The Sunday News
COMPANIES are losing more than $107 million yearly in wages and productivity through mental health or stress related absence from work amid revelations that four in 10 working Zimbabweans experience symptoms of distress, a research institute has noted.
In its latest National Employee Engagement Report for 2014, Industrial Psychology Consultants said about 43 percent of workers experience a myriad of symptoms that range from difficulty in thinking clearly, feeling down and depressed, disturbed sleep, easily irritated, lack of energy as well as easily becoming emotional among others.
“Instead of focusing on physical health alone employers should also focus on mental health as mental health problems correlate with accident frequency and productivity. Due to stigma a lot of employees do not seek treatment for mental health, instead they prefer traditional treatment methods,” said the IPC.
The report stated that the manufacturing sector has the highest prevalence of depression symptoms at 27,4 percent followed by the financial sector at 26,2 percent with the Information Technology and Telecommunications with 17,8 percent in third position.
It also states that the financial service sector at 29,8 percent leads in terms of prevalence of distress followed by the manufacturing Sector at 26 percent.
“Female workers are more depressed than their male counterparts. This means slightly more than three in every 10 working women is suffering from depression,” read part of the report.
In an interview IPC consultant Ms Dorcas Bhebhe said the importance of the employee engagement report is to show the health of organisations and whether their employees are satisfied in working for that particular company or not.
She said the assessment suggested that most employees are not motivated at their workplaces as there are no incentives.
She could however not disclose the reasons why most employees were feeling de-motivated saying those details are in a company detailed report which the organisation is not at liberty to disclose.
“Our assessment suggested that employees in Zimbabwe know what they are supposed to do and what their organisations expect of them but are not keen on doing it.
Employee engagement is emerging as a critical driver of business success in our operating environment. This is because employee engagement impacts on productivity, customer satisfaction and loyalty, company reputation and overall stakeholder value,” she said.
The report showed that the Non-Governmental Organisation sector is the most successful at engaging employees while the manufacturing sector has the lowest employee engagement levels.
Last year, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Eng Walter Mzembi said stress related illnesses were the highest cause of deaths in the country hence the need for activities and events that can help people relax and de-stress.
Minister Mzembi made these remarks at the Harare International Carnival street party whose theme was 100 percent gross national happiness.
