Manager Told Me He Works on Weekends

My manager told me that he works on weekends and also more than 10 hours on weekdays as 10 hours is never enough for anyone. He suggested the same for me in order to have success. What do you all think about this?

Is this a red flag?

EDIT BASED ON SOME QUESTIONS ASKED: This is still a startup but it's not like we're in our seed round with 15 employees. We have 400 employees and have received our series C. No, I'm not being compensated more for working weekends or outside the normal business hours to cover the territory I cover.

💆‍♂ Mindset

🎈 Mentorship

29 comments

Sort by:

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

Beyond a red flag. It's one thing if your at like a 5-person start up and you're part of the team that's going to kill yourself for the opportunity and you're all committed.

Baring that type of scenario- fuck that. I also noticed you used 'manager' not leader. I have no respect for anyone that's pushing their team to work on the weekends 'just because'.

I'm curious what he's actually doing, he's not speaking to clients, so what is he filling his time with? Or is this just a self-filling prophecy that he's badass and his brand is the workaholic?

I've seen these types and I just have no regard for it, I think they are bad leaders. Mind you, when necessary I have logged a few hours when I needed too, ie early sales pitch monday morning and you didnt get the pitch done last week type stuff. It's a job, if you're paid well there may be times when you need to put in the extra time on 'your' time. But I'm very anti this mentality of peer pressure to all sacrifice your life for the company.

Just my 2cents. Good Luck!

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Broncosfan

Politicker

Account Manager

I had a manager who told me all of my research on prospects and companies needed to be done outside of business hours. M-F 8-5 were for calling and meetings only.

ARRisLife

Politicker

Account Executive

GOOOOD BYE! lol but seriously.

thegrinch

Politicker

SDR

This is how you spot a psycopath. Be careful

beerisforclosers

Politicker

Account Manager

Red flag. Sounds like he has poor time management and no life.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

Inside Sales

No life = he'll expect you to have the same.

jwils

Politicker

Sales Manager

Huge red flag.

From someone who's seen this previously, it never turns out well. It promotes an unhealthy atmosphere of no work-life balance which will cause your actual quality of work to suffer. [Can't pour from an empty glass].

I had a manager once tell me that he was experiencing relationship problems because of his commitment to work and he expected me to see the same sort of sacrifice on my end with my SO.
Worst manager I ever had and now guess what? He was demoted and now the company no longer exists.

DwightsEgo

Politicker

BDR Manager

Bragging about weekend work just ain't it- in my view. I will get things done on Saturday or Sunday, but it is because I want to. Weekend is you time, hold that sacred.

AlecBaldwinsHairline

Valued Contributor

SDR Manager

Depends on the size of the company.

I put in some pretty good time where I'm at because there are things I know how to do that others can't, and that we don't have positions for.

Marketing Ops
Sales Ops
Sales Enablement

All things I have hands in. I don't work full weekends, but I would be lying if I said I didn't put in 2 hours on Saturday Morning and 1 hour on Sunday night planning for the week and wrapping up last week.

Kodiak

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

Is your manager also a founder or key equity player? If not, then red flag. If he is and he's telling you to do the same without similar expectations then red flag.

Bittersweet0326

Politicker

Digital Business Associate

Gross - First off I assume your managers job is different than yours right? Some people are just workaholics so there could always be that. This is where I would talk to your peers if you have them and see if it's the same for them. If it is and that seems like the only route to success...you have a decision to make.

PhlipOut

Politicker

Account Executive

What everyone else said.
If you crush your number while working less hours you should be held as an example btw.
Wtf is your manager doing? These are symptoms of poor organisation. Too much admin or useless internal meetings every day.

Work never ends. By definition. So you need to control it. I'm sure we've all worked some evenings or weekends. But if it's a regular baseline there is a problem

SADNES5

Politicker

down voters are marketing spies

They either pay you more, or you enjoy your time off. No inbetween.

TunaEatsmore

Contributor

Director of Sales

If you need to work that much on the weekends to succeed, then yes, I would be worried. You are not an entrepreneur, you are a sales rep.

FromaBlankPerspective

Politicker

District Manager

I would say yes, it's a red flag. I once had a manager that positioned the exact same mentality, and it was the most toxic place I've ever worked. People would go in on weekends just to be seen, but wouldn't actually put in any additional effort. On the other hand, the company I work for now pushes people to have a flexible schedule, work-life balanace, etc. I definitely work late and on weekends sometimes, but it's my decision to do so.

Kanyebut4sales

WR Lieutenant

Account Executive

Your manager can choose to work more than 40 but they cannot demand you do the same. I work 40 hours and crush but the hours can be sporadic. Kinda red flaggish if you ask me

TheLoneGun

Praised Answer

Extremely Rad Product Offloading Specialist

Definitely a red flag. You can figure out how serious he is by asking him what he expects you to do during this extra time. Sounds like he has poor time management.

The most Ive seen any AE work is an occasional 60 hour work week during the week, don't know of anyone hitting it on the weekends. That's still pretty rare with most everyone between the 40 to 50 mark, and only weekdays.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

Senior Account Executive

He suggested it or is he telling you to do, without technically saying it 🤔

Either way my response would be along the lines of "Good for you man!" and then I'd change the subject.

TommyCallahanIV

Good Citizen

Mid-Market Sales Manager

Major red flag.

If you’re a competent salesperson, 40-50 should absolutely suffice.

I would respond with, “it sounds like our org isn’t structured correctly”

KnightKingORL

Opinionated

Account Executive

YUGE red flag. That's weird. Work to live, don't live to work.

draculina

Fire Starter

process development specialist

It’s a red flag, both of the company culture AND the manager. In my old company my manager did the same (working on weekends, or more than 10 hours a day) and mostly I worked with him under the same circumstances. Not once he told me it was the key to success. We all knew we just had to because of the insane workload (& our weekends didn’t align with the weekends of the territories we covered).

beermoney

Politicker

SDR

There's simply NO way I'm bringing my best self or my A-game to work if I'm working 10 hours a day and on weekends.

I'd argue that you're more likely to be productive and successful if you do whatever it is you need to do to enable yourself to bring your best self to work and being on your A-game every hour you *are* working - if I'm not eating, sleeping, exercising, relaxing, socializing, etc. my job is not getting the best version of me and everybody loses

Company size and funding round aside, RED FLAG

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

Director Sales and Market Development

Cool. I dont, Cue Music "Getting to know you"

jjdicaprio

Old School Bravo

VP, Sales

Enroll him in a Time Management course. Then tell him to get a girlfriend.

In all seriousness (sort of), I lead a massive organization and I MAYBE work 2-3 hours on the weekend to simply catch-up on things like email. Any company with a strong culture won't ask you to do this. Even better, they should help and coach you through how to maximize your work weeks so you don't even have to think about it.

Thrillhouse

Executive

Business Development Specialist

Is he suggesting you need to work that much or you're fired, or just suggesting it as a path to success? You would see more success from working that much more, but if it makes you miserable and it's forced, than maybe it's a red flag.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Can we have some more context? Is this a small startup? Are you being compensated for extra hours? Is it mandatory?

Either way this is brutal. You should get some personal time too but if you're being compensated nicely, then at least you can consider it

JuicyKlay

Politicker

It just means he doesn't know how to set boundaries. Also could mean he will expect the same from you.

Chep

WR Officer

Commercial Account Executive

Your manager sounds like a hardo

Manager Told Me He Works on Weekends

Is it weird if your manager takes twice as much PTO as you?

I was sexually propositioned by a manager over the weekend - please help.

UPDATE: Manager resigned. CMO just put time on my calendar. Wish me luck!