While there is a lot of focus on founder burnout and stress, a new study points out that employees may need greater attention.

Nearly half (47.5%) of people working in India’s startup ecosystem report low wellbeing, with employees emerging as the worst-affected group, according to a ‘State of Mind: The Startup Ecosystem’ study.

The study was initiated by Sheetal Bahl, Founder and Partner at Merak Ventures, and authored by Priyanka Kartari, Dr Sukhmani Pal and Dr Dilip Panniker. It surveyed 1,040 people, including founders, employees, investors, and ecosystem supporters, and had 823 respondents in the final analysis.

The study found that 54.3% of employees scored at or below the wellbeing threshold, compared with 45.2% of investors, 44.2% of ecosystem supporters, and 42.9% of founders.

About 34.8% of respondents said they did not feel safe saying they were struggling at work. Those who felt safe speaking up had an average WHO-5 wellbeing score of 60, compared with 39.5 among those who did not.

The gap was even wider among employees: 88.3% of employees who did not feel safe speaking up fell at or below the wellbeing threshold, compared with 26.7% of those who felt safe speaking up.

A significant number of people may not even recognise or acknowledge that they are struggling.

Of the 391 respondents who scored below the wellbeing threshold, 35.3% described themselves as thriving or doing okay. Only 15.1% of those below the threshold said they had sought professional help.

The study also found a clear link between longer working hours and lower wellbeing—37% of those working under 40 hours a week were at or below the wellbeing threshold.

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