Getting Closer To Home – The State Of Employee Experience in South Africa
Thank you for joining us again at the end of this week. We really do appreciate it.
Last week we shared some highlights from the 2023 Gallup State of the Global Workplace report, looking at trends in Employee Experience from across the world. This week we thought it would be cool to dig a little deeper into the key learnings and some of the results that look specifically at the experience of South African employees. See if you agree with what a selection of our peers had to say:
- Global stress levels remain high:
Mental health issues are a cause for concern in most areas of the world. Since the pandemic, global stress levels have gone up and show no sign of backing down. 44% of global respondents report feeling stressed often, with 21% saying they experience anger on an almost daily basis. This is no surprise – if you spend any time on social media you already know that a lot of people are experiencing strong negative emotions often.
We expected to see even higher levels of stress and anger among South African respondents, given the challenges our nation deals with on a daily basis. The results were very surprising, however: 36% said they experience daily stress often (down 1% from the previous measure), while only 16% get angry often. Maybe it is our ability to crack jokes and create funny memes about the latest social or political calamity that makes us so plucky…
One thing is very sure from the results when it comes to the experience of stress: Being engaged in what you do (actually enjoying your work and getting fully immersed in it) is a terrific antidote to stress! 30% of actively engaged employees report high levels of stress, compared to 56% of those that are actively disengaged – almost double the amount! It’s easy to think that stress and burnout stem from having too much to do, but not finding meaning in what you do or not having good relationships with the people you work with is equally (if not more) detrimental to your mental health. This is especially true for people that have quietly quitted.
2. Employee Engagement in SA:
The local level of employee engagement went up 2% in the past year, to reach a whopping 26%. This is at least better than the global level of 23% and the Sub-Saharan Africa score of 20%. Still, only 1/4 of South Africans find meaning and fulfillment in the work they do. In a country with an unemployment rate of 33%, it might sound naive to believe that everyone should love what they do. Should we not just feel lucky to have a job when many don’t? Yes be thankful, but also take into consideration that meaningful work is one of the most crucial components of a good life. Don’t just take our word for it, this is taken directly from the report:
“Gallup’s research into wellbeing at work finds that having a job you hate is worse than being unemployed — and those negative emotions end up at home, impacting relationships with family. If you’re not thriving at work, you’re unlikely to be thriving at life.”
We could not agree more!
That is exactly why we do what we do: By helping businesses create environments that enhance engagement, we are not only impacting the business and its employees, but everyone else that business and those employees come into contact with. We see it as dropping a stone into a lake – the positive ripples never end.
3. Most employees are shopping around:
Although the South African number is not reported, 70% of employees in Sub-Sahara Africa are currently looking for another position. High levels of staff churn are an enormous challenge for businesses, as most people take some time to find their feet to the extent that they can start to meaningfully contribute. Every manager and leader wants the best people to stick around so the business can grow and perform. The fact is that engaged employees are much less likely to leave – a good culture makes people stick around.
We know from personal experience what the report makes explicit: “The manager is the linchpin of engagement. Seventy percent of team engagement is attributable to the manager. But many or most of your managers are quiet quitting too.” Most managers simply don’t know how to enhance their own and the engagement of their team members, BUT all of these skills are completely teachable. That’s where we come in. Get in touch to find out more about how we can upskill your management team to enhance employee experience.
That’s what we have to share this week. If you found it useful, please share it with anyone you think could benefit from it.
Have a great weekend and stay warm!
At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
