The relevance of mental health to employee satisfaction and job productivity

Abstract

An employee's level of job satisfaction has an impact on how productive that employee is, which in turn could influence the employee's mental health, that is, their levels of stress and depression. Unfortunately, a lot of companies in Accra, Ghana, do not take these factors into consideration, when cultivating their organisational culture, and this adversely affects not only their employees, but the company's overall performance. This paper examined the relationship between job satisfaction and depression and stress (mental health), though the interference of job productivity in employees in Ghana. Primary quantitative data was collected through an online survey questionnaire from a sample of 100 people working in private and public companies within the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Job satisfaction, productivity, stress, and depression were measured using Short Index of Job Satisfaction (SIJS), Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) respectively. Mediation analysis was used to determine the relationship between job satisfaction, job productivity and mental health. Results showed that job productivity does not mediate the relationship job satisfaction and negative mental health (stress and depression). However, job satisfaction and job productivity were significantly positively related, meaning higher job satisfaction led to higher job productivity.