Jeremy Hreben said: I have an assistant. He is older than me. He was a former superintendent, be it in over his head in that position. He is a great worker, has an awesome construction background. Only formal education is in landscape something or other. I am lenient with him taking time off due to the fact that sometimes we work long hours. More lenient than anyone was with me. My issue is contacting him after hours. Sometimes I want to bat ideas off him or go over the plan for the future. Sometimes I want to check in to see what got accomplished. I respect his time off and never call him in off duty. I don't think talking off duty is a big deal. When I was an assistant I always answered my bosses calls or at least called back as soon as i could.
Am I asking too much? Am I wrong?
I came up the same way as you did, and would take work related calls at any time. As I have aged, I don't ask the same of the people that work for me, and I no longer really take work calls when I am not at work except in the case of an urgent issue. I do not call my people unless it is something that can absolutely not wait.
Some of the topics that you suggest, such as batting around ideas or planning for the future can definitely wait in my book. I used to have that stuff on my mind all of the time, but I'm learning to leave it at work when I leave. Not always succeeding, but trying. To me time off from work is one of the keys to being productive and functional, and that time off includes the mind. So I try to make sure my people get that.
Checking in to see what got accomplished can be achieved in different ways. I have asked my assistants to send me a daily log at the end of each day. Takes them 10 minutes to send me an email with the important points from that day.
My assistants work 10 hour days 5 days a week year round, and they are paid for it. More hours during projects and overseeding. Thats enough, so I try my hardest to leave them alone when not at work. Helps me avoid thinking about work more than I should too.