Factors that cause job stress among employees and their effects on employee performance

Presented by Ejaz Rasool Dar & Kamal Shah

Stress
Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize (Richard S Lazarus).

Stress is directly linked to an individuals performance, if a perceived demand exceeds the skills or abilities of an employee it will be a source of discomfort leading towards stress (McGrath).

Job Stress
Job stress is the unfavorable responses which occurs due to the increased job demands and forces exerted on people (Stephen) Job stress arises when demands exceed abilities, while job-related strains are reactions or outcomes resulting from the experience of stress (Westman).

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to find out the problems that cause stress among employees, and how these factors influence employee performance.

Research problems
Stress has become an important saying in disturbed today's work environment. Stress affects the efficiency of the worker and job performance and ultimately reduce job satisfaction. So it is necessary to find out the factors and their solution in order to make employees more productive. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that cause stress and their impact on the performance of the employee.

Research objectives
To To

identify the factors causing stress among employees. know the effects of stress on employee performance.

Research Questions
What How How

are the factors that cause stress among employees? these performance? factors affect employees

stress should be reduced in order to make employees performance better?

Delimitation of the study

The participation in this study is limited to 100 employees of public and private organizations. Employees are limited to middle and lower level. This study will only focus on the job stress factors and its effects on employee performance. This study does not cover the other effects of stress on employees health or in other conditions. This study will collect the data from the organizations that are located in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Significance of study
The study is based on cause and effects of stress on employee performance, the study findings will be important for policy makers who manage employees in organizations. Managers can also use the results to improve employee performance and satisfaction levels and can reduce stress among employees.

Literature Review
Job

stress had a negative relation with job performance that when stress occurs it effects the performance of employees negatively (Akmal & Khan, May 2011). salaries, increased workload, market competition, management, peer support and behavior, longer time frames at work, lack of acknowledgement, public dealing and higher targets are the factors which causes stress and they negatively effects the performance of workers (Badar, 2011).

Lower

Cont..
There

is significant negative correlation between job stress and job performance and job stress significantly reduce the performance of an individual (Bashir, & Ramay, 2010). stress has been linked to decreased job satisfaction and job commitment, absenteeism (some of it probably due to illness), turnover and reduced performance. (Nobile & Cormick, 2007).

Occupational

Research methodology
Research design This research is a correlational study. The nature of this study is quantitative. Population The targeted population for this study is middle level and lower level employees of 10 organizations both private and public sectors located in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Sample size

The sample size for this study is 100 employees of public and private sector organizations.

Cont..
Data Collection

Primary data: The primary data is collected mainly by giving questionnaires to employees. Secondary data: The secondary data is collected through published literature about the topic and from relevant area of the study.

Sampling Technique

Sampling technique that is used for this study is the non-probability convenience sampling method.
Statistical Tool/Procedures

For analyzing the sample data certain statistical tools are applied; SPSS for evaluating the Mean and Standard Deviations for determining the sample statistics and MS Word for developing the tables and charts.

Theoretical framework

Job stress is a common factor in any job. As the following chart shows workplace stress is related to the content of work, employment conditions, working relations and working conditions. These four categories form the basis for the pressures arising from them, as overburden, unclear job descriptions , reward system , job insecurity, supervisor and colleague support, empowerment, balancing between work and social life , public relations, and late meeting deadlines. All these pressures affect employee performance and reduce their effectiveness, as indicated in the diagram below:

Results and Discussions

Response rate

Gender

Quantity

%age

Male
Female

17
83

17%
83%

Total response
rate

100

100%

Response rate according to employee experience

Experience No. of
respondents

%age

0-5
6-10 11-15 6-20 21-25 26-30+ Total

51
20 15 9 2 3 100

51%
20% 15% 9% 2% 3% 100%

The likert scale

3 likert scale
Yes May be

No. assigned
1 2

No

Stress experienced by employees during their jobs.

Q. no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Yes 44 52 27 67 47 24 71 77 50 73 72 51 67 67 80 70 78 23 60 67 70 39 38 71 May be 17 22 26 17 18 6 23 12 28 12 11 21 18 16 11 20 11 28 14 24 12 12 18 13 No 39 26 47 16 35 70 6 11 22 15 17 28 15 17 9 10 11 49 26 9 18 49 44 16 Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Mean 2.12 1.77 2.18 1.46 1.91 2.45 1.75 1.36 1.68 1.41 1.56 1.81 1.54 1.47 1.32 1.41 1.33 2.25 1.75 1.43 1.50 2.07 2.04 1.48

Standard Deviation .902 .851 .845 .744 .911 .869 .845 .718 .803 .712 .833 .861 .771 .758 .649 .683 .667 .796 .880 .655 .798 .946 .898 .785

The table shows the responses of the questions asked to employees. 100 employees perception against 24 questions that were regarding whether the employees are experiencing stress during their jobs. The mean and standard deviation for each question is also shown in the table.

