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April 30, 2026
Every Sunday evening, Kunle's chest tightens. By 8 PM, the anxiety is in full force with a racing heart, shallow breathing, and a knot in his stomach. He can't sleep. He lies awake dreading Monday morning, replaying his boss's criticisms, anticipating this week's impossible demands and inevitable humiliations. On Monday mornings, he drags himself to the office feeling nauseated. He works in a constant state of hypervigilance, waiting for the next public dressing-down, the next unreasonable deadline, the next reminder that he's replaceable and should be "grateful to even have a job in this economy". He developed high blood pressure at 32, and he is on antidepressants. His relationship is suffering because he's irritable and emotionally unavailable. He fantasizes about quitting but can't afford to because he has family depending on him, bills to pay, and limited job options. Adaeze is a 34-year-old woman who worked at a mid-size company in Lagos. Her boss was a verbally abusive tyrant who fired people on a whim and rehired them when he is in a better mood. Adaeze developed severe anxiety. She couldn't eat breakfast because she'd vomit from stress. Sunday evenings were torture with panic attacks, but she stayed because she earned well and needed to support her family. After three years, she had a complete breakdown and was hospitalised for stress-related illnesses and diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Umar is a Resident Doctor with a verbally abusive Consultant who calls them names and frequently insults even their parents for any mistake. He was on call and had just finished sorting out three cases in the Emergency Room at 9pm. He suddenly realized that he had not eaten at all, as he has been on his feet all day since 7.30am. Suddenly his phone rang and it was his Consultant. ‘Useless human being, why have you not sent in the case report I asked you to prepare this morning during the round’? He thundered. Efforts to explain that it has been a busy call since completing post round duties were shut down with insults and then a threat to give him extra calls if he didn’t submit by midnight. Yes Sir, he mumbled, as he hung up. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired and he sat on the steps of the corridor, alone, as hot tears welled up in his eyes.
Read MoreJune 10, 2021
Last week, we discussed the Naomi Osaka situation at the Roland Garros, where she eventually pulled out of the tournament, citing the need to pay attention to h...
Read MoreAugust 7, 2019
A good work environment enables people to realize their full potential, helps them to cope with the normal stresses of life, to work productively, and to contribute to their communities. In such work environments, staff enjoy good self-esteem, they have positive social interactions with colleagues and their productivity is enhanced. Thus, it is a win-win situation which allows a happy employee to also improve earnings thus leading to a happy employer. A toxic work environment, as we see with Tunde and Musa above, on the other hand, is very unfriendly, enforces rigid working hours, has poor remuneration with irregular salary payments, no job security, high levels of mutual suspicion, and bullying behaviour from superiors – sometimes including sexual harassment. These conditions ensure that the staff will not be motivated to put in their best. What can you do? This year’s theme (as at the time of writing) is pertinent to encourage us to discuss these issues. Since mental health challenges can affect anyone, including the head of human resources, or the Chief Executive Officer, should we sack anyone who suffers from these disorders? We all need to raise awareness about mental health in the workplace and its effect on productivity.
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