Emerging Tech Trends In Burnout Prevention

Original article from AngelList for this post can be found here

Workers are stressed—can tech help?

First Covid. Now layoffs.

It’s an anxious time for many in tech today.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, tech leaders are speaking up about the importance of employee (and founder) well-being. They warn about the impact of around-the-clock work culture, noting that tech workers are already burned out and stressed out from the pandemic and its many disruptions.

For many, the quick pivot to all-remote work blurred already obscured lines between work and home. A recent survey found that 62% of IT workers feel “physically and emotionally drained” and more than half can’t unwind after work.

Vanquishing the ‘ghosts of burnout’

Experts warn about the “ghosts of burnout” that drive employees to consider quitting: professional self-inefficacy, emotional or energetic exhaustion, cynicism, and depersonalization.

More founders, too, are openly talking about the prevalence of things like depression, ADHD, and bipolar, all of which share traits similar to those commonly found among Silicon Valley founders (outgoing, risk-taking, etc.).

The natural question, of course: Can tech help?

Health gets digital

Tech companies are putting $30B in venture capital funding in 2021 to work on addressing every aspect of healthcare. About $5B of that investment went to companies innovating the way mental health is delivered.

Facebook’s owner, Meta, just made its first early-stage investment in the Asia-Pacific region, investing in mental health startup Ami. Meanwhile, up-and-coming companies like Big Health and Real are working to make talking to a therapist as easy as checking the weather and as comfortable as talking to a friend. Bicycle Health offers virtual treatment for opioid addiction.

So-called “digital therapeutics” (DTx) are helping to fill in gaps in health delivery and already constitute a $4B industry. Mobile mindfulness, too, has grown into a billion-dollar business.

Companies are using AI to create new ways to automatically and remotely keep tabs on patients from home and intervene in order to reduce their mental health symptoms. Apple recently partnered with UCLA to develop algorithms that measure symptoms of depression using data collected on Apple devices.