Nigeria emerged as the seventh Sub-Saharan African country with the most stressed employees, according to a global labour report.

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report, which examines how employees feel about their work and their lives, revealed that global worker stress remained at a historic high from the COVID period, even as other negative emotions related to the pandemic subsided.

In Nigeria, 50 per cent of workers experience stress in the workplace, a figure that has risen by 3 per cent annually.

Senegal recorded the same stress rate, fairing a little better than Chad, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, which recorded higher stress rates of up to 58 per cent.

The report reveals that Sub-Saharan recorded the third-highest regional percentage of daily stress and the third-highest regional percentage of daily anger.

Half of over one thousand Nigerians sampled relate experiencing stress in the workplace, with 23 per cent of the Nigerian participants recounting experiencing feelings of anger.

“My work does not give me the opportunity to go to church, visit family members, or travel for a while,” Bolaji, 39, a cashier in Nigeria told Gallup.

Sub-Saharan Africa data

Out of those dissatisfied with the stress levels at their workplaces, 70 per cent indicate intent to leave their current job; A figure much higher than the global average of 55 per cent.

This percentage is prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, which records the highest regional percentage of employees watching for or actively seeking a new job.

20 per cent of the population affirm being engaged and thriving at work, 60 per cent are not engaged and quiet quitting, while 21 per cent are actively disengaged and loud quitting.

The employees admit that 46 per cent of the negative emotions felt during a lot of days as a result of stress and 26 per cent of those feelings spur from anger.

The analysis found that engagement has 3.8 times as much influence on employee stress as work location.

In other words, what employees experience in their everyday work — their feelings of involvement and enthusiasm — matters more in reducing stress than where they are sitting.

Stress levels are reportedly predominant among the male population and among workers more than 40 years old.

The report also shows that 46 per cent of stressed employees occupy managerial positions while 44 per cent are individual contributors. 43 per cent of whom work exclusively remotely, 49 per cent hybrid, and 45 per cent work on-site.

“Leaders need to ask if poor remote work performance or poor hybrid work performance is a location problem or a management problem. No location can fix poor management, and the office alone has no magic to create a great organizational culture,” the global advisory company wrote.

Addressing employee well-being concerns

Gallup’s data, obtained from over 122 thousand employees worldwide, reports that low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion.

“That’s 9% of global GDP, enough to make the difference between success and a failure for humanity,” the report read.

According to Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s chief economist, “A lost decade could be in the making for the global economy. The ongoing decline in potential growth has serious implications for the world’s ability to tackle the expanding array of challenges unique to our times — stubborn poverty, diverging incomes, and climate change.”

“The message is clear. Economic growth is slowing. And if we don’t increase global GDP, every other problem gets harder to solve,” Gallup wrote in their report. “So, what can leaders do today to potentially save the world? Change the way your people are managed.”

“As organizational leaders endeavor to navigate an uncertain economic outlook, their employees’ stress is impacting productivity and performance. Addressing these wellbeing concerns and improving engagement should be top priorities for the world’s political and business leaders who seek to make the most of the recovery.” it added.

Recently, some groups and organizations in Nigeria have proposed a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers to fight back against inflationary pressures and current economic challenges faced by workers all across the country.

[BusinessDay]