We all know what a startup is. It is a company or business which is trying to find its feet in the market. To find its feet in the market, a startup always puts its best foot forward. It finds the right people and puts them to work. People also work hard day and night to achieve the ultimate goal of the startup, their startup. However, while working so passionately to turn their dream into reality, founders and employees often forget about mental health. They forget that the number of hours they put in can have dangerous consequences if such a routine continues. Employees can start feeling burned out and disconnected from their jobs. The zeal with which they started working starts to disappear. The ultimate result is a negative work environment and a decrease in productivity. Mental Health is a complicated topic. Thanks to Pandemic, people have started to acknowledge its existence and its importance. Companies, especially startups, have started to recognize that work is not life but a part of life. With Startups, it is even more critical that every employee and the founders recognize that it is important to work as a human and take breaks whenever needed. Like big companies, startups cannot hire a Chief Happiness Officer to oversee these things but the HR teams or the leadership teams can take the following steps to ensure mental health in the fast-paced startup world.
- Start a discussion and throw the taboos in the trash
The first step to ensure mental health is to start a discussion on Mental Health. Even today, Mental Health in Startups is considered taboo. People are afraid of being judged if they even mention mental health. It is high time that founders or leadership teams throw this taboo in the trash. They must create such an environment where people can openly discuss if they feel overworked or burned out. They must not recognize that if people are feeling this, then it is a problem, which takes precedence all over the others. Founders must also come forward if they also feel this. With healthy discussions only, all the involved people can understand the seriousness of the problem and look towards a solution. Also, discussing something may not solve the problem but eases the mind. - Formulate a Mental – Health Plan
After discussing with the employees, founders or the HR or the Leadership teams can start formulating a strategy to ensure the mental well-being of their employees. They can even take help from professional workplace psychologists to make a plan. This plan can incorporate things like regular discussions, non- work activities, engagement sessions, team building activities, implementation of the mentor-mentee system, forced vacations, defining normal working hours, etc. Many such things can be included in the mental-health plan as per the needs of the people and the startup. Such events give a break to employees from their regular running work life and help them to reboot. - Recognizing the problem at early stages
While taking steps to ensure mental health, it is also critical to recognize the signs of any mental disease in the employees at the early stages. The HR team should be equipped with such tools that can help them to recognize the early symptoms. The team should maintain a close check on the metrics such as work hours, work pressure, leaves taken, etc. If they are breaching a certain limit, then take action.
Action can involve therapy or meditation sessions. Regular mental health literacy programs can also be organized regularly so that mental health issues can be recognized and tackled at the initial stages only. There is always a narrative associated with startups. Working in Startups usually means long hours, high pressure, and no personal life. The above-mentioned steps will help in changing that narrative. This change is not limited to the employees. The mental health of the founders is also critical. They even work more than the employees. So their mental health is also important. They must also discuss it and take breaks whenever needed. Moreover, if the founders do not appreciate the importance of mental health, they will never be able to create a positive environment. In the end, to ensure one’s well-being, it is important to take care of the body through proper diet, sleep and exercise because if the body is in good shape, then the mind is in good shape to work and innovate. For any other details, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We will be happy to help you out in every possible manner.
