Blurred lines between work and personal life and constant phone access can lead bosses to cross workplace boundaries; how do you handle a toxic boss, 'one small thing' on vacation and the claim that work is 'family'?"The best advice for a manager is this: If you're not sure, or if you have any doubt that the message, email or sentence you're about to say to employees is problematic, don't say it." That advice comes from George Stern, an American workplace expert who has become something of a guru in the field thanks to social media.It is advice that virtually every career and human resources consultant would probably endorse wholeheartedly, and it may be the most basic principle in employer-employee relations. From disputes over job responsibilities and employment conditions to expectations that workers be available on days off or at night, the delicate boundaries between bosses and employees are constantly being reshaped, and it is not always easy to tell when they are becoming blurred and problematic.GalleryA toxic workplace (Illustration: Shutterstock)In the United States, corporate euphemisms are frequently used to convey messages or make requests that may be inappropriate. Employees who ask direct questions are often met with answers involving "goals," "efficiency cuts," "workplace climate," "performance improvement plans" and numerous other terms that can obscure processes that are largely not in employees' interests.What about Israel? Sivan David, CEO of David HR and head of human capital, employers and training at Norterra, says: "The Israeli market is much more direct and people don't beat around the bush. The elevated language and terminology that conceal toxicity are much more characteristic of North America. I've encountered inappropriate requests in the Israeli labor market, or employees being contacted outside working hours or in the middle of personal events, but it was much more direct and less concealed."Noa Lebovich, founder of empply and a career management consultant specializing in the new world of work, explains: "Sometimes it's done manipulatively. They talk to you like a friend: 'Come on, just check your email for a second,' 'Do me a favor' and other expressions like that. It doesn't matter to them that the employee is in the middle of an event or on vacation. It's an attempt to exploit Israeli informality and the idea that 'we're all family here at the company.'"In Israel, it's fairly common to hear 'we're all family here.' But don't you feel that sometimes it really is genuine and not just an empty cover?