10 Aug 2017

Principal social welfare officer at Lobatse Town Council, Mr Kgakgamatso Ditshego has implored Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) employees to learn to manage stress and realise their purpose in life.

Mr Ditshego said this recently during IEC TSAKALOJWA (Tsabong, Kanye, Lobatse, and Jwaneng) cluster workshop in Lobatse.

He indicated that employees were faced with a lot of life challenges in the workplace as well as domestic, which often result in stress.

Mr Ditshego said a stressed employee was unable to deliver effectively and efficiently as they often were late comers at work, lack concentration resulting in low production.

He cautioned employees to avoid getting themselves into financial strains and living beyond their means.

Mr Ditshego noted that lack of planning often lead to financial constraint in the workforce; indicating that once they find themselves in that situation they tend to experience high stress levels.

Such factors, Mr Ditshego said result in loss of employment and depression; adding that some families are broken as a result and others end up being suicidal if not poor health.

He therefore urged and encouraged the employees to have self awareness and avoid self induced stress caused by fear of the unknown.

Mr Ditshego also advised employees to socialise and share their problems more with other people to get counseling.

Mr Ditshego further urged employees to learn to accept who they were and always be neutral in the workplace, saying aligning with factions often cause conflict eventually leading to stress.

Therefore he urged workers to do their job diligently and obey and follow orders and rules from their supervisors.

Ms Mukungu said they conduct these workshops every quarter in a year and always invite an expert to present on wellness as they believe the presentation was useful to workers as they learn on how to manage and avoid stress not only at work but domestically too. ENDS