What is at stake?
Why is it important?
In a startup, the well-being of the future team is largely determined from the arrival of the first members. Therefore, founders need to be particularly aware of this at the pre-seed stage, which often corresponds to the initial hires.
- 33% of employees consider work-life balance as their top priority.
- 66% of employees experience a lack of balance between work and personal life.
- 1 out of 2 employees is facing a psychological difficulty currently, and only 7% dare to talk about it internally.
(Source: Barometer #1 and Barometer #2, Alan x Harris Interactive, 2022)
3 key steps to take action
1️⃣ Considering well-being from the outset of the first hires
- As founders, what kind of work environment do we want the initial team to thrive in?
- What can be implemented before their arrival to anticipate their needs and maximize their job satisfaction?
- How can we ensure receiving regular feedback on their needs and satisfaction?
2️⃣ Identifying and assessing risks related to the business activity and company structure
Particularly, identifying psychosocial risks (PSRs) that correspond to work situations involving stress, external violence, and internal violence.
- The Gollac report (2011) identifies 6 main risk factors.
- Intensity and working hours (workload, task complexity...)
- Emotional demands (contact with the public, dealing with people in distress...)
- Autonomy or room for maneuver (ability to develop skills, monotony of tasks...)
- Social relationships or recognition at work (quality of relationships with colleagues and hierarchy, recognition...)
- Value conflicts (ethical conflicts, work perceived as meaningless...)
- Job insecurity (work environment, experience of changes...)
🛠️ The National Research and Safety Institute (INRS) has developed the tool "Faire le point RPS" to facilitate the assessment of these risks.
3️⃣ Formalizing these best practices in a charter
For example:
- Drafting a disconnection charter to respect the right to disconnect for team members.
- Defining fixed and flexible schedules, as well as telecommuting policies, in dialogue with the first hires.
→ As an illustration, here is the disconnection charter developed by the Moka.care startup team.
📚 Resources and further reading
⚖️ Health and Safety at Work: Employer Obligations (Public Service)
The employer must ensure the health and safety of their workers by implementing prevention, information, and training actions.
They must also assess occupational risks for each workstation. These risks are documented in a report.
📖 Gollac Report (2011): The 6 Main Risk Factors
🛠️ "Faire le point RPS" Tool (INRS)
This tool allows small businesses (< 50 employees) to examine the presence of psychosocial risk factors and evaluate them.
The tool consists of 41 questions that are collectively filled out, such as "Does the organization in your company allow you to cope with the workload?" or "Do employees deal with a difficult public (unhappy customers or distressed individuals...)?"
- Familiarize yourself with the questions (PDF file) and discuss them as a team.
- Record the selected answers and comments in the application to obtain the evaluation results table and the detailed evaluation report.
- Based on the obtained results, develop an action plan in connection with the company's situation.
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