Effective, participatory communication key to success

Junior employees must be valued

- By Mase Leshilo and Rakgwatha Mokou

According to the South African Federation for Mental Health, about 13% of employees in SA live with a diagnosed mental health condition, while over a third of workers experience excessive daily stress. This is coupled with a global estimation of 12-billion working days lost each year due to anxiety and depression.

This may explain the collective frustration with the sluggish and almost non-existent service delivery in our country.

Employees are the outcome of the environments they find themselves in. This is in no way a defence for the lack of service delivery but instead a challenge to view the value chain of service delivery in its totality. A larger portion of the work environment in South Africa is plagued by employee grievances, including but not limited to: unsafe work conditions, unfair labour practices, victimisation, and unfair labour policies and procedures.

These in turn lead to decreased productivity, increased sick-related absenteeism, and poor work quality - all of which affect service delivery.