Depression and anxiety cost South Africa an estimated R170-200 billion every year in annual losses to productivity in the workplace.
That’s according to the South African Anxiety and Depression Group (SADAG).
Currently, 46% of employees in South Africa remain at high risk of symptoms related to Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Despite increased awareness and a reduced stigma related to mental health, employees remain reluctant to seek help for workplace depression, which experts say festers into all aspects of one’s life.
The Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology South Africa is campaigning for more access to treatment for employees.
The society’s President, Dr Sharon Munyaka says mental health conditions in the workplace are becoming serious.
“If you think about how the economy is performing, people are under more pressure than they have been in recent years. Look at load shedding, trying to drop the kids off at school, assigning the schedule if you work from home and even the risk of losing your job is adding stress. The rand is not stretching far enough. Earning a certain amount cannot get everything. Companies are also feeling the pressure. People have to do more with less resources.”
Meanwhile, Deputy CEO at the Global Mental Health Peer Network, Claudia Sartor says often when employees are suffering from a mental health condition, their productivity levels drop due to a lack of focus.
She says, this results in more leave being taken as an escapism.
Sartor says, despite increased awareness and a reduced stigma related to mental health, employees remain reluctant to seek help for workplace depression.
“There will be absenteeism, low productivity, lack of concentration. Always going to be on sick leave, sick leave eventually runs out, then it goes into annual leave. I experienced this, I ended up in hospital and I had to go into unpaid leave, because there is no law that helps mental health in the workplace.”
