CS: To the Good Citizens show. It’s another Friday. It’s the 14th of October 2022. What a pleasure. It gives us to bring you another program. Captain Smart is my name and my colleague these days is in the studio here.
T.I: Hi, Captain Smart. Hello, everyone. My name is Temitayo Ikotun. You can call me T.I for short.
CS: Temitayo Ikotun. Let’s call her TI for short. And we’ll have a guest in the house today. We’ll be introducing her as we progress. Let’s not forget, the elections are coming today, and it’s very important people participate. Definitely. How can they do that?
T.I: Please go and get your PVC. Please go and get your PVC and actively participate. Please do not just get it and keep it in the house and say, Okay, for next time when they ask if you have it or not, please go. Know the aspirants, and know what they have to offer. Make your decision based on facts and based on what you see that they can do, not just hear say that your friend is voting for.
CS: You have to be a good citizen. It’s your franchise, so you have to exercise it. They don’t vote on social media. Voting is not done on Twitter, it’s not done on Instagram, it’s not done on Facebook. You have to go to the polling unit and cast your vote. And if you don’t have a PVC, you have to go to you will not be able to participate in the process. So just do that. Very quickly, we’ll go to our topic for today, and we’re going to be talking about work and mental health. That’s what we’re going to be discussing on the Good Citizen Show today, work and mental health.
As part of our introduction, research has shown that reduced productivity from poor mental health is expected to cost the world economy some six trillion dollars per year by 2030. And there’s some staggering statistic right there. Even though there has been an increased rate of mental health awareness, especially in the workplace, we can tell you that with Gen Zs, there’s still a significant need for a systemic approach to workplace wellness and performance. You can remember that October 10, this year, was actually World Mental Health Day.That was on Monday this week. And so today we’re going to be talking about mental health in the workplace. And we have a specialist as our guest in the studio today.
T.I: Yes, we do.
CS: And you might just want to introduce our guest.
T.I: Okay. Our guest here is a manager in the healthcare industry. And she also holds a master’s degree in social work, a postgraduate diploma in health safety and environment management. She’s a professional nurse and midwife, and she’s currently the business and medical advisory consultant with the imminent health partners where she assists with human capital support, health promotion, as well as business and medical advisory services. She’s a regular columnist in the Lagos Banker’s journals where she writes regularly on topical healthcare issues. Please welcome Ms. Abimbola Adekanye. Hello, ma.
Guest: Hello, T
CS: Welcome to the program. You might just want to come closer to the microphone. You’re welcome, Madam.
Guest: All right. Good evening, Captain Smart.
CS: Thank you so much for joining us.
Guest: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be your host this evening. And as I was rightly introduced, my name is Abinbola Adekoye, once again. I’m a health practitioner and advocate of healthy living and good healthy lifestyle.
CS: You’re welcome. Good to have you.
It’s interesting because this is your workplace. And today we’re talking about the workplace and mental health. Listen out there, you have a chance to participate here in the program by calling or sending us messages on WhatsApp. So you have a professional, and you can consult her for free while we’re here on the program. 0700923923923 is the number you can call. 0700923923923 or just begin to send us your messages in case you have questions for the guest or some clarifications to make. 0817 313 6193. 0817 313 6193. That’s how to get in touch with us. In the end.
T.I: Okay. Ms. Abimbola, a recent survey by McKinsey shows that one in four employees worldwide experience burnout, and three in five employees experience one mental health or well-being challenge. So how do employees get to that point? What are the signs that an employee is already experiencing burnout? What are those signs that a manager should look out for?
Guest: Okay, thank you, TI, for the question. So, before I go into detail about that, I want to, first of all, state clearly what mental health is, health in particular, and what the workplace environment is. Everybody just believes it is only when you go out of your home to work, and you get paid that you are a worker. But I want people to understand this evening that even those that work at home or work for themselves, self-employed, are also a worker and they also experienced this. Just like one of my friends used to say, she’s a graduate, although, but the husband just insisted that she can work for somebody. All he wanted her to do was just to stay at home, take care of the home front and the kids till they are ripe and that’s work. That’s a lot of work.
T.I: People don’t get to know that 24 hours.
Guest: Exactly. So, she calls herself a corporate housewife. Right. Very nice. People like that are also working. You have the artisan as well. And people understand about health, they feel it’s only when you are down with malaria, or hypertension, or diabetes, or any form of health conditions that you only feel the heat.
CS: Or in this case, only when somebody don KOLO.
Guest: Only when you don’t come up close. Exactly. When we are talking about mental health as well, people think it’s only somebody that is running or mad that has a mental issue. Not mean that there are some states that you get to. Your emotions, your state of mind, your mental stability, all of these have to do. And apart from your mental stability, and emotions, the way you relate to your immediate person is also part of your mental status. So it’s about work and mental health. Okay.
