South African employers are facing a growing workforce resilience challenge as new data reveals that women are increasingly bearing the burden of workplace stress, burnout and mental health crises.
A comprehensive analysis by Lyra Southern Africa of 67 419 Employee Wellness Programme (EWP) cases between January 2025 and June 2026 found that women account for nearly two-thirds (65%) of all programme utilisation, representing 41 099 mental health-related cases, or an average of 75 cases managed every working day.
The analysis highlights five findings that employers cannot afford to ignore:
- Women’s share of high-risk crisis cases increased from 53,8% in Q1 2025 to 58,8% in Q2 2026.
- Stress accounted for 48,3% of female mental health presentations in Q2 2026 and is projected to exceed 50% of all cases by late 2027.
- Female executives report significantly higher levels of burnout than their male counterparts, with 43% reporting burnout compared to 31% of men.
- Assisted clinical referrals are overwhelmingly female, with women representing 83% of cases, pointing to intervention that often occurs only once exhaustion has already set in.
- Women represented the majority of mental health service utilisation across every sector analysed, peaking at 76,9% in Healthcare.
Taken together, the findings point to a growing shift in workplace mental health support. While anxiety and depression remain significant concerns, stress is increasingly emerging as the dominant challenge facing female employees. The higher levels of burnout reported by female executives further suggest that these pressures are being felt across organisational levels, from emerging talent through to leadership ranks.
Quarterly analysis shows stress-related presentations rising from 44,1% in the third quarter of 2025 to 48,3% by the second quarter of 2026, with forecasting suggesting that stress could account for 51.8% of all female mental health cases by late 2027.
At the same time, indicators such as burnout and burden of support continue to trend upwards.
“Continuous analysis indicates that mental health remains the single largest area of support requested by women, but what is becoming increasingly clear is that stress is driving a growing proportion of those requests,” says Dubekile Mugumbate, business intelligence and consulting manager at Lyra Southern Africa.
“The findings point to a broader shift away from traditional clinical conditions towards mounting workplace, financial and caregiving pressures that are affecting women’s ability to cope both professionally and personally.”
The trend is evident across every sector analysed. Women represent the majority of mental health service utilisation across all nine industries included in the review, ranging from 53,2% in the Industrial sector to 76,9% in Healthcare. The Financial Sector accounted for 13 949 cases over the reporting period, while the Public Sector recorded 11 187 cases, making them the largest contributors to overall case volumes.
The findings align with broader research highlighting how women continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities. This pressure is evident even at leadership level, with research cited in Lyra’s analysis showing that 43% of female executives report burnout, compared to 31% of their male counterparts.
The impact of these pressures is becoming increasingly visible in higher-risk interventions.
Women’s share of crisis cases increased steadily over the review period, rising from 53,8% in the first quarter of 2025 to 58,8% by the second quarter of 2026. The primary drivers of these interventions include suicidality, substance abuse and domestic violence, while severe stress, alcohol misuse, relationship difficulties, anxiety and emerging depression frequently feature as associated factors.
Perhaps most concerning is what the referral patterns reveal about when women access support.
While 94,3% of female cases are self-referred, women account for 68% of all formal HR and management referrals and an overwhelming 83% of assisted clinical referrals. Across all referral channels, stress, anxiety, depression and burden of support remain the most common presenting issues.
However, assisted referrals display a strong association with physical and mental fatigue, suggesting that by the time intervention occurs many women have already reached a point of significant exhaustion.
The data also shows that the burden is not distributed equally across age groups.
Women between 31 and 40 years old account for the largest share of mental health cases, representing 30,4% of all female presentations. This cohort is often navigating high-pressure career progression alongside childcare responsibilities, relationship pressures and the needs of ageing parents.
Younger employees are more likely to report loneliness and challenges linked to identity formation, while older employees increasingly face the productivity impacts of presenteeism, where individuals remain physically present at work while struggling mentally and emotionally.
For Mugumbate, the findings should serve as a warning that mental health is no longer simply a wellbeing issue.
“What emerges from the analysis is a clear business case for earlier intervention,” she says. “When women only enter formal support pathways after experiencing severe fatigue, burnout or crisis, organisations are already carrying the cost through reduced productivity, disengagement, absenteeism and talent loss.
“The opportunity for employers is to move beyond reactive support and focus on addressing the underlying drivers of stress before employees reach breaking point.”
She says organisations should prioritise proactive stress management, flexible working practices, manager training, and greater access to practical support services such as financial wellbeing resources, caregiving assistance and specialised crisis support.
“The organisations that will be best positioned to attract, retain and support female talent are those that recognise mental health as a workforce resilience issue, not simply a clinical one,” concludes Mugumbate.