When paychecks shrink, prices soar: Tackling anxiety in Ugandan workplaces

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OPINION

By Dr Raymond Mugume

Ugandans are no strangers to resilience. From navigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and several Ebola outbreaks to weathering fluctuating fuel prices and the rising cost of household goods, we have always found a way forward. Yet today, in offices, hospitals, classrooms, and businesses across the country, a silent struggle is unfolding: employees are burdened by anxiety and uncertainty as salaries shrink during these tough economic times.

As inflation erodes household budgets, many workers, particularly in Kampala and other cities, struggle with stagnant wages amidst rising costs like rent, school fees, wedding contributions, transport, and food.

These expenses are consuming a larger part of their income. To manage, most turn to side jobs or informal loans, which often cause more stress, while some are forced to quit entirely.

Unfortunately, the financial pressure does not stay at home; it seeps into the workplace, where employees arrive anxious, distracted, and fatigued. In the long run, this undermines individual health and organisational performance.

Workplace anxiety is often invisible; it may show up as irritability in meetings, unexplained absenteeism, a dip in performance, shouting at colleagues and subordinates, or manifesting as physical symptoms of consistent headaches, hypertension, or sleep problems.

Unfortunately, mental health conversations at workplaces are only taking off, but are still mostly burdened by stigma. Many employees fear being branded as weak or singled out in meetings in the office, if they speak out, while managers focus narrowly on targets and outputs, this SILENCE worsens the crisis.

The longer workplaces remain silent, the costlier the problem becomes. Consider a teacher in Kampala who arrives in class each day worried about rent arrears and unpaid school fees for her/his own children. She/He teaches, but her/his mind is divided (her/his) energy is low, and her/his students sense it. Multiply his/her story across banks, hospitals, NGOs, CSOs, and factories, and the scale of the crisis in Uganda becomes clear.

Anxiety erodes productivity, fuels absenteeism, and drains creativity and the overall national development plan. Uganda/employers, including the diplomatic community, cannot afford to treat this as an invisible burden, at least not any longer.

Now is the time for employers to create spaces for honest conversations, such as incorporating mental health talks, whether monthly or quarterly, providing basic mental health support like employee assisted programs, mental health awareness campaigns, mental health workplans and assessments, FITT ( Frequency, Intensity, Time, framework offered by MindFit at work, and integrate mental health wellness, other than physical wellness into organizational culture, employee assisted programs such as offered by Rapport counselling.

Policymakers, too, must incentivise such practices, making employee well-being central to the national development plan. Confronting financial stress at work is not just about compassion—it is about safeguarding the country’s human capital.

The writer is a Psychiatrist.

raydmugume@gmail.com