The Hidden Realities of Startup Life

Since many people are coming out and sharing their stories about their work place, this is a small glimpse into one of the places I worked and it’s employees. I would not encourage sharing your personal feelings with your colleagues but this turned out to be the most fruitful decision I made during my tenure at this startup and you would soon know why.

There was this small startup that was building a mental health application. Wonderful idea, great thought. But this is a tale that is told to make people aware that what is happening with you is not normal and can also amount to mental abuse when you work in a startup that is so dangerously adamant on building things on a whim. Sometimes when people focus on just securing fundings, they forget real lives are at stake.

\ The startup began late in the year. People joined in and had so much work to do that people forgot about their own lives. People were sprinting hard to release an application in the January. We stayed in the offices for nights and back to back. Of course not with our will. But this is just the beginning of what happens when things go unpunished. I will try and list out instances where mental abuses happened. This is so that people are aware what is wrong and what is right.

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Time Management: A frightful clock

Often employees were forced to stay in office for long hours, often exceeding 24 hours to deliver whatever work was assigned to them. They took smoke breaks, tea breaks for relaxation. And who didn’t smoke were just strolling outside so that they could relax too from all the work.

\ Anyone who went out for a break, of course was looked down upon. The gaze from the management team said it all. One day they asked me to stop the team members from going out and have a break. Everyone takes a break. A long break combined, or multiple shorter breaks, if nothing is mentioned in the guidelines. I stood my ground and told I can’t stop my team from going out since that’s their right. They need to go out to relax and look away from the screen for a bit. I think that’s completely okay. But on that day, I realised how deep this thing goes.

\ If we came late, we were made fun of. Of course we informed prior. 11 AM was the reporting time. If anyone came late, that small group of people made their job to either question that person or make fun of the person or just taunt that person left and right.

One day, I came to office at 5:30 PM. That is 6.5 hours late to the office. Then why come, right? But the thing was, I gave an all nighter at the office the day before and left the office at 9 AM. So slept through till 4:30 PM.

\ I received a phone call from the CTO asking where was I. \n *I told him I was sleeping and the alarm couldn’t wake me up. \n * *He asked if I am coming to office or not. That means why are you not here in the office already. \n *I told him I have just woken up, let me just fresh up and come to office.

\ That day when I arrived, I was given a stern look and a hand gesture pointing to his wrist watch.I was carrying a tea glass and my bags with me. I saw that and suddenly my hands started shaking. My blood boiled that instant and I told him “please also remind us to leave office at 8:30PM, Do this action at that time too”. Since then, I have been doing that action to all the junior employees asking them to leave after 8:30 PM. Of course they didn’t. How could they? How dare them?

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Leaves and their aftershock

Employees who got sick, or were out on leaves or had some vacation planned for themselves were frowned upon and they were questioned in detail as to why they need to go and how this might be resulting in upsetting the management team. So people often avoided asking for leaves and the introverts or the shy people normally resulted in taking unplanned leaves or making excuses for leaves.

People who requested a leave on a Saturday, or a Monday, would normally be questioned in one of the cabins or in front of the whole team. And when they returned to the office, they were taunted. And their next leave had to be far in the future. It’s not like they didn’t give leaves if the person just sent a message over Whatsapp detailing why they needed a leave. It is the pressure they put their employees for asking for leaves.

\ I remember fainting in the office after I was working two nights straight. Not in the office. I was at home working in the night at my home because I was asked to. But I was in the office when that happened and I was immediately taken to the hospital and taken care of by the company. I asked for resignation and I walked out with a sabbatical for 1 month. I was grateful for the sabbatical. When I returned, I had less work load but never the less told “you were on a vacation for 1 month. So you must have enjoyed”.

I implore founders and leaders to think harder at what all they do because it affects their employees. And if you ask them and they don’t tell you. It is because you have been known for making fun of your own employees and ridiculing them. You know I am talking to you. You call yourself our friend but use your own employees and their innocence to get your work done after hours. Plan better. Do better.

