Abstract
Background: Workplace mental health is a global public health priority, yet evidence
from African contexts remains limited. This study examined workplace
well-being through an intersectional social determinants lens in a South African
organisational context to identify equity-relevant disparities and explain the
mechanisms producing them.
Methods: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed.
Quantitative survey data (n = 87) assessed mental well-being (WEMWBS), perceived
stress (PSS-4), work engagement (UWES-3), life satisfaction (SWLS),
and flourishing across demographic groups (gender, race, generation, income,
education). Qualitative data comprised one focus group discussion (n = 9) and
semi-structured interviews (n = 10) exploring lived experiences of workplace
well-being, stress, and engagement. Data were analysed using non-parametric
tests and reflexive thematic analysis, with integration guided by an Intersectional
Social Determinants Model. Intersectionality is explored primarily through qualitative
inquiry and mixed-methods integration rather than quantitative interaction
modelling, given sample size constraints.
Results: Gender significantly predicted mental well-being (p = 0.015), with
women reporting lower scores. Income significantly predicted mental well-being
(p = 0.033), life satisfaction (p = 0.011), and perceived stress (p < 0.001), with
higher-income employees reporting better outcomes across all three domains.
Race and generation showed no significant main effects. Qualitative findings
helped explain these patterns through four mechanisms: (1) gendered unpaid
labour and caregiving strain reduced women’s mental well-being, particularly
among Black and Mixed ancestry (South Africa) women at specific intersections;
(2) Black tax (kin-based financial obligations) appeared to constrain income’s
protective effects, sustaining financial strain despite salary parity; (3) restrictive
masculine norms constrained men’s emotional expression and help-seeking,
masking distress in survey measures; and (4) race operated through intersectional
mechanisms rather than as uniform main effects.
Conclusion: Workplace well-being in post-apartheid South Africa is shaped
by intersecting social determinants rather than isolated demographic factors.
Culturally responsive, equity-oriented interventions must address structural caregiving
burdens, kin obligations, and masculine norm constraints while redistributing
workplace demands and resources. Income’s protective effects are socially
mediated: Black tax constrains financial benefit even at higher salary levels, challenging
the assumption that economic resources operate uniformly in structurally
unequal settings. The Intersectional Social Determinants Model offers an
organising framework for future inquiry in similar contexts.