80 Percent of Employees Say Working at a Startup Is Bad for Their Mental Health

Can working at a startup company harm your mental and physical health? A new study by Startup Snapshot strongly suggests the answer is yes.

In an anonymous survey of 270 startup employees, 80 percent said that working at their startup had negatively affected their mental health in various ways. Fifty percent said they experienced burnout, 52 percent said they suffered from anxiety, and 10 percent admitted to having panic attacks. In fact, the research showed, working at a startup can be even more stressful for employees than it is for the startup’s founder or founders.

Startup life also makes it tough for those employees to deal with that stress. More than two thirds said they end the workday feeling both mentally drained and physically exhausted. And 62 percent said that at least a few times a month they felt too exhausted to spend time with their friends. Not only that, 45 percent said they’d cut back on physical exercise since beginning work at their startups. Both physical exercise and social interaction have been shown to reduce stress and improve mental well-being.

So working in a startup packs a double punch. It can stress you out and at the same time prevent you from doing the things that will alleviate that stress.

“Employees pay a price they never anticipated.”

Respondents said they never expected this. Only 10 percent said they knew before they did it that working in a startup could take this kind of toll. “The shiny lights of startup life are compelling–who wouldn’t want to be part of that story? But behind the glow, employees pay a price they never anticipated,” said Nektarios Liolios, serial entrepreneur and startup advisor, in a statement accompanying the report. “They enter with energy and belief, and too often leave drained, disillusioned, or
unwell.”

Some might be tempted to shrug off these findings. After all, working a startup is supposed to be stressful, isn’t it? Maybe. But no founder or board member should be Ok with the degree of stress in startup life this research shows. Especially because these findings suggest some fairly simple changes that could go a huge way toward making it better.

1. Make it easier to talk about startup stress.

Eighty percent of respondents said their mental health was affected by their startup jobs. But only 15 percent said they would ever talk with their bosses about these challenges. While that’s very understandable, it’s not particularly helpful. Creating a culture where people can talk about things like burnout and anxiety is an important step toward solving them.

2. Rethink your perks.

When Startup Snapshot asked what their employers provided to support their health and wellbeing, 68 percent said their startup offered remote work. And 62 percent said they had flexible hours. Only 13 percent said their companies offered access to counseling or therapy, and only 14 percent said they had access to wellness activities such as yoga or fitness classes.

Remote work and flexible hours are popular perks that many employees seek and many startups offer. But a substantial portion of your employees likely want mental wellness support too. In the survey, 38 percent of respondents said they wanted wellness activities, and 24 percent said they wanted access to counseling.

Employee assistance programs are, of course, more common at large, well-established companies than they are at startups. But making sure employees have at least some access to perks that can support their mental health is a good idea for every startup. With less stressed employees and fewer cases of burnout, it may pay for itself in productivity and employee retention.

3. Take care of your own emotional health.

As a founder, you may think no one else at work cares how stressed you are or how hard you’re working. But that’s wrong, the survey shows. “When the leader is overwhelmed, the team feels it, whether it’s spoken aloud or not,” Survey Snapshot researchers write. “In small, fast-moving companies, the founder’s emotional state
doesn’t just affect them, it shapes the culture.”

The survey results show that stress in the workplace is contagious, especially when it comes from the top of the organization. And, not surprisingly, most founders appear to be stressed. In the survey, 57 percent of respondents said they saw their company founders expressing stress or anxiety often, at least a few times a month or more. And those who reported having highly stressed founders had 16 percent lower wellbeing at work, and 14 percent more burnout than the sample at large.

The message is that it’s important for every startup founder, and really every team leader, to take care of their own emotional health, especially at work. It’s the only way to avoid spreading their stress to their team like some kind of awful flu. (There’s lots of information about how to do this in my book Career Self-Care: Find Your Happiness, Success, and Fulfillment at Work.)

4. Tell your employees the truth.

Most founders don’t open up to employees about most of their stressors or concerns. Even though more than half can see that their founders are stressed, only 10 percent of respondents said their founders discuss their stress with employees. And only 18 percent said their founders discussed the startup’s challenges with employees.

Founders who keep their troubles to themselves may be attempting to shield their employees from worry. If so, they’re actually doing the opposite. When asked their main source of stress at work, 50 percent of respondents said it was a lack of information.

In most situations, knowing the truth, even if it’s not what you want to hear, is better than having to guess at what’s going on. So being transparent with employees whenever you can is probably a better approach than keeping all the bad news to yourself.

Despite all of the above, the survey revealed some very good news: Employees love working at startups. More than a third said they joined their startup because they were inspired by the founder. And 91 percent said that if their current startup didn’t work out, they’d look for a job at another startup.

The inspiration and excitement that go with working at a startup are the secret sauce that helps founders attract top talent to their companies. Take care of their emotional wellbeing, as well as your own, if you want them to stick around.