Mental health crisis looms

Jo-Maré Duddy – More than one out of five Namibians have been angry or sad at work since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, while at least 30% suffered from stress and worry.“What if the next global crisis is a mental health pandemic? It is here now,” says Jim Clifton, the chairman and chief executive officer of Gallup. The US company, known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide, recently released its State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report, which contains data on more than 160 countries, including Namibia.Negative emotions — worry, stress, anger and sadness — among employees across the world reached record levels in 2020, Clifton says in the foreword of the publication.Only 15% of Namibian employees surveyed said they were “thriving”, and expected will continue to do so for the next five years. This is below the average of 21% for the 32 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) included in the report. Globally, 32% of employees on average felt they were thriving.The low percentage of Namibians who said they were flourishing at work, placed Namibia 24th out of the 32 countries in the region. Mauritius, where 33% blossom in their working environment, is ranked top, while Zimbabwe, with a thriving workforce of only 5%, is at the bottom.ECHOGallup’s findings in Namibia is echoed by an Afrobarometer survey conducted between last December and February, before the onslaught of the third Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The survey – which didn’t just focus on employees, but Namibians in general – found that 20% felt anxious, stressed or depressed.Around 65% of respondents in the Afrobarometer survey reported that their household income was reduced “significantly” due the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Between 92% and 94% were worried that the pandemic will affect their children’s future negatively, that the economic situation in their household will deteriorate and that Namibia’s economy will suffer.WORRY, STRESSAsked whether the worried “a lot” during their work day, 32% of Namibians in the Gallup survey said yes. This is lower than the regional and global average of 41% who responded affirmatively.As such, Namibia is under the six countries in the region where employees worried the least. With 20%, Mauritius was ranked first, while Mozambique, where 68% of workers worried a lot, was rated worst.Thirty percent of Namibian employees indicated that they stress “a lot” at work, ranking the country under the four SSA countries which recorded the lowest numbers. Mauritius reported only 22% of employees suffering from severe stress, while Ghana and Rwanda had the highest incidence of 58%.The regional average was 44% and the global one 43%.ANGER, SADNESSOf Namibian employees surveyed, 22% said they were sad “a lot” and 21% indicated that they were angry “a lot”.Namibia was rated the ninth SSA country with the lowest anger problem, compared to Mauritius with 10% in first place and Togo with 41% in the bottom spot. Regarding sadness, Namibia was in the third place after Kenya (21%) and Mauritius (15%). Guinea record a number of 51%, making it the SSA country with the angriest employees.The regional average for anger and sadness was 25% and 28% respectively, while the global stats were 24% and 25%.RESPECTNamibia ranked 11th on the region index for employees who felt the least respected at the workplace. One in five Namibians said they weren’t treated with respect all day, compared to top-spot Mauritius with only 5%. In Ethiopia, 43% of employees suffered from a lack of respect.The regional average for this category was 24% against a global figure of 14%.About 22% of Namibians reported that their employers engaged with them last year, putting the country ninth among the top-ten SSA countries. In Mali, the best performer, 40% of employees were engaged and in Eswatini only 8%.The regional average for engagement was 16%, while the global number was 20%.ENGAGEMENTAccording to Gallup, employee engagement has been rising over the last decade. “Millions more employees than in previous years are excited to come to work each day, have a chance to do what do they best, feel connected to their co-workers and are motivated by their organisation’s purpose. This is great news.”However, Gallup adds: “Even so, employee engagement remains dismally low — at 20% globally. This means that a large majority of employees in the world are either watching the clock or actively opposing their employer.” The think-tank warns that employees’ disengagement creates a drag on productivity, innovation and organisational change.“If 80% of an organisation’s employees are not engaged at work, the organisation’s resilience during a crisis will be at high risk, and leaders won’t be able to consistently reach their goals — there is no way for a leader to be effective when their people aren’t paying attention to them,” Gallup says.“With the current global levels of employee engagement, average corporations fight themselves daily for minimal gains in productivity.”Gallup has found that roughly seven in 10 employees are struggling or suffering, rather than thriving, in their overall lives. Eighty percent are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work. “This lack of engagement costs the global economy US$8.1 trillion, nearly 10% of [gross domestic product] GDP, in lost productivity each year.”BURNOUTGallup points out that engagement reflects what happens at work. “Wellbeing includes work and all other experiences. As this past year showed us so clearly, experiences outside work greatly affect work itself.”According to Gallup, wellbeing is not just a Covid-19-related issue. “All daily negative emotions reported among employees have been rising since 2009. Mental health, emotional strain, social isolation, financial shocks and caregiving responsibilities all influence work performance over the long term. Over time, the negative side of these experiences can lead to burnout,” it says.Corporations need employees who are consistently high in energy, focused, innovative, agile and resilient, Gallup emphasises. “In other words, they need employees who are engaged at work and thriving in their overall life. Employees who are engaged but not thriving typically feel high levels of stress, worry, anger and sadness, despite their positive experiences at work. These emotions are all bellwethers of burnout. But, when employees are engaged and thriving, the risk of burnout declines sharply.”Some leaders believe that they shouldn’t concern themselves with their employees’ non-work-related life experiences, Gallup remarks, but adds: “This should no longer be the case.”OVERALL WELLBEINGGallup has identified five elements that make up overall wellbeing: an employee’s satisfaction with his or her career, community, physical health, meaningful social interaction and financial stability.To be competitive and maximise business performance in today’s workplaces, employers are responsible for fostering wellbeing by developing their employees’ strengths to help foster long-term careers, providing financial services and education, and creating family-friendly policies and encouraging friendships at work, according to Gallup.Employers should encourage physical activity and make it easier to choose healthy foods. They should celebrate those who give back to the community through service.Creating a culture in which employees are engaged and thriving requires more than policy, Gallup says. “Managers play a critical role,” it says.For managers to positively influence employee wellbeing, they must be upskilled from boss to coach so that they can have honest, meaningful, developmental conversations with their team members, Gallup says. “No wellbeing programme will be effective until employees trust that their leaders and managers truly care about them as people.”According to Gallup: “Ultimately, leaders must create a culture in which leaders, managers and employees weave wellbeing into their everyday conversations. Wellbeing must become a natural and expected part of ‘how we do things around here’.”GENERATIONAL SHIFTThe global workplace is experiencing a generational shift in the way the world defines business success, according to Gallup.“Going forward, businesses will not be measured by profits alone. They also will be measured by their positive impact on people and the planet.“Organisations such as the World Economic Forum and the Big Four accounting firms are collaborating with each other and consulting with large organisations and regulators around the world to develop standard reporting for environmental, social and governance issues,” Gallup says.“Making the world better begins at work,” it adds.RETHINKING THE WORKPLACEMeasuring employee mental health is critical, Gallup stressed.“Besides destroying lives, suffering can destroy the human spirit that drives innovation, economic energy and eventually, good jobs. This is likely tied to declining economic dynamism. Global GDP per capita is slowing — it has been for decades.”As employers rethink their workplaces in 2021, they have lessons to learn from 2020, Gallup says. “Most importantly, leaders need to recognise the influence of employee wellbeing and employee engagement on workforce resilience.“Physical health, loneliness, financial hardship and community support, among other factors, affect the involvement, enthusiasm and productivity of workers in both good times and bad. Successful corporations of the future not only will generate profits, but also will generate thriving employees who are capable of weathering crises,” Gallup says.

Mental health crisis looms

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Republikein 2025-04-07

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Mental health crisis looms

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