How to Have a Healthy Work-Life Balance with a Tech Startup

When you are running a tech startup, you likely know how difficult it is to not become a workaholic whose sole focus is growing their business. When you have so many responsibilities, it might feel like you can’t avoid working long hours to the exclusion of all else. Until things take off, you will likely have a minimum of employees, and everyone will be working hard to grow the business. But there are some ways to create a better work-life balance, even in the early stages of your tech startup.

Pay Attention to Your Family’s Needs Too

Paying attention to your family’s needs will help you see when it is especially important for you to be there for them. Ask them to communicate with you and tell you what they need from you. Whether someone is going through a hard time, or you are about to celebrate a milestone, it’s important to keep track of what is happening in everyone’s lives, so they feel like you care about them. If you have a child getting ready to head to college, carve out time to be there for them. One way is by helping to get financing for a student loan to help cover the cost of their education. Being a cosigner for them can help them get approved, which can be challenging if they don’t have a cosigner.

Give Your Employees Time to Rest

You may find it’s unavoidable to have your team working overtime some days. They have deadlines that might be hard to meet within a simple 40-hour work week. However, if you find they are constantly putting in more than 40 hours each week, you might want to send them home early every now and then so they can rest and unwind. You should also avoid contacting them during non-work hours. You can schedule emails, so they only send during the employee’s work hours. If they are getting messages when they are off, they might feel like they need to continue working.

Check in With the Team

Communicate openly with the team to give them the chance for stress free productivity and as a check in with them about what they need. This can help you keep up with issues they may be facing, whether it’s friction with a coworker or burnout. They can tell you if they need more support or tools to do their work. While you have your own work, it’s also important to help a team member if they are struggling to meet their own deadlines. Tech startups tend to be small, which means teamwork is even more important for success.

Foster a Strong Culture

If your team is partially or fully remote, it’s even more important to create a strong work culture. You should define what remote work means. For some companies, it just means the employee needs to be on call if something comes up. But for others, it means the employee must be at their desk for a full eight hours. Having clear expectations will help others plan accordingly.