While organisations may reap the financial benefits from allowing overwork cultures, employees are often caught on a treadmill of ever increasing demands that eventually consume their lives, a Women's Report by the Stellenbosch School of Business has found.
In commemorating Women's Month, the report outlines initiatives to combat structural inequality in the corporate workplace.
According to Professor Anita Bosch, the report is an advancement of evidence-based knowledge that could ultimately lead to improved representation and increased productivity in South Africa.
"As women carry the burden of unequal distribution of home and child care, keeping up with the overwork culture becomes exhausting and may eventually lead to the option to opt out of paid work altogether.
"The argument that they willingly choose to leave is therefore a half-truth - they are often forced out.
"The corporate world reflects what is happening in society - if you go back to the community - men are perceived as the breadwinners - while women are told to be in the kitchen.
"Women are the pillar of the society. In the workplace women are viewed as someone who will fall pregnant - whereas women are eager to work and have as much aspiration as men to advance at work," Bosch said.
The minimum requirements for fairness in the workplace are in fine print in the SA equity legislation, which include affirmative action, and sector-based agreements, the report said.
In partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ), co-sponsored by the South African Board for People Practices, the report will be formally launched on Monday at the university's Bellville campus.
Places of work may need to be located in areas with low levels of traffic congestion, within the community, and working from home should be carefully monitored to uncover overwork and eliminate psychological distress, Bosch said.