At the time, Michael Wolff certainly couldn't have foreseen his career choice as a disaster in the making. A struggling writer in New York City, he came up with the innovative idea of publishing a guide to the Internet -- at the time a phenomenon that only a select few could claim to understand. Then, with people urging him to convert his book into a series and then a Web site, he decided to take the plunge.

In his book Burn Rate: How I Survived the Internet Gold Rush, Michael Wolff recalls the wild ride he took in the mid-1990s as a dot-com executive. In the beginning, venture capitalists were vying for the opportunity to invest millions of dollars into his NetGuide site. Little more than a year later, when the small, well-funded company began to slide, Wolff remembers spending entire days being reviled by the same group of people for "being such a screw-up." He walked away from a potential $100 million, because, he says, it just wasn't worth it. "I have no regrets about leaving," he declares. "The money was too high a cost -- I had walked into hell."

The Internet gold rush took a high toll on Web producer Bill Lessard as well. In his case, it was the stress of working 16-hour days for months on end that finally did him in. He began as the media producer of Pathfinder, TimeWarner's Internet site, where he'd work all day on tech support and business plans and stay up most of the night producing online chats for the company's Web magazines. "There were no stock options, I didn't clean my apartment for six months, I was physically a wreck, but I was changing the world," he recalls wryly. "Looking back, our office was a case study of what people would do under extreme stress. Most people were heavy smokers, drank way too much coffee, and ate bad food. They would then act out in totally inappropriate ways. There was all this floating anger from the stress; we'd explode at each other."

Eventually quitting his Pathfinder job, Lessard went on to work for seven other Internet companies in the same number of years. "I'd go to parties and people would say, 'How's it going at Goop Interactive?' and I'd say, 'Actually, I'm not working there any more', and people would look at me like, 'What are you, a drug addict or something?' I felt like the biggest loser in the world."

Rightly or wrongly, many others may now feel the same way. More than 93,000 New Economy employees out of 2.5 million have lost their jobs since the December 1999, according to the Chicago job placement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas. After the NASDAQ took a nosedive in April 2000, many people who were counting on some sort of nest egg from their firm's stock options suffered "ticker shock" after watching their paper wealth disappear. Joan Indursky-Difuria, whose company introduced the term "Sudden Wealth Syndrome" to describe dot-commers who suddenly struck it rich, says the more appropriate term for current times is "Sudden Loss of Wealth Syndrome." She says that though victims of layoffs recognize that the economy is the culprit -- and even though widespread layoffs have all but removed the stigma of getting a pink slip -- many still can't help feeling guilty and depressed.

And if it's not stressful enough to lose your job, some layoffs were handled with a lack of respect and consideration that left dot-com employees reeling. A lot of start-ups, including Zatso.com, Scour, and Pseudo Programs, failed to hand out severance pay when they closed their doors, and at least one business got rid of unwanted employees by tricking them into going offsite and then locking them out, according to the New York Times. Even at that august institution, several employees laid off from New York Times Digital found out they were fired by reading articles in the paper or on the company Web site.

This is hard news for young liberal arts grads and family breadwinners who left Old Economy jobs in droves to sign on at an exciting, fast-paced dot-com. Thrilled to be part of a trend that appeared to be radically changing economic norms, workers in the late 1990s and early part of 2000 also responded to the opportunities for fast advancement and flexible job titles offered by small Internet companies. According to the Industry Standard, the New Economy's leading magazine, employees were also attracted by a work culture that tended to be informal and anticorporate: The hierarchy was less rigid, there was no formal dress code, and dogs could sometimes be found sleeping at their owners' feet. Topping the list of attractions, start-ups tended to pay extraordinarily well in order to attract workers -- the average salary for a dot-com employee was a whopping $100,000 a year, according to the Standard, although other surveys put the average annual salary at $50,000 to $60,000.

Now, those dot-com employes lucky enough to hang on to their jobs still have to contend with the industry's shadow side, one that was apparent even in the height of the Gold Rush. Job stress, unrealistic deadlines, and the long hours that take away precious time from friends and family can lead to exhaustion and burnout. In addition, overcrowding, too little privacy, conflicting demands, and arguments with inexperienced and weary staff members can bring simmering stress levels to full boil. The difference between today and the pre-crash days is that overworked employees who can no longer count on an IPO, stock options, or even a modicum of job security are less willing to put up with poor working conditions.

And stress isn't the only job hazard, by a long shot. Edgy (read "crummy") office equipment and too many hours at the keyboard can result in repetitive strain injuries such as tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Smoking is common among many young dot-commers and increases their risk of cancer, stroke, and heart attack in later years. Drug abuse -- particularly the use of amphetamines to pull all-nighters -- is beginning to show up in some companies, according to doctors and recovery centers in Silicon Valley. And neglecting to exercise while foraging for food in company pantries stocked with Pop-Tarts, pizza, candy bars, and soft drinks can result in substantial weight gain, thus increasing employees' risk of developing such diet-related ills as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes down the road.

