Is working at a startup generally less stressful than working at a large company?

A relevant study I kept on my desk for many years looked at morale and motivation. Its key conclusion was that two factors were way out front of all others (including the type of work, years in role, size of employer, rate of pay and so on). Those two were:

• Do I know what my job is?

• Do I have the tools to do my job?

Corporate environments often are assumed to deliver those two as a matter of routine - but that particular study showed that while senior management almost universally believed this was the case, in fact most people in most organisations couldn't give an unequivocal 'yes' answer to both questions.

In a start-up, the first question is often rather fluid, and the second can be reversed - "how as a team can we do our job, knowing that we don't have most of what we need." So, according to that study, there's a very high risk in startups that morale and motivation will slide.

Established businesses will survive all kinds of local and even systemic problems. Startups can be even more agile, but they're also demonstrably more likely to implode in response to all kinds of events - including positive events such as sales success.

The datapoint of my personal experience suggests to me that it's inherent in startups that there are more events and periods of acute stress. Successful startup teams I've known or been part of have had strong, balanced, committed teams who've built up relationships of trust in challenging situations. They've also nurtured 'safety valve' relationships - wise and experienced people who are outside the day-to-day situation but willing to listen at high-tension moments. Sometimes these people are non-executive directors, but they don't have to be.

Conversely, again from my own experience, corporate environments lend themselves to (and reward people who can cope with) long-term stress.

So I'd be thinking less about the level of stress and more about its nature. Corporate life will almost certainly suit people who want to avoid stress - but it's unlikely to deliver a stress-free life. People who excel in short periods of high stress may prefer the world of the start-up; those who can manage long-term lower level stress may find corporate life more to their taste and benefit.

From my personal experience, working at a large company involved being stressed about what higher-ranked people in the company would think about your work and/or your social skills. There were many ranks and titles people spent too much time thinking of.

In a startup, you cut the bullshit and worry about the basics which is to produce enough so your family can eat.

As somebody else mentioned, it's a different kind of stress but I'd rather be worried about going broke than about hearsay. Christmas parties are better in a large company, though.

My personal experience from three startups and three big companies: The stress is very different at each.

The stress at a startup is like the stress of a big game when you have to be at peak performance. It is a satisfying stress.

The stress at a big company is more like the stress that animals at a zoo feel when they are under-stimulated. To be fair, there are plenty of opportunities to find the good kind of stress and stimulation at a big company, but you have to continually work at finding them. It's all too easy to find yourself in some crappy corner where you can get paid without stressing. I find that very stressful.

EDIT: Fixed typos.

I've worked at startups for the past 15 years.

A few months ago I bumped into someone who used to work for me at a startup that ended up going public. Very successful. He went off to Cisco and after 4 1/2 years I moved on to new startups.

As we did a little catching up, I said I was somewhat jealous that he'd been at the same place, a huge company, for 10 years. A relative sense of stability (as much as anyone has these days I suppose.) Stability for your job and stability for the company.

To my somewhat shock he said he was about to start looking to move on. He hated it. Said decisions were made often because higher ups wanted things a certain way, not always because they were the right things to do. Many other points he complained about.

I guess the grass is always greener as they say. Both have pros and cons obviously. I think it's about how you're wired, your background, what motivates you, what scares you. You can't really know unless you try it.

Anyone know of studies comparing stress levels as a function of company size?

I'm not aware of any such studies. I would be very interested in reading them though, so if anyone else knows such a study, please share a link.

From my personal experience, some people thrive in a startup environment, while others suffer. It's a personality thing, and something it's important to factor in when hiring people. It's not really about "large" versus "small" companies. It's about specific aspects of the job experience -- which tend to be more common in startups -- but can be moderated with good management.

What I have seen is:

• Needs daily contact with several colleagues vs very self-sufficient. Some people need to be members of a larger team of people to keep their spirits up.

• Thrives on "blank sheet of paper" problems vs prefers to work within an existing framework. In all professions I have seen some people truly love 'green field' activities, where you start an activity from scratch and nothing is defined in advance -- and some people who hate this; who prefer more closed-ended tasks.

• Strongly impacted by potential future risks vs tends not to worry. Some (often very intelligent) people worry a lot about what can potentially go wrong in the future. That can be too much in a startup, where there is often lots of risk.

• Enjoys (or at least accepts) wearing many different 'hats' vs dislikes working outside ones primary job skill.

• Hugely enjoys doing the work 'right' vs more willing to accept outside standards for work quality. People who have high standards for their work often enjoy working in startups. Large companies, despite their superior resources, often do not provide the satisfaction of really fixing something 100% through and through.

IMHO there is no 'right' or 'wrong' answer to the above. We're all different. But it's important that all hires have good 'fit' with the company, for both the employer and the employee.

I don't think stressful is the right word. There are crazy times, there are insane deadlines, and way too many late nights punctuated by runs to the only fast food restaurant still open. One of my favorite jobs we were working so hard and focused on the project that we would regularly look at the clock and say, "Dang, when did it get to be midnight?" I miss it.

What there tends to be less of the crazy office politics, fewer ego-tyrants, and a lot less of the 'those bozos in [facilities | marketing | finance | sales | CxO's office] are telling us we need to [file requests on paper for data center space | build an impossible feature | lose two people on our already overtaxed team | port the code to Java/Windows/EMACS | use a byzantine time/bug/server/donut tracking tool].'

Having worked for a number of large and small firms, I much much prefer working for small firms. Their teams are more tightly integrated and have more talented people, the technical problems are more interesting, and the company direction more clear. Yes, you often have to wear many hats, but that's fine with me. Taking some time off to deal with a couple Linux issues on the dev server is a great way for me to get my head out of the weeds and some distance from a code problem.

In my experience, the smaller the company, the stronger the ties between co-workers, even a decade after the company has ceased to be.

It is generally more stressful at a startup from my experience. Startups are hungry and risky. They move at a much faster pace and you're typically required to perform more roles. Yep, it's as fun as it sounds! It's a good kind of stress...