Feeling Idle and Guilty in a Small Startup: Should I Talk to My CEO About It?

Hi everyone, hope you're doing well. I am Anusha. I have completed my MBA and worked for a manufacturing company for 1.4 years, where I gained a lot of experience. In that company, there were more than 6,000 employees. I liked my job role and was very satisfied with it.

Then I shifted to Bangalore as I got married, and since I didn't receive offers from manufacturing companies, I joined an IT startup as an HR/Admin executive. Here, there are only three employees: my CEO, myself, and another employee.

Current Challenges in My New Role

Now, the problem is that I am very idle here. I don't have much work to do except during the first two and last two days of the month. I am feeling very stressed pretending to be busy. Maybe because I was used to working with 6,000 people, and now with so few, I feel very idle and stressed. I am feeling guilty about taking a salary without doing much work.

What shall I do? I joined here 2 months ago. Even if I leave now, I don't know how my CEO will take this. I don't want to leave because he believed in me and gave me this offer, and I am getting a good salary.

Regards,
Anusha

I would say, talk to your CEO. Explain to him what you are going through. As your intentions are good, he will value your point of view. You can talk to him and take on some additional responsibilities. I am sure you will be able to work something out. All the best!

Before meeting your CEO, you can work out some plans to change or modify something in your office premises or come up with some ideas and suggestions. This way, he or she might also feel that you are trying to do something productive.

It's great to always work in a start-up company. When you are a team of three people, you cannot focus solely on HR activities as there may not be much HR work. However, you have plenty of opportunities to get involved in the business setup, concentrate on business development, and oversee operations. Once your business operations start expanding, you can then begin to work on your company's policies. If you are happy with your boss and the industry you are in, you have a lot of chances to learn. Sit down with your CEO and express your interest in learning about other business activities, and then you can proceed accordingly.

All the best.

Regards,
Kiruthika