Mean of the Responses

Mean percentage
Yes May be No Total 57.7% 17% 25.2% 100%

 The

table shows the mean of yes, no, maybe for 24 questions answered by 100 respondents. The table clearly shows that majority of the employees 57.7% are experienced by stress during their jobs. 17% are uncertain about whether they are stressed or not. And 25.2% respondent shows that they arent experiencing stress during their jobs.

Perception of Employees concerning factors of Stress

Q# Factors Yes

1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Unclear tasks
Overburden Late sitting Deadlines Reward systems Insecurity Supervisor support Colleagues support Less participation Less control Public dealings Social life

84
79 64 71 63 70 83 46 60 71 43 61

May Be 9 16 26 23 16 14 14 8 13 8 20 16

No

Total

Mean

7
5 10 6 21 16 3 46 27 21 37 23

100%
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

100
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

1.25
1.30 1.46 1.40 1.60 1.46 1.23 2.01 1.70 1.57 2.01 1.70

Standard Deviation .592 .595 .688 .636 .829 .758 .510 .959 .893 .868 .916 .893

 The

table shows the responses of employees regarding the stress factors in the job. The mean and standard deviation for each question is also recorded in the above table. The table shows that 84% employees thought that unclear job tasks and 83% said lack of supervisor support causes stress among employees, 79% employees thought that overburden causes stress.

Effects on Performance
Q# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Factors Inefficiency due to unclear tasks Inefficiency due to late sitting Inefficiency due to no training Absenteeism due to insecurity Job interest decreases due to poor reward system Yes 61 70 52 61 89 May Be 14 13 24 25 7 5 19 4 No 25 17 24 14 4 5 4 7 Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% N 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Mean 1.66 1.46 Standard Deviation .867 .771

1.77
1.51 1.14 1.20 1.28 1.16

.839
.718 .427 .550 .533 .507

Quality of work is affected 90 by coworkers Decreased performance 77 due to unsupportive supervisors Interest in job decreases due to less empowerment 89

The table shows the respondent responses about the effects on employee performance. The mean and standard deviation of each question is also given in the table.

The reliability of the test

Cronbach's Alpha .786 N of Items 44

Cronbach's alpha measures the reliability of the scale used for data collection. The result shows that the three-point Likert scale used in the questionnaire is 78.6% reliable.

Correlation

The findings show that the unclear job tasks are a result of the ineffectiveness of the performance and it has a strong positive relationship of 0.568 with poor reward system, 0.317 to job insecurity and 0.571 with social life. Late sitting decreases the efficiency of employees and it also has a strong positive relationship with stressors 0.560 with poor reward system, 0.437 with public dealings and 0.510 with disturbed social life. Unsupportive supervisors decreases employee performance and has a strong positive relationship of 0.462 with poor reward system and 0.517 with the social life disrupted.

Other relationships are either not strong or negative relations so they are not applicable to the study.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion

The study analyzed job stress factors and their impact on the performance of employees. The objectives of the study was to identify factors that cause stress and their impact on job performance. The study revealed that the work overload, unsupportive supervisors and colleagues, late meeting, disturbed social life due to work and lack of employee participation are the causes of stress among employees.

Cont..

The findings of this study shows that the factors that cause more stress among employees are unclear job tasks 84%, unsupportive supervisor 83 % and 79 % work overload . These all factors reduce the performance of employees.

Limitations
All

the branches and departments of the organizations are not covered due to shortage of time and resources. of the respondents might hesitate to fill the questionnaires considering it wastage of time as they would be busy in their daily work. employees might not be free at our convenient time.

Some

The

Recommendations

The management of the organizations should manage the factors that cause stress among employees during their work and they need to take active steps to manage stress so that potential employees do their jobs well in order to achieve his own goals and well as organizational goals. Employees must give advice, so they are able to manage their stress and give high performance and increasing productivity of the organization. Up to a certain level of stress is required for high performance. But when the pressure increases above that level, then administrative/supervisor support is essential because it acts as a cushion against stress to employees.

Cont..
Training

programs for stress management should be done with the participation of top management, so employees can easily achieve their goals without getting stressed. should amend its policies to provide people with more power over their jobs. should be viewed more in terms of working hours, supervisory support and clear job descriptions to reduce the stress of workers.

Management Strategies

Thank You