South African employees face growing financial and psychological pressure, with experts warning that this strain is increasingly affecting the workplace.
Rising living costs, stagnant salaries, job insecurity, and longer working hours are creating what specialists call an economic stress-to-burnout pipeline.
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report indicates that about 35% to 40% of South African employees experience daily stress. The country also continues to record relatively low levels of people considered to be thriving.