We often experience pressure from all sides to be successful and achieve great things in life. For most of us, the pressure can be quite overwhelming in an already stressed country like South Africa. This is a shared feeling among young and older folk alike. This familiar season of Grade 12 year-end results brings incredible pressure on young people to make critical lifetime decisions. Daunting to say the least (!). At the same time, seasoned professionals tend to move in and out of periods of goal setting, exerting energy to achieve and evaluating the extent of such achievements thereafter. Part of this involves moments of reset and personal reflection. Here, many focused individuals begin to critically assess the impact of their career choices on their holistic life. Answers obtained in this process lead to some conclusions about perceived state of success or failure.Success is sometimes measured according to philosophical models and/or preferences of external sources (e.g. parents, peers, social circle, societal materialistic norms etc.). Granted one does get a sense of accomplishment on achieving such goals, but this feeling tends to be short-lived, almost as a kind of an anti-climax.When standards of career achievement are determined by the individual and are aligned with personal character, deep seated values and interests, their accomplishment derives much greater meaning. Achievement of such intrinsic goals can truly fuel one’s fire to sustained effect. Following a career path that drives your second-nature character traits and in-born talents should be effortless. Learning what these traits are for you, should be the fundamental starting point. Equally important should be identification of skeletons that drain your energy and anchor your holistic growth (i.e. past & present life experiences/triggers). Setting appropriate goals and driving them with resolute diligence should follow. Working at own capacity, pace and realistic timeline should be integrated in the planning. Once all these building blocks are in place, success is inevitable and almost guaranteed.

Rushing to action without thorough planning leads to time and money wasted. Following a crowd and/or pleasing loved ones does not really fuel motivation for too long. Very soon the energy is bound to dissipate and resentment (and/or mental illness) may set in when you find yourself in a career line that does not excite you. Soon enough career dissatisfaction tends to consume your entire life. This is true for young aspiring professionals who are pursuing a course of study that they have grown to detest. It is true for seasoned professionals who are stuck in a supposedly noble/respectable/admirable career or job that serves only to ignite their destructive (and even darker) side. Over time the state of unhappiness might negatively influence one’s character, social relationships and entire outlook on life.
So if this was all up to me, I would persuade for matriculants to commence an intense process of working on themselves, if they have not done so already. Herein lie all the answers for your holistic success, with discovery of hidden talents and untapped potential. Honing these for economic return is a winning formula. Following the money and working a job to resource living expenses is all well and good, but this should only be a means to an end. Every person deserves to pursue and should make space for intrinsic goals. We cannot be anchored in a mode of mere existence and aimless survival all our lives (what a crying shame!). Finding purpose it rooted in self-awareness and environmental awareness in one’s own context. Issues of identity and self-awareness often become the source of many young people going astray. Identity is rooted in personal background, socialisation and life values acquired at home; as well as the influence of elderly figures who were in your social circle while growing up to date. All these factors tend to shape a person’s life puzzle in a particular way, furthermore they persuade an individual to make critical conclusions and/or hold beliefs that determine their life choices.

True purpose and enjoyment of intrinsic meaning correlate positively with career and life success. Your career plan should not be determined by academic examination marks and (university entry) scores. For anyone who has not yet done a search of self-awareness, deferring enrolment at institutions of learning may be a wiser choice at this stage. Otherwise you might just spend copious amounts of money pursuing a qualification that you may not like or may not even use later.

No piece of paper will get you closer to career success merely for its qualification status. Alignment of your course of study and line of work with your signature strengths can. Likewise, employers always aim to establish person-job-fit during recruitment drives to fill vacancies. There is much less interest in your academic marks. There is more intrigue about your real self and the flavour you bring to the organisational stew. When one’s purpose is channelled to a choice of career best aligned to who they are, possibilities of success are endless. Even more exciting is the passion that is discharged in fulfilling activities that depict a sense of mission and/or calling. To quote the words of Ernest Hemingway “You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.” Therefore working on yourself has to take priority in your life. Frances Hesselbein encouraged the same when she said: “Practice self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-improvement.”

Compiled by

Babalwa Desi

Industrial Psychologist and Managing Director.