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Forceful media presence

Imagine you work in a startup and you are asked to post about the company. Not a big deal right? I thought so too. The Content team delivers content to the Whatsapp group and the employees are forced to push that message out on LinkedIn from their personal profiles. If somehow, some people either forgot or just didn’t want to post, the founder asked the HR team to round up all the employees who haven’t posted and provide their name on the group and were asked to fire and send notice to all these employees, since “We are building a startup” and who ever is not aligned with the goal should step out. I mean I understand this is your own company so you might be attached. But you have to give your employees that care and understanding so that they want to post on their own and not force them into resignation.

Sexual encounters and forceful firings

There was a party at a Founder’s place and people got together and were drinking and smoking. Very normal. There was this one girl who shall remain nameless for this article. This girl was an employee and also came to the party. She was visibly drunk after a while and she started taking support of the founder Y since she was just barely an adult. People in the party were anxious as to what was happening and a fight broke out between founder X and an employee. After the fight the party got over and every one was asked to leave. The founder Y, at whose place the party was hosted, came a little late to the scene.

\ What we got to know was horrific. Because this female employee was not feeling well, she went to the washroom and the founder Y went in too and locked after himself. With the female employee in there too. What happened, in there, was he actually helping out or doing something terribly wrong with that girl is still unknown. But he came out of the washroom after another employee started knocking on the door to bring the fight to the founder Y’s attention.

\ That female employee left the organisation after a month. The employee who got into the fight was also fired. The founder Y remains in the company, with people aware of this act and doing nothing about this. The founder Y often talks indecent language, talks about which female employee he likes the most.

My exit from the company

The reason for my exit from this start up could be all the reasons combined but another thing happened. Another thing happened that I can’t really piece together. Let’s start with detailing out how this all happened.

\ Posh guidelines:

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As per the provisions of the POSH Act, every workplace employing 10 (Ten) or more employees is required to constitute an Internal Committee (“Internal Committee”) to handle complaints related to Sexual Harassment and facilitate inquiry into the complaint. In situations where a workplace has multiple administrative units across various locations, it is necessary to establish an Internal Committee in each administrative unit. However, if a workplace has less than 10 (Ten) employees, all complaints of Sexual Harassment will be handled by the local committee established by district officers under the POSH Act.

\ So I believe, this is necessary by law. And for the time I spent in the company, I don’t believe any such training happened. This was the beginning. I get that people can be insensitive and that there are many kinds of people out there who might or might not agree with you. So POSH Training was necessary to teach what to say and what not to say and who to complain to if something went wrong. Since it never happened, there was no group formed for registering complaints. The HRs probably cannot do anything since they are just employees.

\ I am out of the closet to my family and friends. To people who I care for. When I joined this company, I made sure to check out the environment first to test the waters. Immediately on day 1, I knew I had to hide here. These are just college graduates, all men. And people higher up were adults who made fun of anyone they wanted. Either on their clothes, or on their looks. And mind you, these happen often.

I remember a party where the whole team was invited and I went too. We were talking and having fun when suddenly the founder Z makes a slight joke of femininity towards me. Everyone laughed. I didn’t.

\ In another instance, I remember there was a meeting outside the office premises where people were talking about how these people just don’t want to interact with the LGBTQ+ community. That, it just disgusts them. Mind you, so many people were there. My boss was there who I had already told about me earlier when I fainted and asked to resign. He just stood there and laughed at first. Then he saw my expressions changed and told everyone in the group to not talk about this. But I guess, it was too late.

\ I think this was the last nail in the coffin. I might have not told them about me, but I think I decided for myself that this should be enough. For me to take a stand and just quit from here. And I am glad I did.

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There are so many more instances that happened in there. And much more. Employees are often criticised for either relaxing and eating out. Employees are also taunted for mistakes and sometimes made fun of. Often asked to stay longer and be part of the team. I don’t know how female employees feel out there. That’s their story to tell.

\ For people struggling in their jobs, this is not the end. Life is too big. This is definitely not the end. Yes, you will have to work hard for a while to get out of there and to find a new job, but that new found emotional and mental strength for yourself is much better.