MHM Magazine

holidays. In one year, both primary and tertiary school attendees (including teachers, lecturers, and associated staff) have a break of between (more or less) 100 to 203 days depending on the tertiary (study leave, course etc.), school institution (private or public), and depending on the exclusion or inclusion of public holidays. That is between 4 to 10 times more rest than the general adult working population is afforded. However, the South African adult working population are diagnosed with the most chronic diseases of lifestyle (diabetes mellitus, high cholesterol, stroke, heart attack/myocardial infarction, hypertension); these are immensely intertwined with work- life balance or lack thereof and ultimately burn-out. The working adult population are also the main labour force of the economy of South Africa, yet the least allowed to recuperate to continue to contribute to this work force. There also seems to be an unwritten rule that the working adult population need to hold on until retirement to switch off and enjoy the fruits of their labour. However, the way the work and leave system are structured, by the time people reach this age (60 to 65 years) they are likely to have burnt out their bodies and mental states, with many having accumulated severe chronic lifestyle diseases and developed poor coping habits such as smoking, drinking, and excessive indulgence in unhealthy food. Some of these adults may also adopt psychological mechanisms such as quiet quitting (doing the minimum at work), cutting corners, or complete absence from work, just so they can feel a sense of relief from not having enough rest. Recent studies have shown that individuals are able to work past the previously set retirement age due to advances in medicine and the need for vocation in the geriatric population. Furthermore, when people retire too soon (may be person dependent) they are likely to struggle with boredom, lack of purpose which brings about depression or unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drinking, and over depend on their loved ones (emotional and financially). In addition, statistics show that 90% of South African’s can’t afford to retire. Why then has there been an emphasis on the adult working population to overwork rather than thoughtfully pace themselves throughout their adult and initial geriatric lifespan? The health system is often burdened by additional responsibility that can be mitigated by putting in place better preventative systems on a level of policy setting in the field of labour relations. South Africans could benefit from having more days of leave from work (both structured an unstructured) in tandem with being educated on living healthy mental and physical lifestyles. This is despite the fact that at 21 days annual leave South Africa is fairly in line with the top 10 countries of the best leave allocated to employees: France being the highest at 30 days annual leave. Currently, the leave allocation per the Labour Relations Act does not appear to be determined by the physical and psychological needs of employees. Thus, the allocation of leave days as it is in South Africa (and in fact globally) is quite a poorly researched topic, appearing to be focused on cost to company and the economic life force and less so on health-based research. In conclusion, if it takes 21 to 28 days (may be person dependent) to break a habit, or mentally rewire the mind as various research supports, then perhaps for every four months of the year employees should be allocated 21 days of leave. This would mean 63 days of annual leave excluding the approximate 12 to 14 days of public holidays in South Africa. In total this would potentially tally up to 77 days of leave per year (over two months of rest) for a 10-month working period. With the addition of sick leave (that would be dependent on each individual), this may contribute positively to South Africans experiencing less burn out, which also cost company’s an immense amount of money per year. References available on request. 14 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | 2023 | Issue 6 MHM