I'm trying to be a core member of a big client service team. Partners are notorious for having terrible work life balance.
They push teams to work 80-90 hour weeks and ask to have meetings on weekends like it's no big deal. They don't even ask when you're free, just choosing a time that works with the sr partner.
How do you set boundaries when their expectation is that you're always available? I'm scared if I don't show up that I'll lose their support.

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Why do you want to be a core member of this client team if 80-90 hour weeks and weekend meetings is the expectation?

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Honestly, pivot and go to a different client. As someone at the bottom of the power structure, you don’t have leverage to change it and if you aren’t willing to acquiesce, the partners will find someone else who is willing to cave to their demands and push for their promotion instead. Tbh senior partners are like mafia bosses - once you’re “in,” they’ll look out for you and make opportunities for you, but you owe them loyalty and they’re the ones setting the terms

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Yea this feels like you won’t have much luck

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I know this probably isn’t helpful, but knowing that the partners you attach yourself to are the ones who pull for your promotion...do you think they’ll advocate for you if they genuinely don’t respect those working for them? What about this client service team is worth it?

I’m honestly just not sure that you can set boundaries with this type of setup, and that even if you could, they won’t support you behind the scenes because you did. Is there a different team that you can slowly start migrating towards?

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You are not going to change the culture of a team like that. My number one rule is to choose team above all else. Clients change, project topics change, the team is what makes your day to day either worth the effort or causes misery.

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Hey OP :( sorry to hear that. In general - I think you can achieve/minimal weekend work but it’s highly unlikely if that’s the norm of the CST. You said it’s a big CST - what do other teams do? Is it just a few partners or the working norm of the CST? If you see similar pattern across other EMs/BAs, then it’ll be really hard to set boundaries without impacting your goal.

I had a similar situation where we had massive scope creep, multiple teams complained to the senior partners and they ended up stepping in and now we have almost no weekend work. But granted this was the combination of multiple teams speaking up + out of norm for CST.

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I try to tease out wlb before the study. That being said sometimes people aren’t very honest about it and don’t like that question. We don’t get paid enough to work weekends tbh if I wanted a 24-7 job I’d have been an entrepreneur.

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I would Document everything in writing; 80-90 hour weeks and consistent weekend work is detrimental to employees, which they know but don’t care. Set your boundaries via emails, if you ever have retaliation or bad reviews, or worse a heart attack/mental breakdown (hope not) you will have proof. The Partners should understand the immense liabilities.

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Welcome to consulting

Let’s not generalize that consulting is 80-90 hour weeks, that’s not the norm anywhere and that is a legal liability.

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Try to follow the lead of someone who sets boundaries that you’re more aligned with? For example, if there’s a partner who does not take any meetings on Saturdays, try to do the same. If you’re comfortable sharing what industry the client is in, I may have more helpful suggestions.

Agree on documentation, keep a back file so you have data points to back up your case for better work-life balance.

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