On the morning of 31 August 2022, I went to the local laundry to request a wash of one of my blankets from home. I was served by a young vibrant lady whom I have grown quite friendly with at this specific establishment, as a regular patron there. On this day there was a man whom I presumed to be the delivery driver employed at the laundry. He was sitting idle with nothing to do, but all the while chatting up the lady who was serving me. The lady was wearing a beautiful warm soft-pink jacket that I took notice of and proceeded compliment her on how good she looked in it. The male colleague was in earshot of our conversation, and he could not resist the opportunity to tease my friend about her garment saying it was too bright and did not look pretty at all. In essence my compliment did not ring true, and this lady should not take it to heart. Both she and I disputed this and collaborated in defence of the garment. We went on to say that the brightness of the garment was irrelevant, but what is important is how one wears the garment and as long as one feels good and beautiful in it. In a kind of sarcastic and somewhat resigned approach, the gentleman made a snide comment with half a smile on his face: “Oh I forgot kanene it’s all about women this month, but thankfully this is the last day. Tomorrow there’s no women what-what, all that (*stuff) will be gone after today…”   He proceeded to laugh alone at his own joke obviously pleased with himself (i.e., I got them, these airhead barbies!).

The lady and I locked eyes in silence, not quite sure whether to laugh or cry at that moment. As I was leaving, having concluded my business there, the lady employee was rolling her eyes with a clear expression of tired exasperation written all over her face. Walking towards my car thereafter I experienced a sick feeling at the pit of my stomach. What does he actually mean? No but in fact I knew exactly what this guy meant, and this was the very reason for my ill feeling and sinking despondency. I even relayed the whole incident to my live-in babysitter when I got home that evening, everything about it bothered me intensely. Women’s month of August is all a big joke to many men in this country. It is one big sham that exists only for people in power to tick a box. “Yes, in our lovely rainbow nation country we do place importance to issues of women (whatever those are…). We even have a whole month to recognise their struggles (which we happen to contribute substantially thereto). Of course, we do celebrate and protect them, we even have a whole ministry that talks to this etc. etc.…”  Really??

Yet simultaneously the same decision makers who have the power to change the trajectory of women can comfortably ignore and/or trivialise women’s lived experiences. Daily reports and public observations that depict indignity, perpetual subjugation and horrific violence towards women are not addressed with seriousness. Every single hour! Absolutely no one is moved to action to change the current status quo.

The Sunday before my visit to the laundry was 28 August 2022. On this day a close relative came home to tell me that on a highway road not far from where we live, she had just witnessed a man beating up his supposed girlfriend on the street in full view of passing vehicles. Apparently, the man had a male friend with him who was seated in a parked vehicle close to where the incident was happening. All the while the perpetrator was smoking a cigarette and fully engaged in intervals of trampling on this powerless and harmless woman. She continued to scream fearfully, obviously in agony too. One vehicle was attempting to stop, and another was in the process of slowing down as if indicating to stop near the scene. It seemed like the occupants of both vehicles were attempting to intervene somehow. A good majority of the drivers had passed by. My relative did not stop either, purely out of fear in avoidance of potentially lethal repercussions, from what I am told.

In the same month of August, we were exposed to national news headlines about a senior minister of Cabinet who is facing allegations of sexual harassment following a formal report by an employee of a massage parlour that he had visited. The response of President Cyril Ramaphosa on this one was a low-key “the law must take its course…” Earlier in the month on 9 August, the same SA President had delivered an empty speech on Women’s Day, about the government’s support of women struggles, appreciation of their resilient spirit and celebration of their contribution to democracy blah blah blah…  Do we have anything to show for his beautiful English words, NO!!

Are we sincerely concerned about the struggles that women face daily just to keep afloat? Do we stop to really engage their survival matters that involve hustling for holistic emancipation and economic independence? NO! Are we concerned about shifting the landscape for women to have better access to opportunities of growth and advancement in this country? Really??!!  Are we serious about this or are we entertained to oblivion by majority of women’s perpetual poverty and toxic dependence on men? Are we all OK to be complicit and maintain our collective nonchalance about this challenge throughout the 12-month cycle of each year? Are we happy to disregard the many barriers and ills that downplay women’s human dignity and worth bethunani???!!!    What will it take for us to see an end to objectification, toxic masculinity and inappropriate ownership of women by men? Why are we not outraged by these issues to the point of sustainable action and impact? We find all forms of this phenomenon in all spaces that have women in them; at home is where it begins, in the workplace, the church, the mall, the park, the taxi rank, at gym; you can think of any place under the sun… (my goodness!).

