I am sorry that you had to experience a burn out, and I absolutely agree that employers and superiors have to take measures to avoid these situations. In Germany we typically have a 40 hours contract, and staying within the 40 hours is regarded as a healthy work life balance. But that's what I am not convinced about. For myself, I feel very comfortable working 45 hours in average. I understand that I can't expect that from others.
My point is that, as a superior, you cannot boil the problem down to monitoring the hours your people work, and sometimes, people feel good working a couple of hours more. You need to watch other signals, and you may want to explicitly state that if an unexpected delay is no big deal.
I am sorry that you had to experience a burn out, and I absolutely agree that employers and superiors have to take measures to avoid these situations. In Germany we typically have a 40 hours contract, and staying within the 40 hours is regarded as a healthy work life balance. But that's what I am not convinced about. For myself, I feel very comfortable working 45 hours in average. I understand that I can't expect that from others.
My point is that, as a superior, you cannot boil the problem down to monitoring the hours your people work, and sometimes, people feel good working a couple of hours more. You need to watch other signals, and you may want to explicitly state that if an unexpected delay is no big deal.
very well said! agree completely and I would argue the more experienced someone is, the less should hours matter.