Languages: 
Walter Sisulu University’s employee assistance programme was recently initiated as an instrument to improve the life quality of employees by giving them necessary support to resolve personal and work-related problems.
Human Resources Director, Lerato Mojaki said, “The mental health and wellbeing of our employees is a priority for our institution, especially during COVID-19 times, when we are all experiencing moments of uncertainty and learning how to adjust to working from home and other lifestyle changes.”
The ongoing 'Employee Wellness Program' was put in place to assist employees with mental and general wellness. This program includes Wellness Day quarterly and Mental Health workshops.
"There was widespread appreciation for the Mental Health Workshop that we hosted. There is even more demand to host another workshop as employees felt that the workshop provided a nice toolkit to cope with issues of mental wellness." said HR Deputy Director Mthatha, Patric Rampai.
HR has found that an employee assistance programme can help employees overcome personal problems that affect their jobs, their lives and work environment.
“Human Resources offers many forms of support, including referring employees to health professionals in the medical department, a union counsellor or an employee who has received Employee Assistance Program (EAP) training. If there is no internal referral agent, the employees are referred to an external EAp resource,” said Mojaki
She added, “There are also online employee wellness workshops and training for supervisors to learn to recognize issues and can intervene by referring employees to their EAP.”
HR department has been working with line management to further increase the availability of, and access to, counselling services to support the mental health of staff through this period of lockdown and remote working.
“Providing training on mental health awareness will make people feel more confident around the subject and highlight the policies and mechanisms you have in place to support them. Covid-19 compliance workshops have taken place for WSU safety committee and safety representatives, including union representatives.”
- Ongezwa Sigodi
