ASK HR: Stop complaining, appreciate this rare gem of a boss

Q. I love my job. I’m not complaining, but there’s one weird thing my boss does that confuses me. When he wants to reward you for a job well done, he gives you a day off with pay yet still expects you to get your work done. How do I decline this generous offer without offending him?

In actual sense, the salary you earn should ideally compensate you for achieving your objectives and for a job well done. You should therefore consider yourself lucky to have a boss who appreciates your efforts and rewards you, over and above your monthly remuneration.

Being given a day off is a good gesture, so if I were you, I would take the opportunity to recharge and get well-deserved rest. This said, you must also achieve the objectives you have set for the week, and this can only happen if you learn how to plan and prioritise. Most times, employees aspire to achieve their annual objectives, yet they don’t divide them into manageable tasks or activities and also fail to plan on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

If you strongly feel that even after planning your week is disorganised, you could consider discussing with your supervisor other options that are available to compensate you for the good work. Remember one man’s meat is another one’s poison, therefore, declining the offer is not a good idea, since it might work against colleagues who are able to plan and meet their targets and therefore don’t mind the free day.

There are organisations that have structured their pay to reward employees who have stretched and achieved their objectives. This is given in form of bonus payment or performance based review on their salary. Other options may include flexi- working hours, monetary compensation or additional days when proceeding on leave.

You need to imagine a situation whereby you have a boss who is unappreciative, and never comments or notices any effort made by the team, this way, you will realise you have a team leader who is geared towards creating a conducive work environment by recognising the team’s effort. The approach you take when giving your boss feedback is what will build or break your otherwise good working relationship.

You must appreciate the gesture, but indicate it is affecting your overall output, therefore you would not want to disappoint him by not achieving your target, which affects the overall business performance.

The trick to win in any professional discussion is to make it more about the business rather than about you and what works for you.