Manager tells new hires to work their wage, incurs the wrath of the business owner: 'He said I don't really know what burnout is.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Jul 14, 2026 8:30 PM EDT

Was there anything wrong with what he said? 

The best managers are not the ones who insist that you stay at work for hours and hours after your shift is already over. Good managers know that good employees won't become great employees if they're too tired to work. They value hard work but recognize that good work can be done within an 8-hour shift. If employees regularly have to do anything beyond that, they're not going to stay in their positions at the company for more than a couple of years. Some people can handle working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, but those people are usually making a ton of dough to compensate for the lack of sleep and time spent with their family and friends. If you're paying somebody $50K and expect them to work as hard as an executive, then you're a fool. If you tell them that they're lucky to have their job, and other people would love to be in their position, they're just going to resent you and the company more than they already do. 

While hard work is important, it's equally important not to work to the bone to no end. If you're working as hard as you possibly can without any end goal in mind, you are going to get burnt out, because you can't see any changes. That's what happened to the manager in this story when he was early in his career, and he didn't want to see it happen to the young graphic designers he was training at his company. Unfortunatley, somebody else in the office took his advice the wrong way and tattled on him to the business owner. Now he's in hot water and doesn't quite know what move to make next. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10647610368
    via Osama Madlom

    A business owner who is angry at his employee for implying that his company burned out the people who work for it. 

    The image is a representation of the story. The man in this photo is not the man in the story in real life. 

  • 02

    I stupidly told my trainees not to work TOO many extra hours, and what I said went straight to the owner of the company

    I have been in my field for 12 years. I've been at every type of company and have gotten burned plenty of times by working way more than what I was paid for.
    via u/theshortone
  • 03
    At my old job I made 48k my first year in what should have been characterized as a senior role. I'd show up at 9am and leave around 9:30pm most nights. My pay
    via u/theshortone
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    never caught up with what I was producing. I really like my current job but I've only been here about 5 months. They hired me for one position, low balling me and going
    via u/theshortone
  • 05
    5 grand under the range I asked for, but made up for it by being very chill, having flexible due dates, being open to restructuring, letting me spearhead the
    via u/theshortone
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    development of the creative department, etc. they said I can renegotiate in 6 months. I am essentially functioning as a senior position/management
    via u/theshortone
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    role and on top of my expertise, I have stepped in as an entire creative department plus project manager plus hiring manager. I have taken the time to find local talent
    via u/theshortone
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    and interview each candidate and come up with a hiring test (which I hate but this is what they wanted). I was also put in charge of supervising, training, and mentoring
    via u/theshortone
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    the new hires (yes, plural) fresh from college with no experience and no promise of pay increase. We're a week into having the new hires on board and I've done a good job
    via u/theshortone
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    training them so far. They're picking up fast and have a lot of questions I'm happy to answer. I see myself as an industry expert and want to guide them so they are
    via u/theshortone
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    not only successful here, but for the rest of their careers. My industry is prone to being taken advantage of and having a lot of burnout. I spent all week
    via u/theshortone
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    last week skipping lunch and pulling about 10 hour days to make sure I get my job done while making them successful. At the end of the week, I told them to feel free to
    via u/theshortone
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    take their laptops home and work from home a little extra if they felt inclined, but don't do it to the point of burnout. Don't make it a habit, don't stay too late in the
    via u/theshortone
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    office. If you have to work more, feel free to do it from home. But if you do, maybe just dedicate an extra hour or so because too much overtime could dilute their pay. I
    via u/theshortone
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    essentially said to work your wage and work smarter not harder. Obviously If ed up and should have kept my mouth shut. It's an open concept office so
    via u/theshortone
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    someone else went to the owner and said word for what what I told the new hires. Today I was called into the owner of the company's office and
    via u/theshortone
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    scolded for poisoning the well, implying that we overwork employees, and making everyone uncomfortable. He said they will no longer report to me (which I wasn't
    via u/theshortone
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    compensated for anyway) and that clearly I'm not ready for this kind of managerial role. He also said how generous he's been with me; when he noticed I hit bottlenecks, he did me the favor of
    via u/theshortone
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    not hiring one, but two people to help me personally instead of letting me deal with it all. He said they've been nothing but understanding of me and
    via u/theshortone
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    let me do my thing. He then said they have absolutely no problems with the quality of my work (and this is probably the only reason why I wasn't let go). He was offended I'd imply
    via u/theshortone
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    burnout and that I don't really know what burnout is; he worked 18+ hours to get the company up and running. He also said he didn't sleep for days because of what I said
    via u/theshortone
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    and it's been eating at him all weekend. And if I was unhappy with how they do things, I can feel free to leave. I apologized profusely and told him it wasn't my
    via u/theshortone
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    intention to imply the company took advantage of people and I have been in this industry a long time so just wanted to help them set reasonable time management
    via u/theshortone
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    boundaries for themselves in general. It was not meant to be a reflection of how I feel about the company and that I saw myself growing here and really valued
    via u/theshortone
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    and enjoyed the job I have. We left it as me being forgiven but we will have a meeting solidifying roles and I will still continue to train them.
    via u/theshortone
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    I was supposed to renegotiate my pay in a month, but I'm so scared that I may just wait until my annual review and lay low. I feel like I need to apologize again in an
    via u/theshortone
  • 27
    email but I don't know how to do that without admitting fault. I personally don't think what I said was wrong, but it could have been said more privately if at all. I could have been
    via u/theshortone
  • 28
    smarter with my words and I could have just not said anything. I should have known it would be a problem. I just didn't want them to go through what I went through.
    via u/theshortone
  • 29
    We're taught in school to take a bunch of shin your first job because the industry is so competitive and I wanted them to know it's okay to have a work life balance.
    via u/theshortone
  • 30
    Maybe I'm better off not mentoring. I wish I could just work for myself.
    via u/theshortone

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manager owner wages in trouble burnout graphic design business
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