‘Undue pressure affecting female performance in workforce’

Human resources stakeholders have stated that the undue pressure that female workers go through impacts their ability to harness their potential.

This was the fallout of Citisquare Africa conference, themed “The Impact of Burnout on Women within the Workforce: Challenges and Solutions”, held recently in Lagos.

According to a release from the organisers of the conference, stress has a detrimental effect on individuals generally and professionals, especially those who do not know when to draw the line between their capabilities and expectations at the workplace.

The participants at the conference stated that the implication was that humans would live a more fulfilled life when they understood their limits.

“This they can do through self-awareness, personal growth, better decision making and improved relationships among others. The inability to know when to draw the line is what leads to burnout,” they noted.

The Managing Director of UAC, Oluyemi Oloyede, said, “Society puts the woman under undue pressure because of the demand on her time- first at work where she is the Chief Executive or whatever role she plays and at home where she is a wife and a mother.

“Even though the society expects the woman to be perfect, she will need to recognise her own strength to know when to seek help.”

To avoid burnout, she advocated a support base from the family or a therapist to cope with their demands.

In her opening speech, the Winner Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2022, Queen Ada Eme, stated that the essence of the programme was to address burnout.

She argued that burnout is a scourge affecting individuals at an alarming rate, jeopardising not only their well-being and workplace productivity.

Quoting a report by McKinsey & Company, Eme said a staggering 42 per cent of women experience burnout globally as against the American Psychological Association, which put the figure at 63 per cent of women experiencing burnout at work compared to 58 per cent of men.

Similarly, the Group Managing Director of Medbury Healthcare, Dr Itunu Akinware, remarked she usually trivialised burnout until it happened to her, which in turn gave her a new perspective on the scourge.

Akinware said, “For a very long time I never believed in burnout. We used to laugh at people when they said they were experiencing burnout until I experienced it. When it happened to me, I was indifferent to everything. Nothing was interesting; I was terribly depressed. I did not want to get up in the mornings, so I would stay in bed all day. I would be tired, depressed and hardly sleep well.

“Until a friend advised me to visit a wellness centre. It was the visit that changed everything for me- so, my advice to people now is to know when to recognise stress and avoid it to avoid burnout.”

Earlier in her presentation, the Executive Director of the Institute of Counselling in Nigeria, Dr Tolu Oko-Igaire, said burnout is linked to mental health.

Speaking on the title ‘Promoting positive mental health through purposeful living: A strategy for overcoming burnout in the workplace’, Oko-Igaire stated that a person’s mental health affects the way he or she thinks, feels and it determines how the person handles stress and in-turn relates with other people.

She noted, “It will be ignorant to feel that one is automatically fine when the environment around the person is not. One must be intentional about keeping a positive mental state and not to take for granted the seemingly little things, like a hug, socialising, a chat with people or seeing a therapist when necessary.”

A TV host, actor and producer, Stephanie Aderinokun, pointed out that prioritising and learning when to say no was one way to deal with burnout.

“The benefits of saying no sometimes when there is so much demand on our time is enormous and just saying no will save us a lot of trouble.

“As a woman, there are many things to deal with- children school, work and family, which can take a toll on the woman not to add to dealing with oneself. My advice then is the woman should learn to say no to some things and learn to be happy especially when the pressure is mounting,” she posited.

On her part, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Dew Centre, Omon Anenih, noted that burnout affects people differently.

“No two people experience it at the same time and the same degree, hence, everybody must understand the highest degree of their pressure point.

 “There could be two people in the same job, with the same pressure yet they react differently. So, because one person can cope with pressure does not necessarily mean the next person can cope the same way. For me, know when you are fatigued and when you need to take some time out to rest, see a therapist if you have to but importantly don’t put yourself under any pressure,” Anenih stated.

The Convener of Colours of Well-being, and founder of Citisquare Africa, Dr Uche Nnama, added, “At the time of planning the event, one factor that was at the back of our minds was to create a platform of engagement offering a combination of relaxation, strategic networking, and investment opportunities for professionals and high net-worth individuals across various sectors in the workplace. And we are glad we were able to make it happen through your support.”