Setting Boundaries: The Key To Work-Life Integration In A Global Workplace

The line between work and personal life has become increasingly blurred. With teams spread across different time zones and the ability to stay connected 24/7, many of us struggle to truly “switch off.” 

TaskHuman Coach Karen Cohen shares how boundary setting, time management, communication, and organization are powerful tools to achieve better work-life integration.

The Reality Of Work-Life Integration Today

According to Karen, traditional work-life boundaries have fundamentally changed in our global workplace.

“We’ve become a global network… so the work-life boundaries almost don’t exist anymore,” Karen explains. “People are working in different time zones, and they’re up at different times at night, so it’s very difficult to switch them off.”

This constant connectivity can take a significant toll on our well-being. Karen uses a powerful analogy to illustrate this challenge:

“When you look at your TV, it’s got that little red button. Most people don’t switch their TV off, they just switch it off on the remote, right? That little red light stays on. And that’s how we sometimes feel—that we’re always on. Even though we’re ‘off’ on the remote, we are not really off on the plug. We are not completely switched off.”

The result? A snowball effect of compromised well-being. For example, when we can’t disconnect, we struggle to sleep properly. Poor sleep can lead to irritability, overwhelm, and fatigue, impacting our ability to show up as our full selves at work.

Understanding The 8 Types Of Boundaries

Many of us shy away from setting boundaries because we think of them as rigid, all-or-nothing propositions. 

Coach Karen suggests a more nuanced view: “Boundaries can be flexible like a continuum, they are not only seen as an all or nothing like it’s no or yes… if I say no, what does it make me? What kind of person? I should always be available?”

This shift in mindset—seeing “no” not as an absolute but as “no for now”—can transform how we approach boundaries. Karen identifies eight distinct types of boundaries to be mindful of:

1. Conversational boundaries: These relate to the discussions we engage in at work. For example, suppose colleagues are gossiping, and you feel uncomfortable. In that case, a conversational boundary might involve saying, “I’m not comfortable using words like that,” or excusing yourself from the conversation.
2. Internal boundaries: These concern the energy we absorb from others. “You were actually quite calm and organized, and now you’re starting to feel overwhelmed because everybody else is overwhelmed. The energy around you is affecting how you’re feeling,” Karen explains.
3. Time boundaries: How much time we allocate to specific tasks and activities. This requires self-awareness and realistic expectations about how long things actually take.
4. Mental boundaries: These involve psychological safety and the freedom to express values and opinions without fear. Karen notes that while physical injuries receive immediate empathy, mental health challenges often go unnoticed: “If I walked into the office and I was suffering from depression or feeling very sad, you wouldn’t know that because you don’t know what’s going on in my head.”
5. Physical boundaries: These relate to personal space, touch, and physical presence. They encompass everything from desk arrangements to preventing harassment and abuse in the workplace.
6. Emotional boundaries: How emotionally available we are to others. Karen points out that being constantly emotionally available to colleagues can lead to compassion fatigue and burnout: “The emotional boundary one is the one that affects burnout the most.”
7. Material boundaries: These involve monetary decisions and resources. Setting clear expectations around lending or sharing materials is essential.
8. Digital boundaries: Although not in Karen’s original seven, she agrees this deserves its own category. “Digital boundaries are very prominent in our work life. It’s a little bit like that TV being on, always checking your phone… people check their emails right up until they go to bed.”

Common Challenges To Setting Healthy Boundaries

Several factors can make boundary-setting particularly challenging in today’s workplace:

Time management struggles: “We weren’t all born good time managers,” Karen points out. “Time management really affects the work-life boundaries, as well as the ability to project manage and reduce stress levels.”

Self-care neglect: “A lot of us are so overwhelmed with all the work we forget about the person behind the work,” Karen notes.

The silo effect: Working in isolation—especially in remote or hybrid environments—can create a sense of being alone in our struggles. “When we sit in groups… we ask them to put their challenges down, and then everyone looks at the page, and there are similar themes, and everyone goes like, ‘Oh, so I’m actually not alone.'”

Practical Tips For Success

Karen offers several practical strategies for establishing healthy boundaries and better work-life integration:

1. Prioritize sleep hygiene and stress management

“Sleep hygiene is one of the most important things,” Karen emphasizes. Developing a wind-down routine that helps your body produce melatonin naturally is crucial for quality rest.

For stress management, Karen recommends tools like mindfulness, yoga, and a technique she calls “emotion aid,” which focuses on self-regulation through understanding your nervous system responses.

“Our body has a nervous system… The sympathetic nervous system is part of our autonomic (automatic) nervous system; the “fight-flight-freeze” where we naturally become stressed, and then our body reacts to protect us. When the danger is over we return to a parasympathetic state of “rest and digest” getting us back to calm,” Karen explains.

2. Develop self-awareness

Understanding your personal stress signals is a powerful preventative measure. “The more you know about these things, the more you can recognize them and prevent them,” Karen says. “Awareness is one of the biggest tools.”

She uses an analogy: “It’s like when you want to buy a red car, right? All you’re doing is looking at red cars, and then you go outside, and all you see is red cars because you’re now aware of red cars.”

Take time to identify what helps you feel calm and creates space for you—whether walking in nature, having coffee with a friend, or cooking. These calming activities are highly individual.

3. Work backwards from deadlines

One of Karen’s most effective time management techniques is working backward from deadlines:

“If you have a due date or deadline, say it’s a week from now… don’t go, ‘Okay, today is the 9th, now I need to do this and this and this.’ For me to be done on the 16th, I need to have done this on the 14th, this on the 11th, this on the 10th.”

This approach helps combat our tendency to underestimate how long tasks take and provides structure.

4. View your calendar monthly, not just daily

Reviewing your calendar in a monthly view can provide a broader perspective to plan both work and personal commitments with greater foresight.

“If I’m looking at it in a month and I know the first week of the month is going to be so hectic, now I need to say to my partner, ‘Okay, Monday, Tuesday, I’m just snowed under. Please, can you do the dinner, get the kids into bed?’ And then I’ll do it next week because I’m freer next week.”

5. Practice the art of letting go

Remember that true work-life integration means acknowledging that both aspects are important. “People sometimes, organizations will say, ‘Oh, it’s all about work,’ but actually, you do have a life, and life is supposed to be integrated,” Karen points out.

This integration requires honest assessment: “When you look at your calendar, it’s going to have all your pickups for your kids; it’s going to have what you have to do for work. So you can really look at that calendar and say, ‘Okay, what must I let go of? What must I keep? What must I delegate?”

Related Reading: Workplace Boundaries Start With Better Communication

Moving Forward

As boundaries increasingly become a focal point of workplace well-being discussions, learning to set and maintain them effectively is an essential skill. 

Coach Karen notes that “boundaries are coming up more and more in the conversation because there’s a lot of overwhelm. So I think the overwhelm brings the theme of boundaries to the foreground.”

Connect further with coaches like Karen who specialize in work-life integration, boundary setting, and stress management—helping you and your team thrive both professionally and personally.

Remember: setting boundaries isn’t about putting up walls—it’s about creating the space you need to bring your best self to both work and life.

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