Most patronising for me is the notion that men are supposed to protect women… (from what/who, themselves?). Few men actually recognise the capability of women to do stuff for themselves in their own way and being allowed to show up as themselves, uncensored. All women want is free reign to be authentically connected to themselves, and the space to just be, in a non-judgemental world. We want to be free of the constant temptation by men (and other women!) to modify or correct women’s ways to fit an ideal template that is largely dictated by men. Society should refrain from this nauseating practice of subjecting young girls to rigorous domesticated training for ‘mandatory’ duties of daughter-wife (so-called marriage material)-mother; from good girl to decent woman as defined by others. Who designed this template and why were women never engaged or at least consulted about it? On another extreme, women should stop labelling other women who may prefer to defy the mandatory profile and narrative. Believe the story for yourself if you wish, but do not judge others who aspire to be different. Everyone should be free to define for themselves what they want to become.

In the workplace is where women experience yet many of the struggles that sabotage women’s value. I would have thought that the government of the day would have, by now, taken advantage of some glaring opportunities to ease the burden of working women, for example. After 28 years of democracy that is the least one would hope for. The issue of unpaid maternity leave continues to be a major challenge for working women. The burden of continuing to breed the human race is on them, and they stand to sacrifice their entire lives for this. Yet no one has thought of an effective avenue for working women to be paid in full for time off that is taken for purposes of childbirth and nurturing infants. Section 25 of BCEA speaks of the right to time off but nothing is said about the right to full remuneration benefits in this regard. We all know about the costs of caring for an infant, which almost always becomes an exclusive burden of the mother. The system fails to minimise economic hardship for women on the non-transferable duty to bear children. The Unemployment Insurance fund releases small change and we all know the nightmarish hurdles of its administration to date. The biggest joke is that often women get to receive the UIF income well after the leave has ended and they have returned to work. Now are we really serious about minimising the economic struggle of women? Could we at least aim to prioritise the administration process to expedite release of funds when they are needed the most? Could government further consider enhancing the funds claimed to cover 100% of earnings for working mothers on maternity leave?

The unspoken shame of motherhood is another common feature most prevalent in the workplace. This becomes a strong influencer of advancement decisions that may include performance management impacting pay equity, promotional considerations, and general positioning for purposes of constituted authority and power in the workplace. When the courageous few are appointed into leadership roles, these opportunities are accepted at great cost to them. Some are labelled as poor and/or inconsistent performers, while others are shunned to the periphery due to challenges of balancing work demands and duties of motherhood. A few who can afford to, elect to ship their children to boarding schools, so that they can eliminate the responsibility of daily nurturing that often requires them to take time off work (e.g., sports matches, concerts, meetings, homework, and general school drop-offs & pick-ups). The greater cost which most women grieve about is missing developmental milestones of their children along with the inevitable deterioration of the quality of relationships as some children grow older. Few companies offer flexible working hours to accommodate these known challenges. Very often the juggling act of nurturing children mainly resides with the working mom. No legislative regulation takes any of these issues into account. The Employment Equity Act and BBBEE Act have serious shortcomings when it comes to matters of women’s career growth and economic advancement.

President Cyril Ramaphosa once referred to violence against women as a pandemic in the country. I have not seen him move or act to respond in a pandemic-like fashion (similar to COVID-19 and others of the past) to address critical issues at the core of human worth of women. So, my take on this is simple- Woman you are on your own. This hopefully explains my hollow feelings on this topic.

Compiled by

Babalwa Desi
Industrial Psychologist and Managing Director.

A right to freedom of association is an entrenched right constitutionally attributed to everyone, as contemplated in the Bill of Rights. This essentially constitutes the cornerstone of our democracy. Often situations exist at work where a victim’s psychological need for belonging and being accepted is juxtaposed with the perpetrator’s right to freedom of association. Furthermore, a legal loophole exists that allows people to experience and/or endure perpetual discrimination. Organisations that are serious about diversity and inclusion are not satisfied with being legally compliant and politically correct. They take steps to ensure that their human resource management systems are engineered appropriately to accommodate all their workforce needs. In addition, these firms ensure that their business operational practices are culturally and socially sensitive. Below is an elucidation of observed fake or unauthentic relationships as they manifest in the workplace.