At 31 years of age, Kathryn Saunders, who until recently worked as director of customer care at a San Francisco dot-com, is already a veteran of five small start-ups.

"My personality type thrives on stress," Saunders says. "I tend to move fast and think fast. At start-ups you have more freedom; there aren't 20 rules for everything you do. You can get things done quickly and effect change." But her romance with dot-coms began to sour when she was laid off from her San Francisco job while six months pregnant and disabled by tendinitis. (The companywide layoffs came just as she and her husband were closing a deal on a house.) "Start-ups have been attractive to me, but I'm not sure they are anymore," she says.

Jean Hollands, CEO of Silicon Valley's Growth and Leadership Center, says that people like Saunders should think long and hard before choosing a dot-com over a more established company. Employees used to a smooth-functioning corporation may find some small start-ups too chaotic for them. "Start-ups have high action, high drama, and lots of possibility for conflict at all times," she says.

Katherine Koh, 36, is currently a finance and information systems computer analyst at Logitech. One of the biggest sources of stress in her string of start-up jobs, she says, was conflicting demands from inexperienced managers. "They were promoted because of their long hours and loyalty, not necessarily because they were seasoned at their job," she says. "I had accountants ask me what to debit and what to credit. They'd screw up the system again and again. Pretty soon no one trusted them."

In an effort to rally the team, one founder would tell employees how good things were, promoting people one month and laying them off the next -- and that experience prompted Koh to bid start-ups good-bye. "I've got a house and kids, and I'm the main breadwinner," she says. "I couldn't take the constant possibility of being laid off."

Another source of stress for dot-com employees is "working at Internet speed" -- a catchphrase that Lessard interprets as having to accommodate the mercurial whims of the market, which can dictate overnight changes to the products that start-ups deliver. In his book NetSlaves, which chronicles the life of the working Internet stiff, Lessard says that many young, traditionally low-budget companies tend to stretch the only expandable resource they have: sweat equity.

In San Francisco's Silicon Gulch, this attitude colors even the most casual conversations. Referring to a well-liked and productive twentysomething employee, a Web editor in his forties confided to one of his colleagues: "He's a nice guy, but he'd be content to work for eight hours and then go home." Asked what was wrong with that, he snapped, "It's just not done. This is a start-up: nine hours is the minimum, 10 or 11 is better. Jesus, don't even let anyone hear you talk about an eight-hour day."

And is it just ambition or youthful exuberance that's fueling all those 60- to 70-plus-hour workweeks? Although many dot-com workers interviewed said that drug abuse was nonexistent at their shops, some physicians insist drug abuse in startups is a growing problem. According to Dr. Alex Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center in Concord, California, methamphetamine abuse is fairly widespread in Silicon Valley, especially among programmers and tech workers, who often have put in two- or three-day stints with little or no rest just to get projects done on deadline. He has treated several hundred of them for speed addiction, with clients averaging about three relapses a year.

"I'd say we get about 20 dot-commers a month sitting out there in the lobby next to the street addicts," he says. "But we're on the edge of Silicon Valley. There, rehab centers just can't take on any more patients; the Valley is awash in drugs right now." He says some tech workers down uppers to fuel their long days and then resort to cocaine during after-hours partying. Others, he says, turn to smokable heroin or Xanax to fall asleep at night.

Ironically, some of the job pressures have to do with rapid advancement in a field more egalitarian than traditional corporations. The Internet economy has been good for women, for example, offering them high-paying jobs and faster-than-average advancement. (According to the San Francisco-based research firm VentureOne, women made up 45 percent of all top management posts and 6 percent of the chief executive officers in all dot-coms funded in 1999, compared to only 1 percent of chief executives and 3.8 percent of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies.) But female employees report feeling left out of the "boys' club" that often makes up top management in dot-coms. Some working mothers also report that asking to go home every day in time to feed their children and put them to bed is looked on with suspicion or irritation, particularly when fathers and young, single employees are staying late into the evening.

Conflict between Gen-Xers and baby boomers sometimes causes added stress. Some younger employees say they feel alienated when certain older employees bring corporate values into the shop ("We don't want managers browbeating employees or yelling at them here; that is so not our culture," says one MBA in her twenties). Employees in their 30s and 40s, for their part, say they sometimes long for a more considerate environment, one in which "the kids don't talk so loud and play their music at top volume." A few even complained about that prized dot-com perk: taking Fido to the office.

And as stock options fade in value, many dot-commers are becoming increasingly interested in Old Economy labor law. A number of start-ups are being sued for labor-law violations, including age and gender discrimination, failure to pay overtime, and wrongful discharge. (Almost no dot-coms have unions, and the standard contract specifies that you can be fired at any time "for no reason," but that doesn't prohibit employees from filing a wrongful discharge suit.) Jasmine Hakki, for example, recently filed suit against America Online when she was fired soon after she took time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to take care of her dying mother.

