South African workers are the hardest working, least happy, according to study

WITH the increased normalisation of working from home to prevent the spread of Covid-19, many workers are finding the boundaries between work and home blurred.

While staying at the desk longer to meet a deadline or working extra hours to complete a project before the weekend has always been common among people who want to get ahead in their careers, doing this all the time can take its toll on mental well-being.

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According to Lucy Desai, who writes for a major accounting software website, there is a well established link between work-related stress and work absence.

“It’s incredibly important that companies are aware of the effects of mental health and the cost this could have in regard to employee satisfaction and productivity,” writes Desai in an article entitled: “Revealed: South Africans are the world’s hardest and unhappiest workers”.

Desai claims that evidence suggests that long work hours can be damaging to personal health due to workers having less time to spend on self care such as leisure, time with family and friends and other health seeking behaviours.

“Mental well-being and happiness often derive from a good work life balance — the best way to achieve this is by encouraging flexible and supportive working practices,” says Desai.

Desai’s article looks at data which suggests South Africans are among the hardest working people in the world.

Desai cites the  analysis of 37 affluent countries, by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which unearthed which countries are working the longest hours, and what percent of the population is working 50 hours or more per week.

In the OECD analysis the country which was found to work the most hours was South Africa at 2,209 hours a year, which was also the fourth highest country for employees working 50 hours or more at 18.1 per cent.

Mexico worked the second longest (2,148) with 28.7 per cent working 50 hours or more.

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Costa Rica came third, (2,121), however there wasn’t data available for the percentage of employees working very long work weeks.

Fourth was Korea (1,993) at 25.2 per cent, and surprisingly, fifth was Russia (1,972) with 0.1 per cent.

Are the hardest working the least happy?

The World Happiness Index, an annual publication of the United Nations rankings of national happiness based on responses from residents in that country reported in 2019 that South Africa was right at the bottom with a happiness index of 4.72, likely due to being overworked and not having much free time.

Mexico scored 6.6, Costa Rica 7.17, Korea 5.9, and Russia 5.65.

“It would appear that these countries have a relatively low happiness score, suggesting a link between happiness and hours worked per week,” said Desai in her article musing that working less hours might increase happiness.

This is echoed, she explained, by some states suggesting a four day week might help create happier people.

However Desai noted that workers in the countries where this is being suggested are opposed to it due to fears of decreased earnings.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

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