Unauthentic or fake relationships among employees

The bureaucratic school of thought still underpins the organisational structures of many organisations. The influences of the bureaucracy on the structure of the organisations could be a likely root cause of fake and unauthentic relationships. The organisational design of a bureaucratically underpinned organisation is such that informal relationships are discouraged, and professional relationships are prioritized. This school of thought is not culturally sensitive to the South African context espoused in the philosophy of Ubuntu. However, many South African companies (especially in the labour-intensive sectors) are still influenced by the bureaucratic paradigm. Hierarchical organisational structures are observed in such firms. The problem with the hierarchical structure is observed in the historical background of the South African labour landscape. Despite the burgeoning enrollment of the previously disadvantaged groups in institutions of higher learning, there still exists a situation where the employment landscape becomes a highly contested terrain. The low economic growth rate intensifies the competition among prospective employees to secure jobs, as job creation becomes difficult. Consequently, a loose labour market leads to an oversupply of labour talent across the spectrum. The impact of the surplus of labour for those who are already employed creates uncertainty and/or insecurity for employees. The tension and insecurities in the employee’s minds tends to induce negative perceptions about their job-seeking (or newly employed) counterparts. Individuals who enter spaces of employment are viewed as threats by those who have been in the fold for a while. The relationship of trust among colleagues is thus threatened and often delayed. This results in employees competing to ensure their relevance and survival in the workplace. The unhealthy competition among employees leads to deliberate strategies to withhold vital information among co-workers, sabotaging tactics, infighting, conflict and unproductive disputes, accidents, as well as counterproductive behaviours.

Employees in this instance may withhold information from their colleagues to stay relevant and favoured by the employer. Some view information that no one else knows in the company as a competitive advantage. This puts the holder of information in a privileged position of power over his/her fellow employees. In other words, the person with the information is now viewed as a knowledge repository in the organisation. It gets to the extent that everything about the organisation is asked of them as holders of precious currency. Such individuals take pleasure in being the reservoir of company knowledge as they derive a sense of importance over other colleagues. Lack of openness about important information is caused by cynicism which develops over time. This cynicism stems from the organisational culture and climate that perpetuate unhealthy competition among co-workers. A relationship of trust among fellow employees is thus affected and consequences of this include unscrupulous conduct of some among others. Invariably this may negatively affect the company’s image. A plethora of unnecessary disputes may likely follow the hostile working environment. These disputes could range from product quality, theft, insolence, reduced effort in teamwork, and lack of creativity. The unhealthy working environment could affect the employees emotionally and psychologically; as they may experience stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, burnout and other such forms of mental illness.

It should be noted that the nature of relationships in such workplaces tends to be transactional rather than intrinsic. The transactional nature of these relationships is intensified by the fact that the parties do not voluntarily enter into sincere connections in the workplace. An individual employee needs his/her fellow colleagues for purposes of getting something instrumental (and of value) out of them.

In the South African labour jurisprudence, it is recognised that the start of the employment relationship is established by having a written contract between the parties. The rights, responsibilities and obligations of each party to an employment relationship will be spelt out in the employment contract. The doctrine of locatio conductio operarum underpins this relationship. This doctrine means that the employee is subjecting him or herself to the employer’s control. The contract of employment will therefore stipulate the duties and boundaries of both parties. The employer’s duties are to accept the employee to their service, provide the employee with work, pay the agreed upon remuneration, provide a safe working environment, and comply with all statutory obligations. The employee is obliged avail his service to the employer, to warrant his competence and reasonable efficiency, to be loyal, faithful and obedient to the employer, to be subordinate to the employer, to maintain bona fides, to exercise care when using the employer’s property and to refrain from misconduct (du Plessis & Fouche, 2006).

It could be deduced from the detail outlined above that there is an asymmetrical relationship between the employer and the employee, as depicted in the employment contract. This statement does not take away the employer’s prerogative as the business owner. However, the point of contention is that the employer should recognise the history of South African labour relations and take deliberate steps to address any past imbalances that may be prevalent in the workplace environment. The existence of the contract of employment is a necessary requirement but not the magic potion for establishment of authentic workplace relationships.

