Working in a startup environment can be intensely exciting — there’s a lot of creativity and big ideas, you’re learning new things every day, and there’s the opportunity to advance your career quickly. In fintech, you’re on the cutting edge of how people handle money, a process that touches every aspect of life.
However, there are drawbacks as well. Things are constantly changing, which means it might be hard to know exactly what your goals and objectives are. Pay and benefits can be lower than larger companies, and your responsibilities may change suddenly. Most of all, the workload can be overwhelming, which can lead to burnout.
Fortunately, today’s technology can help fintech startups make their operations more efficient and help employees avoid burnout at the same time.
Recognizing Burnout
How do you know if employees — or leaders — at your fintech are struggling with burnout? There are quite a few symptoms to look for, all related to physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.
Signs of burnout include anxiety, headaches, fatigue, and a generally cynical outlook on work and life. Employees may also have reduced productivity, detachment from things that were previously important to them, lack of creativity, and a feeling of listlessness or depression.
Another significant symptom of burnout is disturbed sleep. Anxiety and depression can lead to sleep disorders like insomnia, and burnt-out employees may also struggle with jaw-clenching at night and even develop sleep apnea if they aren’t taking care of their health.
If you notice signs of burnout in yourself or others, it’s important to connect with the resources you need to restore your mental and physical health. Fintech startups can also be proactive by using machine learning tools to detect and address burnout among employees.
Using Machine Learning In Fintech
Companies in multiple industries use machine learning to process large amounts of data and draw insights from the patterns within that data at a much faster rate than humans ever could. This can help fintech companies in a variety of ways.
For example, machine-learning solutions can detect patterns that indicate financial fraud, allowing fintech companies to quickly identify accounts that need to be flagged and investigated further. ML tools can help reduce false positives and help you catch more of the fraud within your system.
Because fraud is a significant problem for fintech companies, continuously evaluating and improving business processes around fraud detection is essential. Tech solutions such as machine learning can automate repetitive tasks, streamline the process, and reveal bottlenecks that are getting in the way of proper fraud detection and reporting.
Understanding Financial Regulations And Mitigating Risks
Machine learning can also be used to understand financial regulations and monitor transactions to ensure that anything irregular is immediately reported and your organization stays within compliance requirements. Fintech startups can also use machine learning to assess risks and measure the effectiveness of risk mitigation efforts.
Overall, ML tools allow fintech companies to be more efficient, which helps to significantly reduce employee stress. The company is able to “do more with less” without overworking team members, allowing the organization to meet its goals in healthy, practical ways.
Can Machine Learning Tools Detect Burnout?
Another way fintechs can harness machine learning is by using it to assess the workforce overall to detect signs that employees might be struggling with burnout.
Machine learning tools can combine the sentiments from employee surveys and online reviews about the organization with performance patterns to help company leaders assess the overall health of the workforce. Machine learning helps turn high volumes of open-ended text answers into actionable insights.
From there, you can take steps to improve employee engagement and well-being, including providing employee assistance programs, offering training in mindfulness and stress reduction, and providing flexible and remote work.
Programs to detect and address burnout can help align your fintech company with World Health Organization guidelines on promoting mental health in the workplace.
Addressing Burnout In Fintech Companies
Groove published a transparent piece about how they overcame burnout within their organization that can provide guidance for fintech startups and others addressing burnout in their organizations.
Leaders at Groove realized everyone was exhausted as the company grew quickly, but there weren’t new employees to help carry the load. The CEO noticed productivity dropping and knew the pace of work wasn’t sustainable.
Time off is often touted as a solution to burnout, but at Groove, no one was taking their vacation. Why? Employees were afraid if they took time off, they’d come back to even more work, and they also felt guilty leaving a heavy workload for their colleagues. In other words, offering time off wasn’t enough.
Taking Action Against Burnout
The CEO took responsibility for solving the problem and did three things:
- Hired a new developer, which was long overdue
- Re-prioritized work tasks to determine what was truly urgent, shrinking the task list and allowing employees to take time off
- He set an example by taking time off himself and closing the office for the week of Christmas
These actions were the result of getting employee feedback, taking a hard look at workloads, and enforcing mental health breaks.
Your fintech can do the same. Do you see signs of burnout among your team? It’s time to do the following:
- Get feedback
- Take a look at what tasks truly matter
- Determine how technology like machine learning can improve efficiency while reducing pressure on your employees
- Encourage your team members to take the time off they need to recharge
Overcoming Burnout Is Essential For Success
The truth is that the pace that creates burnout is unsustainable, which means a fintech company can’t operate that way for very long. Rather than forcing people to continue producing rapidly and dealing with burnout, pull back the reins and narrow your focus to the truly essential tasks.
Building a fintech startup means changing the way people interact with money, which is an essential part of everyone’s life. However, in order to be successful, the organization can’t push the team at an unsustainable pace for very long. It’s essential to find ways to increase efficiency without increasing stress, and machine-learning tools can make all the difference.