Common Struggles in the Nigerian Workplace — And How to Deal.
Nigeria is one of the largest economies in Africa, with opportunities for development in the business sector. However, the current state of working conditions leaves much to be desired. Employers focus on cashing out while employees may find themselves embittered by the unpleasant conditions they are forced to tolerate daily. I’m not saying it’s all bad; a fingerful of companies are doing the best they can to ensure the well-being of their employees but there’s oodles of room for improvement. Let’s examine some of the challenges employees face in our beloved country.
Poor Company Culture
The modern workplace isn’t confined to four walls; it goes everywhere with us. Company culture refers to the shared attitudes, goals and practices that characterize an organization. What are the daily routines and traditions that unite your workplace? (Sorry folks, prayer alone as a binding activity does not count). Corporate culture has a great impact on employee motivation and happiness. In fact, poor corporate culture kills morale at work. Organizations and their daily practices should be structured not only for consumer pleasure but for employees that actually make things happen. Often times, management and employees will accept a process based solely on assertion that “this is how it’s always been done.” But times change, and customers and employees do as well. Opening up a dialogue with your team to ask relevant questions about factors that could be impeding their workflow. Employee engagement and development is a direct result of a strong company culture. Creating a workplace culture of support and appreciation takes effort but it’s always worth it. Encourage synergy between the team by reinforcing the company’s core values, scheduling corporate workshops, team-building exercises, quarterly retreat programs, etc. Happy employees, happy organization.
Poor communication
In a country where everyone is actively trying to oppress the next person, the higher your position the meaner you can be. Whether it is between the management or further down the chain of command in the organization, communication in most Nigerian offices is both underutilized and abused. Let’s not even get into how we talk to blue-collar staff.
Effective communication is critical for efficiency at work because it conveys ideas and directives that make or break the organization. One important thing to note here is that communication is not limited to verbal exchange. It extends to non-verbal gestures such as active listening, eye contact, facial expressions, body language, etc. Too often, when we try to communicate with others something goes astray because we say one thing, the other person hears something else and conflicts ensue. Miscommunication between employees or the sheer lack of emotional intelligence during the process could contribute to office politics that might be fatal to projects and eventually, the company’s bottom-line. Good communication involves listening to understand the conversation, asking questions when in doubt, sharing opinions or ideas with ease and closing with a summary (very important). If you even want to be super professional about important conversations, send the summary in an email with sprinkles of “it was great talking to you”.
Harassment and Bullying
A consistent pattern of mistreatment and abuse at work is the peak of toxicity in the workplace. Bullying and harassment can come from any direction in the organizational chart, and it can take on many different forms — intimidation, humiliation, general inappropriateness and unwanted conduct. The psychological power imbalance leads to employees live in fear and trepidation, wondering when they’re going to get fired just because someone else(probably in a higher position) does not know how to talk or behave. Harassment and bullying at work can impact your safety, productivity and overall psychological health. If you are being harassed at work, you should file a complaint with human resources. However, if the issue is not addressed, you might have to leave or better still, register for one of our workplace bullying and harassment workshops.
Poor Job Fit
The idea of a biochemist working in a bank is a familiar concept over here. The country’s economic structure in constant depreciation has led to limited employment opportunities. These available slots are further thinned out through nepotism. Jobs are given to relatives or close associates that are not necessarily suited to the job, leaving the majority that are qualified for a certain position either unemployed or working jobs they also have bare knowledge about.. A viscous cycle. No offence if you’re the one reading this right now but how do you enjoy a job that you neither enjoy nor have the qualifications for? Well maybe the pay is “good enough”. I can imagine how much more difficult it is for other employees who have to take on assist roles for those people. There’s not much we can do about nepotism because of how deep it runs in the system but you can try hiring with PAT Nigeria. We match the qualifications and personality with the job role through topnotch, evidence-based procedures.
Office politics
The typical Nigerian office is occupied by individuals — of various ages, sexes, backgrounds, orientation, ethnicity and religion — who believe in the supremacy of their ideals. Whew! In an office so diverse, squabbles abound, and groups form. The power struggle that accrues from these little everyday rows could’ve been premiered on yesterday’s weather forecast. When this happens, it takes an intervention such as an employee assistance program to adequately address it because the passive aggression is often so subtle ordinary eyes cannot see. As an employee in this situation, it becomes so easy to feel mobbed, sidelined and alone. Sometimes it could lead to employees developing stress, anxiety and other detrimental conditions.
Absence of Work-Life Balance
Is there an unspoken rule that says you can’t leave until the boss leaves even though it’s past work hours and you’re not getting paid overtime? I think so. It’s almost as if you’re not allowed to have a life outside work. Crazy!
The Corona virus epidemic probably worsened it — working from home meant you were somehow always working. Most people especially in a country like Nigeria struggle to maintain work-life balance. Organizations rarely care about the struggles their employee might be going through outside of the work space. Mental health is overlooked, “you showed up at work and you look okay so you must be okay”. More than half of your employees have called in sick when they were not physically ill because we all have those days. What’s the way forward? Individuals and organizations need to incorporate mental health practices in the fabric of their existence. Employees have poor mental health due to stress and zero work-life balance. As I said earlier, when employees are happy, they are in optimal shape to ensure the progress of the organization.
If your company is experiencing at least one of these poor working conditions, you can begin to address it. All you need are an open mind and sheer will to create the environment you deserve to work in. To incorporate mental health initiatives for your self or your organization, send an email to info@patnigeria.com or visit www.patnigeria.com.