The glamorization of this often chaotic culture, Saunders say, is responsible for another problem: hazardous workstations and a lax attitude toward safety. Although many dot-coms -- particularly after their IPOs -- champion good workplace design and provide employees with ergonomic chairs, antiglare screens, and keyboard trays, others are disasters waiting to happen. "There's this attitude like, 'We're breaking all the rules and isn't this fun,'" Saunders observes. "It's like, 'So what if I've got 10 power strips plugged into each other; it's cool.'"

Saunders, in fact, blames her repetitive strain injury -- tendinitis -- in part on her former shop's "terrible" workplace design, something that she links to the start-up attitude that cheap, uncomfortable office furniture is gloriously edgy.

"It's part of the look, to have open ceilings with all the cords showing, and to be working on folding tables or file cabinets with doors for desks," she says. "It looks like we're being cool and frugal. I had been in pain on and off for a couple of weeks and finally went to an orthopedic specialist. He said you'd have to be a giant to work at a 'desk' at the height I was working on and stay healthy." She and several other colleagues fought to get keyboard trays, but lost.

Some small dot-coms, hard pressed to get the work out, have also flouted state laws on fire safety or the environment. Saunders' husband, John Cook, is a contractor who has worked in San Francisco's South Park, where many start-ups are holed up in old, unventilated warehouses. He was aghast when he saw his wife's workplace: an unreinforced brick building with one exit door for 100 employees. Fearing that his wife wouldn't be able to escape in the event of an earthquake, he urged her to quit the job unless she could sit near the exit. "Colleagues in the business had told me about overcrowding in dot-coms they'd seen, but I couldn't believe the conditions Kathryn was working in," he says. "Not only is it stressful, but there's a real fire hazard from the overload on the electrical system."

As hopes of making millions fade, more and more Net companies are beginning to realize that they need to keep employees happy -- and healthy -- in order to retain them.

Meanwhile, stressed-out dot-com employees need to take better care of themselves -- passing on the Pop-Tarts in favor of whole grains and produce, exercising at least 30 minutes a day, and seeing friends and family outside work. Be aware of the early warning signs of job stress, including headache, sleep disturbance, difficulty concentrating, short temper, upset stomach, job dissatisfaction, and low morale. It's important to brainstorm with your colleagues about ways to reduce job stress, as well as exploring stress-reduction activities such as yoga and aerobic exercise. After all, stress isn't just uncomfortable: It can increase your risk of developing depression, heart disease, and muscle and skeletal disorders in your back, neck, and arms, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Furthermore, health care expenditures are nearly 50 percent greater for workers who report high levels of stress.

And if your company blithely ignores fire hazards, overcrowding, locked exits, and other obvious dangers -- even if employees have repeatedly brought the hazards to their attention -- an anonymous call to the local fire department inspector or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration office may be in order. There's nothing like a surprise inspection to keep people on their toes.

Ben Wilson, vice-president of business development at Cando.com, a site for disabled children, says workers need to think beyond whether a company will be successful because, ultimately, so many start-ups simply aren't. "Will the move to a dot-com mean you go from manager to director, or are you gaining contacts or skills that will help you later?" he asks. "If you're getting multiple things out of a job, that helps reduce stress a lot."

"In this labor market," Wilson adds, "if your company goes under, you can probably find a job. Never burn bridges. If people call you about jobs, keep your network open, and always help other people find jobs, so that they think of you when it's your turn. That kind of generosity rewards itself."

Finally, say former dot-commers, don't make that age-old mistake of thinking that money can buy you happiness. If you do, former multimillionaire Michael Wolff would like a word with you. "If you thought that being rich would be a feeling of enormous peace and serenity and accomplishment, you don't feel that," Wolff told a reporter recently. "Everything is still fundamentally, amazingly, grievously a mess."

Says former NetSlaves editor Bill Lessard, "People have a need to see dot-coms as bulletproof, but that's a myth we're trying to dispel. We're trying to be an agent of change... in a humorous way. We're saying that work in America has changed in a fundamental way. Twenty years ago every sitcom on TV was about families. Now, chances are you turn on a sitcom and it's about work. Dot-coms are leading workplace change, so we have to find a way to make those workplaces better."

-- Kathryn Olney is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Parenting, Wired, Forbes asap, and the Utne Reader, among other publications. She has also been executive editor of the Dean Edell Health Newsletter and a contributing editor at Mother Jones. Ben Wilson, who was among those interviewed for the story, is the former president of Consumer Health Interactive.

Further Resources

For some witty and wise advice from one who was laid off herself, check out Dottie Downturn's archived columns in the technology section of Salon.com . Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

800/321-6742

http://www.osha.gov

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Information on job stress: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/stress/ .

References

First published October 22, 2000
Last updated December 13, 2007
Copyright © 2000 Consumer Health Interactive