In 2021, South Africa ranked 91 out of 146 countries on the World Happiness Report 2022, a measure of the population’s wellbeing.
There are 23 suicides a day recorded and 230 serious attempts in South Africa as stated by SADAG.ORG. Which means we are not the happiest country and are struggling with mental health.
According to the SA government mental health problems in the workplace, key factors include:
- Workload (both excessive and insufficient work)
- Lack of participation and control in the workplace
- Monotonous or unpleasant tasks
- Role ambiguity or conflict
- Lack of recognition at work
- Inequity
- Poor interpersonal relationships
- Poor working conditions
- Poor leadership and communication
- Conflicting home and work demands
A lot of us do not prioritise mental health for various reasons, a few being that: there is a stigma around it, we think feelings of anxiety and depression related to work are normal and in some cases think it is expensive, or do not know where to seek help and support.
This is a call for us to take better care of our mental health and making you aware that support and help is one phone call away, you just need to shout. We have various options at our disposal to accessing mental health support in a safe, confidential environment without it being an additional cost to you. You can access mental health support through your medical aid, employee assistance programmes, community support and toll free helplines. You do not have to bear the brunt of our taxing lives alone.
In media, we usually measure success with reach, frequency and ratings, but the real key performance indicator is the people’s ability to perform at their peak and excel at their jobs. Most agencies offer employee assistance programmes at no cost, but we often overlook these programmes and only focus on delivering the “metrics that matter (reach, frequency and rating)”. I would like to encourage us to deliver on a new KPI and metric that matters – mental health.
At Meta Media we have access to Life EHS, and they say the impact of interventions on work performance and productivity is: -14.81% impact on absenteeism, +11.11% impact on presentism and +61.73% improvement noted.
In closing, let us put a stop to glamorising and glorifying the culture of working under pressure, over working and being burnt out. It is not cool for it to be a norm to work overtime, after hours and on weekends, as we are creating mentally unhealthy environments. So next time I knock off at 17h00, please do not respond with “Haaa, half day”.
We should be intentional about improving our mental health as a KPI. Lastly, you do not need to be a professional to check in on the next person – let us normalise checking in on each other.
The South African Depression and Anxiety Support Group
- Helpline: 0800 21 22 23 (8am to 8pm)
- Helpline: 0800 12 13 14 (8pm to 8am)
- SMS 31393
Zora Hlumbane is a strategist at Meta Media.