T.I: Now that you have expanded a view on what the work environment is and what mental health is, what are those things to look out for to know that? Okay, I’m at this?
CS: Somebody’s not having a challenge. As a manager in the workplace, where will I begin to see, and I see this TI, she needs attention.
Guest: Okay. Most of the mistakes, most HR, are what they do at the point of the interview. They’ve already created pressure on the interview. The applicant. The question usually our question is, are you sure you can work under pressure? The next thing everybody says is yes.
CS: You see, it’s on everybody’s CV these days. In fact, you think it’s going to give you an edge. When you tell them you can work with just little supervision and you can work under pressure, that’s the person they’re looking for.
Guest: In a fast-paced environment. Exactly. So as a good HR, from your employing a new worker into your establishment, start from that stage. Because there are some people that are very good at displaying their art. Even, I used to tell my children, you display your nonsense with confidence. So you already developed that boldness of how to confront people. And it’s not everybody that could display that confidence that could actually stay at the place of work to perform excellently. And when you get this person employed into the system, you want to observe the first few months how the person is performing. Probably that person does not even fit into that particular position or role that you have been employed in. It’s not just good enough to say you want to let the person go. You want to see if that person can fit into another role or be in a better position. But at the same time, it’s not also a bad decision to say, Let’s go, if it has to be because there are times letting go may be that you are letting the person go to the stage where they can perform excellently.
CS: Okay, looking at the workplace right now with all of the things we have seen, you see, especially those who are in the banking industry, all those sectors where there’s a lot of targets, they give them sometimes targets that are unreasonable. Let me just put it that way. This puts a lot of pressure on these people who are supposed to be workers. Even though you see them riding in very big and beautiful, luxurious cars, sometimes they’re not even seeing you as you’re talking, they’re talking to you and not seeing you. So talk to us about how the workplace, let me not use the word helps, contributes to actually putting workers under pressure and then driving them to a state whereby their mental health is now challenged.
Guest: When somebody gets into employment, on the first day, you expect to get what we call a job description. And we have seen several that somebody gets into a workplace. Even before you resume, you already have your job description. But by the time you set in to start working, you find that it is not what you have in your job description that you actually have on the table that you are doing. So that’s the number one way in which employers can subject workers to pressure, which could lead to burnout, stress, fatigue, depression, and it goes on and on like that. Unrealistic targets. When you set an unrealistic target with the unrealistic timeline that I put it. Yes, you want quick performance, you want quick returns, and all of that. You also want to consider, because there are times if you put such targets that are not realistic before the person, you want to understand the person’s personality as well. Is this person really capable of doing this? Has he done that? You want to look at past record performance and all of that. So is this person really able to do this rather than putting them under pressure because you find out that if you continue with that, what you might just result in getting is penny wise, pounds, fully?
CS: And sometimes because of the lack of jobs, people accept it. People have to stay. They accept that they can do what they know they cannot do. Let me just get a job, and that’s it. It’s very important you said that. We’re going to take a short break now. When we come back, we’ll open the phone lines so you, the listener, can participate. We’re discussing mental health risks at work, burnout in the workplace, and how mental health can actually affect your productivity as a worker. So it’s a workplace and mental health. That’s our topic of discussion today. When we come back, 0700 923923923, the number you can call, 0700923923923, or you can send us a message on WhatsApp, 0817 313 61 93. You can actually get help with mental health issues when we return.
CS: Welcome back to the Good Citizens show. Captain Smart is my name and TI is here in the studio. We have a special guest of that, Ms. Abimbola, who is a healthcare industry practitioner. She’s an expert in the field. And today we are discussing on the program work and mental health. You can call us on the phone, 0700923923923. We have said that you can actually consult this consultant here for free today. 0700 923923923.
Hello, good evening to you.
Another drop.
Please just keep trying. 0700 923923923, or you can send a message to us on WhatsApp, 081731 36193. Tia, before you go to the next question, I’d like to ask Mr. Abimbola, sometimes stigma has a role to play in people presenting with mental health issues. They don’t want people to say, it’d be like say get on the cribs. This one she’s looking for a mental health practitioner or physician to consult. What do you have to say about that? When people stigmatise people who need help. That way, a lot of people who are suffering from mental health issues rather keep the problem to themselves.
Guest: All right. Thank you, Captain Smart, for that question. For long, the World Health Organization, I’ve had the team for World Mental Health Day to be, let’s talk about it. And that has been the team for several years before this recent change, which is stating that we want to ensure that mental health for all is a priority. So, the awareness is there now, and many people tend to come up to talk about it, although it’s still very, very minimal compared to what we expect to achieve medically. So, it is still for people to understand that they don’t need to make gestures of anybody that has on up to talk about it. And there are times people feel this person is just trying to make up issues or trying to gain attention. Even if that’s the case, you want to even, first of us buy into that idea, then if it is something you can get support from medical personnel or make a referral to a medical person that will help unravel what actually the person is going through. So that will go a long way to help prevent stigmatisation. And for all you care to know, it can happen to anybody. Anybody can be affected. It could be this person, Mr. A today. It could be your turn tomorrow. And because it doesn’t give any signs and symptoms or prior notice, it can strike if not properly managed.
