6 ms·
I would say that start-up culture is the perfect breeding ground for burnout. #1 cause: lack of a mature organization. No clarity, no process, no structure, co
by bowlofpetunias 13y ago
I would say that start-up culture is the perfect breeding ground for burnout.
#1 cause: lack of a mature organization. No clarity, no process, no structure, constant uncertainty and bosses that clearly have no idea what the fuck they are doing.
Collective ownership, treating employees like entrepreneurs even though they are very different people with a different mindset and different coping mechanisms is not just misguided, it's downright destructive.
Employees are not entrepreneurs, they have a different mindset and different coping mechanisms. They can handle the uncertainty of a starting company that may very well fail, they can handle long hours, but they need certainty about the nature of their job, what is expected of them and their coworkers. Not having that structure makes them extremely vulnerable to any kind of stress, stress that a startup job is guaranteed to have.
It frankly pisses me off how badly employees at startups are treated by not recognizing their needs as employees. No amount of toys, free snacks and other gimmicks will compensate for that.
- mgkimsal 13y agoYou typically don't see that big picture when you're 20 - it's hard not to see it at 40. Probably another reason the stereotypical "startup" employee skews younger.
- mattgreenrocks 13y agoTo be explicit: younger workers are much easier to exploit. If all younger workers realized this and acted collectively, the impact would be immense. Instead, SV is overrun with temporarily-embarrassed entrepreneurs.
- subdane 13y agoI agree, but I also think investors have bought a narrative of a young organization that breaks things and learns. Part of that narrative is great and it keeps tech fresh and young. I just wish there were a way to have a better dialog or working relationship between generations. Historically humans have been able to work well intergenerationally, so I think there's something endemic to our culture that prevents this from happening.
- jmzbond 13y agoThere are some great pieces I've read about the generational divide (I'm sure they've been on here at some point) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/magazine/silicon-valleys-youth-problem.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/magazine/silicon-valleys-y... http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117088/silicons-valleys-brutal-ageism http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117088/silicons-valleys-b...
- jmzbond 13y agoThis is a great perspective, and the corollary of mine. If you're a start-up and you're building a culture where everyone literally is an entrepreneur, maybe you can be more successful, but most start-ups don't have this culture and still expect employees to be super entrepreneurial when they're actually functioning as employees. Everyone loses.