Is a demanding startup too much?

Q:  I am a new employee at an AI startup.  Our growth has been phenomenal, and we are all about high energy, high expectations, high stress and high growth.  It has been a great few months, but I want to live too.  The people I work with are not people I hang with, but we get along.  We are all working 70 plus hours per week, every week.  Our CEO says we “work hard, play hard” again and again.  There is a lot of bragging about the excessive hours.  None of us take vacation, or else we will be out of favor.  I have a life outside of work, but there is shame in talking about them.  We all get Slack* messages at night, or early in the morning.  It seems like we are expected to work 24 hours per day.  I am not sure what to do.  They pay me well, but I can’t keep up. 

A: It sounds like your stress level is reaching a breaking point.  Fast-growing firms can be challenging with respect to time spent on work.  A fast-growing company can also be stressful.  Many of us are challenged when faced with setting reasonable boundaries in our professional lives.  A few thoughts:

• Set limits.  Declare some weekends or evenings as “off the grid,” and then really mean it.  Pretend you are hiking in New Hampshire with limited cell service.  If you had limited cell service, then it would be difficult to reach you.  Sometimes I have heard others share that they are “off the grid” over a weekend, as a way to signal that they can’t be reached.  Of course, some work-related issues bubble up and are truly problems which require immediate attention.  Then there are others which are important but are not urgent.  In situations like this I recall a similar challenge that a Vice President had, when she reported to a CEO.  This VP would receive Slack messages almost 24 hours per day.  For a while, this VP “jumped” and responded to almost every message.  Then, after some thought, this VP realized that while a limited number of these issues were critical, many more were urgent, but could have been handled the next day.  The VP realized she was enabling her CEO.  The CEO was now expecting that this VP would respond quickly as if it was an emergency.  The light bulb went off when she realized her CEO was calling her to ask about the color used on a specific section of their website.  The shade of red could have probably been addressed the following day. This VP began to set limits and respond to only critical messages, even though there was an inclination to respond immediately.  Candidly, I have the same problem with clients.  I need to do a better job of assessing the urgency, and then responding accordingly.   
• In a high-growth startup, it is unrealistic to expect that every day or every week will be perfectly scheduled and packaged into a neat 40-hour workweek.  Startups can be chaotic.  Some find this environment exciting, but some find this stressful.  If this type of environment is stressful for you, you may want to re-evaluate your work environment. Some days may be reasonable, yet some might require additional hours.  You might have a tolerance for some chaos, but not the level of chaos that is often associated with start-ups.  This is fine for many workplaces. 
• You may need to re-assess your priorities.  Is giving up some personal time worth being well compensated?  Sometimes it is helpful to list your life priorities.  Is volunteering for a local non-profit an important part of your life?  Is your career the most important?  Do you have a sick family member who may require your time and energy?
• Senior leaders also need to re-assess the demands placed on employees.  At the present time, employees can consider many opportunities, as most companies are continuing to hire.  In 2024, many Massachusetts candidates and employees have an advantage, especially if they have skills which are in demand. 

*Slack is a messaging app used to help co-workers communicate.

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