20th March, 2018
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday warned civil servants against excessive workloads at work in order to curb stress.
The governor, who spoke at a two-day training workshop for civil servants held at the Dover Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said excessive workloads would lead to stress.
Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke said excessively high workloads, with unrealistic deadlines making people feel rushed, under pressure and overwhelmed would certainly lead to stress, which is dangerous to health.
According to him, insufficient workloads, making people feel that their skills were being underused and a lack of control over work activities could also result in stress among civil servants.
The governor also identified lack of interpersonal support or poor working relationships leading to a sense of isolation as one of the causes of stress in work places.
“People being asked to do a job for which they have insufficient experience or training and difficulty settling into a new promotion, both in terms of meeting the new role’s requirements and adapting to possible changes in relationships with colleagues can lead to stress,” he stated.
Ambode also warned civil servants against being concerned about job security, lack of career opportunities, or level of pay, as such could fuel stress.
He further said that bullying or harassment from their bosses at work and a blame culture within their organisation where people were afraid to get things wrong or to admit to making mistakes, would often lead to stress.
According to Ambode, weak or ineffective management which left employees feeling they did not have a sense of direction or over-management, which could leave employees feeling undervalued and affect their self-esteem, could result in stress.
He also said multiple reporting lines for employees, with each manager asking for their work to be prioritised, failure to keep employees informed about significant changes to the organisation, causing them uncertainty about their future would normally breed stress.
“Clearly, the senior officers of the Lagos State Civil Service will greatly benefit from this seminar as they learn how to make the civil service as less stressful as possible for civil servants.
“In today’s 24-hour, round-the-clock work engagement culture, there is a critical need to help officers of the Lagos State Civil Service learn the mechanisms for coping with the demands on the management of time and the consequential stress,” he stated.