Saying no to weekend work? Forum

[Anonymous User]

How do you guys handle partners asking you for "urgent" work product on weekends? When WFH ends, I'll be moving away from my wife for about 6-7 months. I plan on driving a few hours on some weekends to visit her.

Lately, I've had a partner consistently ask for weekend work product without notice. Is this normal? Is it okay to say I'm not available?

[Anonymous User]

You have to just do it. Some partners will occupy as much of your time as you allow. If you do their work at 8 PM Saturday and fume silently, they will keep sending it to you then.

There are a few ways to do it. Respond more slowly, or say “I’ll be able to turn to this tomorrow/at X time,” or say “I’m not available for this, but I’m happy to tackle on Monday if that will work - let me know,” or something like that.

I used to be really bad at this and I’ve gotten a lot better with no real adverse effects (I have no plans to try to make partner).

[Anonymous User]

You have to just do it. Some partners will occupy as much of your time as you allow. If you do their work at 8 PM Saturday and fume silently, they will keep sending it to you then.

There are a few ways to do it. Respond more slowly, or say “I’ll be able to turn to this tomorrow/at X time,” or say “I’m not available for this, but I’m happy to tackle on Monday if that will work - let me know,” or something like that.

I used to be really bad at this and I’ve gotten a lot better with no real adverse effects (I have no plans to try to make partner).

Thanks for the response, any ideas for if they say "I really need it today"

The "really need it today" is usually just some false internal deadline.

[cavalier1138]

Thanks for the response, any ideas for if they say "I really need it today"

"I'm out of pocket/on the road/hiking the Appalachian trail today. Happy to turn to this tomorrow/Monday, but I'm not in a position to turn it around today."

(This is assuming that you are correct that the deadline is really just made-up. Obviously, if it's a client pushing for the quick turnaround, you need to figure out how much goodwill you have with this partner.)

[Anonymous User]

You likely have more leverage than you realize. A lot of groups are completely underwater now, and you almost assuredly won’t be fired if you flat out say no to a project or two. Hiring someone new isn’t really an efficient/possible option. My group has been bleeding people and is inundated - when I got late pushback on a planned vacation, I flat out said canceling it is not an option and the work will be there when I’m back. They got over it. Note - no plans or desire to be partner or stay more than another 1-2 years.