trained in small increments spread out across the months, continuously adding additional tasks and responsibilities to my plate. Here's what I learned about working 40 hours a week during that time.
There's always tomorrow.
I can no longer count on my hands how many times I have said this phrase to whomever is within earshot at the end of the day. I have spent entire days trying to cross things off my to do list with little success because of X, Y, and Z coming up that took my attention away. Being restricted to only putting in 40 hours a week has allowed me the freedom to say this though. I do not fear what might happen if I don't get something done on my to do list by the end of a work day. I leave my office- confident- that it's okay for me to leave things unfinished. Do I eventually accomplish my tasks? Absolutely. But students come first in my office which sometimes means I won't get something done and that's okay, there's always tomorrow.
Culture is everything.
I would not be successful in my position if it weren't for a supervisor who understood and accepted the 'there's always tomorrow' concept. Some weeks, only working 40 hours is tough. My dad taught me at a young age that I need to get my work done before I play. In this job though, work gets left undone and if I didn't have a boss that was completely okay with that, then 40 hours would be extremely difficult. My supervisor encourages me through the busy times and that is the key to my success. Yesterday, I hit 40 hours at 4 p.m. but I knew I needed to take some paperwork to the Residential Life office before my day off today. So on my own time, I took the paperwork to the office and as soon as my supervisor saw me, she (jokingly) told me to go home- I wasn't supposed to be working. We know each other well enough now that she trusts me in managing my schedule and I know when she's joking around, but how cool is it that the culture of the office in which I work allows for this to happen. There aren't a lot of places where a supervisor will tell you to go home.
Empowering my staff.
This change to 40 hours a week for Hall Directors didn't only affect those of us working in the position- the Community Advisors I supervise were incredibly affected as well. I have three returners on my staff who were accustomed to nearly unlimited access to their former supervisor. No matter the hour, their supervisor was just a text message away. With this change, my staff knows that they can text me whenever they need to but I won't respond to work related things until I am working. At the beginning of the year, some CAs would call me when they didn't know exactly what to do when confronting a policy violation- often times with reasonable questions being as new to the role as they were. When I saw their name, I screened their call (they're aware I would do this) and would follow up about the call in the morning. Through this, they learned to troubleshoot and think critically in different situations and solve problems on their own. Now, when they actually do need assistance, they call the Hall Director on Duty to assist with the situation.
Work/life balance is easy.
Since joining the student affairs world, I consistently hear professionals discuss the importance of practicing work/life balance and self-care. Heck, I even wrote a paper about it in graduate school. In November, I attended a conference in Omaha, Nebraska, for housing professionals living and working in the midwest. At the conference, I attended a session on practicing balance in your life and with everything the speaker said, the experiences I have had in my limited time in the field looked completely different from what was being spoken about. In processing through what the speaker was covering, I realized my experience with working only 40 hours a week has allowed me to have a great work/life balance without much headache. With 40 hours a week being a mandated limit from the department, I have found myself fully enjoying my job because I have separation between my job and my personal life. I have had the opportunity to make friends, join a small group, serve in my church, and join a curling league. When my staff put on a program on Wednesday night, I choose to attend the program and then not come into work until 10 a.m. the next morning, and that is simply incredible for balancing my work with the rest of my life.
I fully recognize how incredibly unique this situation is within the higher education field- especially within Residential Life. But only working 40 hours a week has been an incredible blessing.
Do I have to manage my time well? Absolutely.
Do I have to prioritize my tasks and responsibilities on a daily basis? Absolutely.
Do I have to say no to some things? Absolutely.
Do I occasionally drop the ball on a responsibility? Absolutely.
Is it the end of the world when I do though? Absolutely not.
After working a semester in this field as a 40 hour a week employee, I am confident that I am better prepared for future jobs because of the lessons I am learning in balancing all of the responsibilities of my job and accomplishing them in 40 hours.
Mistakes are made at times, but they'd be made if I was working 50-60 hours a week too. I'm writing this blog, not to gloat about my experience and circumstances, but to hopefully shed some light on the issue of work/life balance in Student Affairs. I strongly believe that this change to the Hall Director position at Minnesota State University, Mankato has been a positive thing and hope that this is the beginning of change within the field of higher education. Only working 40 hours a week can seem impossible, but after doing it for a semester- I don't want to turn back.