adminLAST week, there were very informative and important results of a survey conducted by Industrial Psychological Consultants which showed that a very large proportion of Zimbabwe’s workforce is depressed and losing hope for a better future.
The survey titled “Distress and other mental health problems in the Zimbabwean working population” shows that the majority of the workers earn salaries below the poverty datum line which is estimated at more than $500.
Because of this it simply means that most workers are earning salaries that cannot meet their basic needs.
The report notes that at least 27,3 percent of the working population is experiencing depression symptoms.
The common symptoms workers are showing include feeling that things are meaningless, life is not worthwhile and worse wishing if they were dead.
It added that about 18 percent of the workforce are battling anxiety symptoms triggered by work-related stress.
Above all the survey reveals a shocking statistic — companies are losing a whopping $100 million per year in wages and productivity through mental health or stress-related absence from work.
Some workers no longer see the benefit of coming to work or rather come but to use company facilities to just do something that can add another dollar into their pocket.
That is why some offices have now been turned into mini-bazaars.
The survey further says the figure could actually have doubled if those affected were seeking treatment for the problems.
Any serious executive or shareholder out there who is serious about seeing his/her company flourish must not ignore such shocking revelations.
Surveys are not 100 percent correct but it does not even need a survey to conclude whether the majority of workers in Zimbabwe are stressed or not.
Partly because of the economic situation, most companies have failed to maintain good and honest relationships with their employees.
If fact, they have kept on sending even more depressing promises which have continued to add to the anxiety among the workforce.
Most workers go to work so that at an agreed date they can receive their salaries. However, some companies have been failing to honour this, often paying at varied dates depending in the availability of the money.
But more stressing is a situation where some of these companies have gone further in the decline to the extent of failing to pay workers.
Surprisingly most of these companies still bully workers to ensure that they come to work everyday and put maximum effort.
Some very big companies have been caught in this bug and you cannot help but feel pity for all the thousands of workers who are now trapped in this uncertainty.
Some companies have retrenched but still failed to pay exit packages. Threats of scaling down and retrenchments are now the order of the day at many entities and surely this is leading to depression among workers. Very soon cases of suicide as alluded to in the survey results will start to surface.
Enough about the workers. It is what companies are losing because of the prevailing conditions that now shows that while companies think they are coming up with cost cutting measures by piling pressure on workers it is actually them that are losing more.
A $100 million per year is a lot of money and once these workers start seeking treatment for the stress they are subjected to then the figure will go up by 100 percent.
Workers might be the easy target, but this survey now shows that in spite of the brave face companies want to put, they are actually at the deep end.
Unlike workers who can quickly show the signs by going as far as contemplating if they were dead, companies rarely see this because they always point to other factors as the causes of their losses.
They have even come up with terms like liquidity, non-performing loans — the list is endless.
No company has come out, even in this day and age where listed companies are encouraged to be more transparent on disclosures, to admit that some of their non-performance could be because of workers who are not putting 100 percent effort not because they can’t but because of the unfavourable working conditions.
How can a company expect to turn around its fortunes on free labour. Definitely that will be far-fetched. Workers cannot simply put all their energy if they realise they are not being appreciated.
Worse still, some companies have adopted a fear-me-attitude thinking that workers will quake in their boots from threats and just work for fear of the bosses.
This is definitely not the case. Depression and fear, like anything, have limits. Workers might be dressed down and might fear but at one time they will become hardened off.
They will start developing into new beings who learn to start channelling energy to endeavours that have no link to their jobs.
The result is the $100 million hit on the company’s books as has come out from the survey. Companies will justify and pretend since they argue this is something difficult to judge.
However, all these are signs that companies must change their mindsets and start taking into consideration how their workers’ morale is a big factor on productivity.
They simply have to limit dumping stress on workers and come up with a programme that reduces friction with workers.
A worker can only be productive knowing that the employers are also going to meet their end of the bargain.
It is stupid for companies to think that because of the economic situation, workers in trying to keep their jobs can be reduced to slaves who can work for nothing.
Only a happy worker can be productive and contribute optimally to the company.
It is about time companies and workers find common ground for the good of the economy and yes, the health of the nation.
It is obvious the stress most workers are subjected to is being transferred home and very soon the whole country will be depressed.
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Bongani Ndlovu