Money pressure, wrong job placement and excessive workloads are driving Kenya's formal workforce into high stress levels, with a new study showing that 87 per cent report experiencing stress.
This translates to nearly nine out of every 10 formal sector employees.
The findings by consultancy firm Niche Human Capital Advisory, paint a picture of workplaces where organisational inefficiencies and economic hardship are weighing on productivity, raising costs for employers through lower employee performance, absenteeism and staff turnover.
A partner at the consultancy, Rebecca Gichuki said that many organisations still treat employee wellness as an occasional activity instead of embedding it into how they recruit, manage and retain staff.
She points out financial stress as the leading contributor to employee anxiety, reflecting the difficult operating environment facing both businesses and workers.
"We know our economy is quite difficult as of now. Companies are to some degree struggling to keep up with demand. You also don't want to get to a place as a business where you're overpaying your employees more than you're producing. There is a very tricky balance that a lot of businesses are trying to make," said Gichuki
Beyond financial pressures, the research points to poor organisational design as another major source of stress.
Employees working in roles that do not match their qualifications or skills, unclear job descriptions, ineffective managers and poor communication all contribute to higher stress levels.
"We want to make sure we're putting the right people in the right roles. Are you an accountant in an admin role? Are you an admin in an accounting role? Are you a designer in an accounting role? Those are the things we need to look at, and that speaks to talent optimization," Gichuki said.
The consultancy also found that employees are increasingly becoming overwhelmed by workloads that exceed available staffing levels, forcing many workers to perform the duties of multiple employees.
The research also links stress to staffing shortages, with some employees carrying workloads that should be shared among several workers.
To address this, the consultancy recommends companies start by measuring employee satisfaction before reviewing staffing levels and organisational structures.
"If someone is doing the work of three people, maybe bring in a second one to take over the load. Eventually maybe bring in a third. If it's a structure issue, maybe you need to restructure your work," added Gichuki.
The study found that the NGO sector recorded the highest stress levels among the industries surveyed, which researchers linked to demanding performance targets from international donors.
To address the problem, the firm said employers should begin by measuring employee satisfaction before making structural changes to staffing and reporting lines.
"If someone is doing the work of three people, maybe bring in a second one to take over the load. Eventually maybe bring in a third. If it's a structure issue, maybe you need to restructure your work or reallocate management so that you have a more suitable structure for the specific company," she said.
The research found that the NGO sector recorded the highest stress levels among the industries surveyed, which Gichuki attributed to demanding reporting requirements and strict performance targets set by international development partners.
Despite this, she said Kenya performs relatively well compared with regional peers on workplace wellness, although employees continue to work in high-pressure environments.
The findings come as businesses increasingly invest in healthier workplaces as part of broader efforts to improve productivity and employee retention.
Co-working operator Workable co-founder and CEO Samir Patel, said companies are beginning to recognise that office environments can directly influence employee performance.
Patel argued that investment in workplace quality should be viewed as a business decision rather than an additional expense.
"From a human performance perspective, the cost of a business is 90 per cent is people, 9 per cent is rent and 1 per cent is energy. So that 90 per cent, the people one, is really what wellness should be focused on," he said.
"It is about reducing absenteeism, reducing the amount of time people are sick and creating an environment that people actually want to come to."
