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Picture: 123RF/thodonal
Picture: 123RF/thodonal

Three-quarters of workers surveyed by the nonprofit SA Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) say they think about work constantly and cannot “switch off” in their free time, while more than a third say they are worried they will lose their jobs.

The findings highlight the immense stress that work generates for many of the respondents who were drawn from Sadag’s online community.

The survey was not nationally representative, but nevertheless offered useful insight into the work-related stressors confronting participants, said the study’s author, Bronwyn Dworzanowski-Venter, a senior research associate at the University of Johannesburg. The majority (83%) of the 963 respondents were women and more than half (54%) of the participants lived in Gauteng.

Sadag’s survey identified similar themes to a 2021 US Gallup poll and a 2023 YuLife/Ipsos survey, said Dworzanowski-Venter. The Ipsos survey found 85% of South Africans struggled with stress at work and most felt workplace employee assistance programmes were ineffective.

Sadag’s survey found 61% of people would quit their job if they could afford to do so, and though half (47%) had workplace assistance programmes only 28% of respondents had used them. A total of 38% said they were afraid of losing their jobs.

“Work is a constant stressor, across all sectors,” said Dworzanowski-Venter. “This is a global phenomenon, but in SA there is a sense you are lucky to be employed, and if you don’t like the conditions, there’s the door.”

More than two-fifths of workers said their remuneration had not kept pace with inflation.

Many South Africans saw having a job as a privilege, because unemployment was so high, she said. SA’s unemployment rate was 33.5% in the second quarter, according to Stats SA.

Unlike the US, which saw a wave of resignations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, locals were clinging to their jobs even if they wished they could quit, she said. Close to one in five respondents said they were doing the job of two people because workers who resigned were not replaced.

More than half (52%) of respondents said they had been diagnosed with a mental health condition: 32% had been diagnosed with depression, 25% with stress, 18% with generalised anxiety disorder, 13% with burnout and 10% with trauma. Yet relatively few respondents said they had been able to take time off for mental health: 20% said they had taken a mental health day and 12% said they had taken leave due to mental illness.

The findings were released ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, which this year focuses on mental health at work.

Many respondents said they felt their mental health issues could be better managed if they had more flexible work and more autonomy over when they worked from home. Only a third had ongoing hybrid work arrangements in the wake of Covid-19.

More than two-fifths (44%) of workers said their remuneration had not kept pace with inflation, citing it as their biggest challenge. Almost a third (32%) said their biggest work challenge was having tight deadlines and being under constant time pressure. A similar proportion (30%) complained about long working hours.

kahnt@businesslive.co.za

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