If the employer accepts the employee to service means, in an authentic employment relationship, essentially this means that the employer takes reasonable steps to embrace the employee’s character, background and personal cultural heritage into his service. The employee’s character traits can be assessed using objective and scientific methods such as psychometric assessments. These assessments will provide the employer with an overview of the employee’s personality strengths, development areas and behavioral derailers that may have a bearing on performance impact. Such knowledge can assist the employer in understanding the employees in his firm better, well beyond the superficial (and often fabricated) interview. The employer is better positioned to know who they are dealing with and what the individual brings to the organisation. Furthermore, insights generated by the employee assessment reports give the employer clues on how to tap into and leverage the employee’s talents.

The employer has an obligation to provide their employees with work as per the contract of employment. The knowledge of the individual worker’s strengths and weaknesses, which are gathered objectively, will enable the employer to allocate work to his employees according to their strengths. This is not to say that the employer will have to tailor the job description to suit individual employees. However, the knowledge of the individual worker will enable the employer to assign meaningful work to each employee, towards establishing person-job-fit. When an opportunity arises for advancement, an employer will have a legally justified decision to appoint workers to senior positions following this objective approach.

Given the high unemployment in the country and low literacy rate, how can a blue-collar worker looking for a job be in a position to negotiate on appropriate remuneration? At what point could such an employee be sure that the proposed remuneration package on offer is fair? The requirement that the employer pays the agreed remuneration to the employee is problematic in current times. It suggests that the employee has the power to bargain on the appropriate remuneration. It also suggests that the employee is aware of the going market wage rate for the job. Lastly, it suggests that the employee has an option to turn down the job offer if they feel that it is not matching their skills and worth. Job evaluation becomes an effective tool to establish all these answers. Employers who are sincere about human connections at work make use the most objective methods to determine to pay parameters of the entire workforce. Evaluating jobs should be carefully embarked upon with involvement of all relevant stakeholders, to avoid unnecessary disputes. In a unionised environment, the majority union should be involved in the job evaluation process from start to finish.

What is a safe working environment? Compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Employment Equity Act and Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Disease Act is not enough to constitute a safe working environment. A safe working environment is a safe space that is created intentionally, nurtured continuously and protected fiercely by the employer. Creating a safe working environment should begin by dismantling the organisational culture that may harbour features of oppression of some groups versus others. As mentioned above there should be no room for othering and malicious alienation in an authentic organisation. The culture of inclusion should be instilled and supported by the organisation’s top management. Diversity literacy and change management programmes should be institutionalised. This will ensure the physical and psychological safety of the workers. The contractual requirement of the employer to comply with statutory obligations is mandatory. These statutory duties are not a shopping list. They are a start-up recipe for authentic connections to be formed between the management (who represent the employer) and employees in the employment relationship. Employers could make commitments to sincerely cultivate these relationships by coming closer to employees in a quest to really see them and understand all that they are about. Information obtained in a process of learning can be leveraged to maximize mutual gains in the relationship; all the while showing up and acting in good faith. Consistency is critical if the gains of trust are to be achieved. When parties in the employment relationship get to a level of being real and brutally frank with one another, the dreaded (and almost sickening) superficiality in the relationship will be eliminated. At the same time employees may be elevated to own the game in the workplace and protect the cause of the employer. Similarly a good majority may be persuaded to refrain from misconduct of any form of destructive behaviour.

References

du Plessis, JV. and Fouche, MA. (2006). A Practical Guide to Labour Law. Durban: LexisNexis.

Compiled by:

