Stress at the Workplace

The Need to Rein in Stress at the Workplace

Introduction

Human capital is a key component in the organizational success equation. For this reason, an organization ought to adopt the appropriate strategies with an aim of protecting and promoting this key resource. Organizations that are able to effectively manage their human capital are likely to outperform their peers in the marketplace because organizational culture as well as the skills and competencies of employees cannot be replicated by competitors. When employees have mental or emotional concerns that prevent them from performing at optimum, organizational performance suffers as the said employees are likely to be less focused and motivated. Towards this end, employees should be taught stress management strategies and techniques so that they can be able to better perform optimally at the workplace; as this would further enhance the performance of the organization.

Discussion

There are many strategies that organizations could adopt in an attempt to manage workplace stress. To begin with, they could facilitate and promote employee exercise programs. This could be done by enrolling employees in gyms or having an in-house gym at work that employees can use after work hours for free. According to Alters and Schiff (2011), “physical activity can metabolize the extra energy released during the stress response, lessening the impact of stress on the body” (70). Secondly, an organization could have in place what are commonly referred to as Employee Assistance Programs (Leong, 2008). Such programs “may offer different types of educational programs to help employees cope with work stress” (Leong, 2008, p. 1685).
When employees are able to better handle stress, the organization could benefit in a variety of ways. To begin with, reduced employee stress enhances the morale of employees, thereby making employees more motivated and further enhancing their productivity (Cummings and Worley, 2009). As the authors further point out, when employees are stressed, their moods are impacted upon. This could be manifested via constant procrastination and poor service to customers. All these have a negative impact on the overall performance of the company. For instance, when employees are absent minded and routinely procrastinate, they lose focus of the task at hand. Similarly, when customers are treated badly by a stressed employee, they could migrate to a competitor.

Secondly, employee stress leads to increased workplace conflicts. Stress, according to Alters and Schiff (2011), leads to withdrawal from social engagements – with individuals opting to keep to themselves. In an organizational setting, things move forward by way of constant interactions. When an employee is stressed, any contact between the said employee and his peers is likely to be met with brash or rude behavior. This effectively impacts teamwork, which is critical for organizational success. In addition to promoting synergy, teamwork also promotes a team approach to issues whereby the shared ideas as well as information lead to the formulation of better solutions to problems. Anything that adversely affects teamwork effectivelly gets in the way of enhanced organizational performance.

Employee stress also has turnover implications. In a study seeking to establish how employee stress impact turnover rates in the hotel industry, Hwang, Lee, Park, Chang, and Kim (2012) found out that “occupational stress factors predict hotel employee's turnover intention.” This is to say that when employees are stressed, they are more likely to consider seeking employment elsewhere. In such an instance, an organization could lose some of its most gifted and talented employees, a move that could negatively affect performance.

Employee stress could also increase absenteeism rates. In the words of Cummings and Worley (2009), “the American Stress Institute estimates that job stress costs U.S. business over $300 billion annually due to increased absenteeism…” amongst other things. Employees could avoid going to work when they are bogged down by personal stressors. Further, in instances whereby the stress factors are workplace-related, employees may stay away from work and resort to giving excuses for their absence just to avoid the said stressors. Managers have to find replacements for absent employees and tasks are in some instances left undone. This negatively impacts productivity.

It could, however, be argued that implementing employee stress management initiatives such as the ones highlighted in this text could be an additional cost to an organization. This is largely true. For instance, enrolling employees for a gym program is an added expense to the organization. It is, however, important to note that the benefits likely to be reaped from better employee stress management efforts by far exceed the associated costs. When an organization has a workforce that is able to handle stress, it has better chance of excelling in an increasingly competitive business environment.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, this text makes the finding that employees should be taught stress management strategies and techniques so that they can be able to better perform optimally at the workplace. This, as it has been demonstrated, would have the impact of further enhancing the performance of the organization. Employees who are stressed up are likely to be easily distracted, less motivated, more irritable, and more likely to be absent from work. All these come at a huge cost to an organization. In the final analysis, therefore, for an organization keen on remaining relevant in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the need to embrace various employee stress management strategies cannot be overstated.

References

Alters, S. & Schiff, W. (2011). Essential Concepts for Healthy Living Update (5th ed.). Boston: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Cummings, T.G. & Worley, C.G. (2009). Organization Development and Change (9th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Hwang, J., Lee, J.J., Park, S., Chang, H. & Kim, S.S. (2012). The Impact of Occupational Stress on Employee's Turnover Intention in the Luxury Hotel Segment. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 15(1), 60-77.

Leong, F.T. (Ed.). (2008). Encyclopedia of Counseling. Los Angeles: SAGE.