T.I: Before I go to the next question, I want to say, mental health in the workplace, I don’t think it’s just the employees who would experience this. I think the boss, and the managers also, are shutting themselves out of it because I don’t see people in C-suite level saying that they also need to buy into the concept of mental health. I think it looks like it’s a…
CS: Junior care, that stuff? Yeah. She just answer the question. It can happen to anybody.
Guest: It can happen to anybody. Just like when you’re talking, anybody can get stressed to the level of burnout. Some people used to give the types of stress to be executive stress and nonexecutive stress. Well, I tell them I don’t really buy into that. My own type of stress is that it’s either… What do they mean by the executive? Simply means, okay, this person is at the top while this person is. But the truth of the fact is it affects all of us. Yeah, the same way. So, it’s either positive stress or negative stress. When you are managing it very well, it gives you negative and positive output because we are bound to go through it, whether as an executive or non-executive. So it is when you don’t manage it properly that it turns out to give you a negative outcome that you get to this stage of burnout or depression or anxiety or whatever type of mental illness that you want to that it can turn out to be.
CS: As a professional, you are the professional here. What are your recommendations for avoiding sliding into these mental health issues?
Guest: Yes, I want to categorise them for the clear understanding of everybody. Two phases because I don’t want it muddled up. So, the first phase is the work environment. The second is the working condition. There are two separate, which anybody, whether the executive or nonexecutive, can fit into, or whether the artisan or the corporate housewife can fit into. Your environment really matters. You can get into a place, and you feel, Oh, this place is so cozy, I like it. And you feel relaxed. Just like if I enter a place, I’ll tell you, my spirit does not settle down here. I don’t know why. So, it starts from there. The environment must be welcoming. Whether the physical and aesthetic environment or the interaction of the people around you, you are able to fit in and go and relate appropriately with each other.
CS: Is that why people say some workplaces and some work environments are toxic?
Guest: exactly. So, when the work environment becomes toxic. So friendly. No matter how good you are, you tend to feel that you are not fitting into that environment. And there are some offices that when you do well, even as an adult, not only as a child, but you also expect some kind of path at the back to say it shouldn’t be a work environment, shouldn’t just work, work. It is work. And no play makes Jacks a door boy. So, there must be a time for pleasure, time for everybody to let loose, which doesn’t really cost much because in some workplaces all they are targeting, all their focus is just money, meet your target. Target.
The bottom line is what it is, it shouldn’t be that then the working condition, and excess workload. There are times I’ve been in a place that even goes to a stage. I said what is it that this management actually wants? You are doing this; you have done it. After they said no, it’s not that we go this way. It gets so overwhelming occasionally. You have what we called an excess workload. It shouldn’t be all the time that you make your staff or employee or even you as a manager or as a director, you stay in the office till 11 before you know if that has to happen, except if it is absolutely necessary. It shouldn’t be all the time. It shouldn’t be part of work; it shouldn’t be part of your life. That’s part of the working condition. Then poor at times. That will also affect.
CS: that one is very important. That should have been number one.
Guest: Business is not so big to give fantastic pay. But at least there is a way. You give somebody little talking and you also give training with a little amount. Like I used to tell my children, if you earn ten nairas today and you don’t know how to manage the ten nairas when you end ten times it will be the same. You just find that it’s going down the drain. So, management skills are not just about management. You want to also financial training, something that will benefit not only training that has an impact on the company but also personal training that will impact the lives of employees.
CS: Wow. We wish we could have gone on and on and on, but we’re just out of time. We need to go now.
TI: Yes. We hope that all our listeners have learned from today’s discussion. I know that some calls came in. But we couldn’t take them. Thank you for listening and until next time, let’s continue to be a light to one another. Let’s have a lovely weekend.
CS: And of course, we’ll bring you greetings from Bekeme. She’ll be with us in a short while. Mrs. Abimbola, just in one word. I wanted to give advice out there to people who are in the workplace just in a sentence on how they can stay healthy. Talking about mental health wise. Yes, one word.
Guest: Just a sentence, okay? Know yourself, accept who you are, and develop. Be proud of who you are and be ready to develop or accept other people’s feelings, not just about you.
CS: If I want to interpret it in local parlance, I will just say no they do pass yourself. Thank you so much, Mr. Abimbola, for coming today.
Guest: Thank you.
CS: Thank you as well for the program. That’s the package. Join us again next Friday at 5:30. Final package.