Khayalethu Zono
Employee Relations and Engagement Specialist

Job loss occurs at different points in one’s career and it can be attributed to a number of factors or reasons. Examples include dismissal for misconduct, retrenchment which arises from operational restructuring decisions, voluntary resignation and retirement. Whatever the case may be, various emotions are induced and felt with termination of employment.  These effects ensue at different points following employee exit from the organisation. When employees initiate voluntary exit, they retain control over the unemployment period.  The decision to exit has minimal negative impact on physical and psychological wellbeing because   the individual is sufficiently prepared for exit.  They choose to leave the organisation willingly in pursuit of other interests. Alternatively, the employee may also look forward to a new chapter on retirement and/or pursuits of other life interests. Involuntary turnover occurs when the employee is terminated from their position for reasons that are initiated by the employer. These may be both fair (i.e., established just cause) and unfair. Involuntary turnover also constitutes of constructive dismissal where the employee terminates the contract of employment due to intolerable working conditions. In this instance, the employee is forced to resign involuntarily, not because they want to, but due to a situation where the employer makes the work environment hostile for the employee and therefore continued employment intolerable. The employee has to show that the employer has committed a serious breach of contract which has forced him/ her to take such an action. Since the resignation was not truly voluntary, it is, in effect, a termination. The company is guided by company policies that are based on South African labour laws.  The Labour Relations Act section 188(1) (b), for example, provides every employee with the right not to be unfairly dismissed. The employer is required by law to be both substantive and procedurally fair when dealing with the dismissal of employees. Additionally, Section 189 of the same Act requires employers to have discussions with employees.  The employer must consult any person who may need to be engaged in terms of collective agreements that may be in force. If there is no collective agreement in place, meetings should be held with all employees that could be affected by the retrenchment proposal of the employer. No final decision may be taken in this regard without consultation on the matter.  Quite often, incumbents who hold management positions can suffer from stress, anxiety, insomnia and other forms of mental illness just as well.  They too become concerned about retaining their employment to sustain personal livelihoods and those others around them.  Managers do become affected by job loss when any of their colleagues and subordinates leaves the company. Such feelings may be both positive (e.g., congratulating a colleague on retirement or landing a promotional opportunity elsewhere) and negative e.g. (losing a dedicated performer to a competitor or enforcing exit of a subordinate by retrenchment or misconduct dismissal). The survivor effect of the exit on remaining employees may induce feelings of uncertainty about the future. Employees may struggle coming to terms with the change when one of their own leaves.  Remaining team members may contemplate the nature of a new person who might join the team. Different measures of anxiety may vary among employees who remain.  In response thereto, such incumbents may behave in one of two ways:

1. They may pay extra attention to the standard procedures and expected outcomes of their job. Sometimes, this can go to the extent that employees work themselves to total exhaustion (i.e., burnout) in the hopes of convincing the employer of their value.
2. They may feel so demotivated, helpless and insecure about their job that their performance suffers to the point of non-delivery.

The negative consequences of both circumstances may be voluntary exit, as feelings of job dissatisfaction set in. Ultimately organisational continuity and sustainability may be negatively impacted. Most people align their lives and their purpose to their jobs. Society and socialization prepare a young person to enter school to pursue learning, choose a career path, graduate and go into the world of work.  This path is often recommended for one to find an opportunity of earning economic return for independent living.   When a person assumes a specific line of work they grow into that role and perhaps aim to reach a point of self-actualization.   This is where one can derive a greater part of one’s identity within one’s line of work. Many a time when we meet new acquaintances, we tend to ask each other questions like “what do you do?”  or “where do you work and what is the nature of your job?”  The response is usually “I am Valerie; I trained/qualified as …… and I work at…” because that is a huge part of who I am and what defines my identity as a person. Therefore, there is an implied identity and expectation of respect that goes into that definition. Based on my response to that question, a measure of respect is either magnified or minimised because of the perceived stature of the job I do. From this, other assumptions and conclusions are made about who I am, the life I lead, the views I hold and preferences I may have about various things. Often a person is curious to find out information about the other to establish who it is they are dealing with and how to categorise that person. The Categorization leads them to a certain kind of treatment depending on which ‘box’ one appears to fit in, so to speak.  We naturally categorize people by age, social class, occupation, ethnicity, income, and many other qualities. In the abstract, these mental maps can help us understand how to interact with new people based on educated guesses about their societal category. There is a negative bias and prejudice that ensues based on perceived socio-economic status of the said subject. Regardless, the nature of your job is one of the major influencing factors of those perceptions.  It becomes a subjective measure of your worth as well as a daily acknowledgement of your existence and contribution on earth. When level of ‘significance’ is threatened or erased by job loss, people often grapple with issues of personal value, self-worth, along with feelings of shame and humiliation, self-doubt, regret and shock among others. According to Kübler-Ross and Kessler (2009), we process rejection through 5 stages of grief as follows:  a) shock and disbelief, b) denial c) anger/ bargaining, d) depression and e) acceptance. The same process is followed when a person experiences a milestone of job loss in their life. Consequently, there are at least 5 different areas of impact that I will highlight below.

