TIME TO HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON

EXPERT INSIGHTS INTO HOW WE ARE SURROUNDED BY NOISE 24/7/365 AND IT'S AFFECTING OUR ABILITY TO THINK CLEARLY AND MANAGE STRESS LEVELS, OFTEN LEADING TO EXPENSIVE MISTAKES, AT WORK AND IN LIFE.

- Tamsin Mackay

Globally, employee stress levels are high. The Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report connects this to high inflation, economic complexity, and ongoing uncertainty. Chad, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea and Togo are cited as having the most stressed employees in Africa - although not as high as workers in East Asia with 61% citing extremely high daily levels of stress making them, says Gallup, "the most stressed-out workers in the world".

African countries also feature high on the list of most distressed nations in the world, according to the Mental State of the World Report 2023; South Africa, Egypt and Angola are all experiencing high levels of distress. South Africa is on par with the United Kingdom in terms of how distressed people are, at 35%.

"Stress levels vary significantly across the African continent based on factors such as socio economic conditions, political instability and infrastructure challenges," Simone Berger, Behavioural Specialist and Founder at Univation, tells FORBES AFRICA. "It's difficult to generalize stress levels across an entire continent though - I don't believe Africa's levels are notably higher than other continents at this time. The world is changing rapidly and there is global uncertainty and overwhelm."