'I haven't seen sunlight the past 11 months': Boss demands software engineer work from 9:30 AM 'until the work is done' every day

There is no set' end time' for the workday, and it's making his employees downright batty.

Have you ever worked somewhere where your boss wants you to stay 'until the work is finished?' On my very first day at a restaurant, I asked the manager if I could leave at 9:45 because that was the listed end time on the schedule. He responded, "It's a good thing you didn't ask that in front of the boss." I had no idea that, in that environment, I was supposed to work until we had fully finished closing the restaurant, and it didn't matter exactly when the end time was listed on the schedule. It would've been nice if the schedule had better reflected the reality of the expectations, but it's normal in that industry for employees to stay until all of the work of closing is done.

Expecting employees to stay until all of the work is done is more asinine in white-collar industries. Most white-collar employees have weeks or months where there is a ton of work to be done for a specific purpose, so they're expected to stay late until all of the work is completed. But having those expectations every week of the year is a surefire way to burn out your employees. If you demand that your employees do more work than can be reasonably accomplished in an 8-hour workday every day, they aren't going to be able to stay at your company long term.

via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

_{Software engineer works until the work is done, long into the night}
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
My CEO expects me to work from 9:30 AM until "the work is done" every single day. How do I set boundaries without risking my job?

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via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

_{A family spending quality time with each other, presumably after work hours.}
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
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_{Rays of sunlight peeking through trees. This software engineer hasn't seen this in real life in nearly a year.}
_{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
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