• Spiritual – An affected person questions their value role in society.
• Physical– Stress begins to set in and its impact on wellbeing includes weight gain/loss, substance abuse, violence/ and irritability and social withdrawal as one struggles to cope with the change.
• Emotional– Losing a job brings with it the concept of loss in its entirety. Loss naturally connects to grief. Loss of one’s job entails more than just loss of income; it deeply affects the concept of self-identity.  In grief, a person may be processing feelings of broken trust. Most probably the organisation will continue after the exit of any employee, to the point of being even more successful. Colleagues move on and continue their work while the former employee figures out their next steps or career chapter. They often experience quite a bit of inner turmoil as they work hard to retain a sense of purpose while finding new sources of earning income.
• Social– The impact of failure on family and friends put a person’s social relations at risk of scrutiny. There is pressure to find work and regain your status, further improving people’s perception of you.
• Mental– The impact of post-traumatic stress can affect problem solving and mental processing skills. The person tends to replay the day they were terminated.   They may be gripped by feelings of fear of rejection or failure to secure alternative employment.  The situation is worse for people who may be rendered unemployable due to advancement in age.

The affected individuals may feel all or some of these emotions. Impact of these factors varies from person to person. Others accept their fate either earlier (or later) than others. Toolkit So what? How can we help as IOPs? What toolkit could we arm employees with when they exit the workplace?  How can we help people to better withstand the emotional impact of job loss on themselves, their families? How can we equip people especially during a global pandemic and economic crisis, when job loss is more common than ever?

1. Allow yourself a moment of reflection to come to terms with the loss and the end of a chapter in your life.
2. Find a trusted person or trained professional to talk to about your feelings as you progress through the states of grief.
3. Seek information about possible career options at your disposal. Part of this may involve an in-depth review and/or revival of your skills basket and natural talents.
4. Learn a new skill, cultivate a hobby and/or turn your side hustle into a fully-fledged fresh vocation.
5. Following acceptance of what has occurred (i.e., job loss), seek urgent help from trusted others to plan a re-launch of your career. When you get stuck, engage an Industrial Psychologist or career coach to guide you.

Reference List Kübler-Ross, E., & Kessler, D. (2009). The five stages of grief. In Library of Congress Catalogin in Publication Data (Ed.), on grief and grieving (pp. 7-30).

Compiled by:
Valerie Ndlovu
Industrial Psychology Intern

Engagement in work that has no personal meaning often leads to ill ( physical, mental, emotional and psychological) health.The negative extreme seems more prevalent unfortunately. People from all walks of life are stuck in dead- end jobs that do not ignite fire in their belly. This is such a conspicuous phenomenon when observed in action. Recently I went to a popular chain restaurant that specialises in healthy snacks, coffee and freshly squeezed juices. On this particular morning my friend and I were desperate for a pick-me-up after a rough week, hence the idea of a sit-down coffee and chat. Everything about the restaurant was inviting and we had anticipated a pleasant experience there. Fortunately the coffee did not disappoint, but the service we received tarnished the entire morning experience.

It was quite evident that the person who waited on us just did not want to be there. Consequently we experienced her behaviour as quite offensive. Body language said ‘do not come near me, preferably do not even talk to me..’. The pace of movement was slow. The person seemed unwilling to assist with advice as we were trying to decide on what to get on the menu. The order was taken and verified but on presentation it was incorrect, which means we had to wait longer. The incorrect beverages were taken away, but the empty tray was left with condiments on our table the entire time that we were there. When the correct order finally came it was presented in a very tardy way ( not on a tray but in the person’s hands ). We both acknowledged the order with a pleasant ‘thank you’ and there was just no response from our person. We had to wait longer or the person to bill us after a disappearance to the kitchen the entire time we sat sipping our (coffee ( mind you no one else was there at the time so it was certainly not busy at all ).

So many light-bulbs were going through my head as I was observing this person in action: ‘Wrong selection decision’, ‘poor self-awareness’, ‘poor induction/integration to job context’, ‘misfit and low motivation’, ‘poor job-training outcomes’ and classic case of ‘I-don’t-know-what-I-don’t-know-and-I-don’t-care..’. My other suspicion was that the person was of generally poor manners and should have never been in a customer services environment. Here is a classic example of misalignment and fit between the person and work they do. Many other examples can be seen every day in various sectors of public and private sector industries. Consequences of maintaining this is two-fold: a) Business outcomes suffer, which is the glaring challenge, and b) Even more worrying is the individual’s general health and well-being that deteriorates by passing of each day. It is quite sad that most people feel compelled to live their entire lives pursuing meaningless work to buy bread and milk, when they could embark on deep reflective thought working on themselves to find their own purpose.

The goal of earning income for survival tends to overshadow aspirations of sustained happiness living a purposeful life. The crying shame for business organisations begins with the poor definition of organisational needs; followed by reluctance to apply effective tools of selection to find people of ideal character and calibre for that which you require. Thereafter challenges of poor engagement take effect where parties in the employment relationship do not make time and space to talk and check in with another. Even greater is the indictment on the employer who sits with a sick breed of workforce that is plagued by depression and daily misery at the very thought of work; not to mention the presenteeism that directly affects your quality outcomes. The effect of this on the customer is sheer toxicity. No business can afford careless loss of customers in these dire economic times.

Babalwa Desi
Consulting Industrial Psychologist

Pressure comes literally from all sides.  Changes to the structure of the family; challenges of 21^st century parenting the so-called “Ama-2000 and the younger (sometimes opinionated) kings-queens”; exorbitant levels of drug and alcohol abuse among the youth and older folk alike; heightened levels of trauma and violence all can be overwhelming on the psyche of any person.  The individualistic nature of neighbourhoods and community life (i.e. illustrated in ‘mind-your-own’ high walls and locked gates in fear of crime) means that people are left to sort themselves out through other ways as access to social debriefing outlets lessens.

While a good few “woke” people have grown to appreciate the value of physical wellness (eating healthy, regular exercise, hydration etc.), this is certainly not enough.  There is a disturbing deficit of available resources to address mental health issues across the spectrum of the population in South Africa and the entire world.  Yet such challenges continue to escalate at alarming rates among young and old. According to the Human Sciences Research Council (2020) 33% of South Africans were depressed, while 45% were fearful and 29% were experiencing loneliness during the first COVID-19 lockdown period.

Holistic wellbeing seems to be a pandora’s box that no one wishes to unravel, yet in labour intensive work environments this is at the crux of productivity and the very longevity of the business.  We are keen to explore and dissect metrics reports on production yields, revenue and bottom-line, but we often hesitate to investigate behavioural indicators that may be symptomatic of real wellness concerns in our midst.   Metrics reports on absence, turnover, injury-on-duty, lifestyle, ill-health, quality defects and poor performance are often reviewed, but very little of the ‘WHY’ is investigated in depth. For example, in 2019, the Occupational Care South Africa (OCSA) attributed R12-R16 billion per annum to absenteeism. As much as R200 billion was attributed to presenteeism, sick-leave, and other mental health issues (Sanlam, 2022).

This topic is likely to overwhelm any line manager, especially since many lack capacity to support their subordinates and teams in this regard.  A big part of this is that organisations do not resource their businesses with effective solutions to address wellness challenges of employees.

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded us about the value of social interaction and simple conversations human-to-human.  We do not seem to have enough social outlets to engage authentically, free of undue judgment.  A lot of what employees carry can be diffused by regular intervals of check-in sessions to declutter hearts and minds. First step towards this should be to put the topic of wellness as a standard agenda item in boardroom conversations. Following that should be coaching (not training) of line managers to understand and appreciate the influence of human holistic wellness in the consistent delivery of strategic outcomes.

Over time, growing appreciation of the wellness topic may minimise resistance and fear among core business drivers.  The flip side may be a fresh appetite to provide in-house check-in outlets to managers and their respective teams. The model of outsourcing wellness programmes has run its course and frankly it has not yielded any wow-factor results.  All we seem to have done is to shelve known problems hoping for them to go away.  It is time for us all to be real in business, supporting one another human-to-human…

Babalwa Desi
Consulting Industrial Psychologist