Employee stress: causes, effects, and management strategies

¶ … body and mind of the employee is under the negative impact of the excess emotional stress. It has been observed that the stress hormones including Cortisol and Adrenaline are developed into the blood stream of the employee, under severe stress condition. The human mind reacts sharply towards the critical professional condition including upcoming deadline or troubled professional relations. Such stress hormones are particularly designed for the supply pf the quick energy to the human body, and do not go along with the human body for longer. The regular physical exercises are expected to diminish and nullify the influence and generation of such hormones. However, in cases when the employee avoid taking exercises on regular basis, it is warned that there will be unprecedented rise in the development of such hormones, which in later stage can provide out to be lethal under severe professional constraints. It is expected that the accumulation of such hormones will generate toxic effect, 'this can lead to weight gain, heart problems, headaches, heartburn and a series of other physical symptoms' (John Upson, 2007). Therefore different companies have encouraged the adoption of efficient techniques to discourage the growth of such hormones, and minimize its influence. Currently the large companies of United States have adopted techniques from 'Applied Psychology, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis, Life Coaching, Meditation, Tai Chi, and Creative Visualization' (John Upson, 2007) which is expected to address and resolve all the concerns which are associated with the employees working under extreme stress condition and hectic schedule. It has been agreed over that employees are of valuable resource for the company, and people are regarded as 'the single most important asset any business has, and is the largest investment a company can make' (John Upson, 2007). Many companies of Britain and American origin has invested sufficient amount of funds towards the maintenance of the employees, it is common and agreeable approach that the multinational companies should not only invest sufficient amount of funds towards equipments, and the maintenance of those equipments to 'ensure trouble free productive service' (John Upson, 2007), and the importance of the employees and their mental health should not be ignored. It is important to understand that the companies in particular those which are operational within United States are under legal compulsion o ensure that their employees are protected from any mental torture or mental stress. The government has implemented legalization with reference to the provisions from the avoidance of any mental pressure or stress on the employee through 'duty of care', the legalization has been approved under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the purpose of the overall exercise was to 'ensure people are not made ill by their jobs' (John Upson, 2007). Under this act proposed, adopted and implemented by the Health and Safety Executive, the act is applicable on all stress related illness cases experienced by the local employee during his professional association with any approved company. According to the reports, 'the employers also have a responsibility under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 to assess risk to staff health and take reasonable steps to prevent harm, the Health Safety Executive has stipulated this covers stress. Through unofficial estimates, the prevailing and continuous stress cost more than seven million working days to the British economy, whereas the loss is more threatening for the companies established in United States.

Barclays

Barclays is the prominent name among the banking giants of the United Kingdom, it is also considered to be among the prestigious banks in the world. Unfortunately, in past years several cases of mental sickness have been reported within the organization. It is indeed easy to reach the leading mark, but it is always difficult to maintain yourself at the peak for longer duration, similarly Barclays experienced the same situation, and the threat of recession forced the bank's top management to pressurize the middle and low level employees to work effectively and efficiently to overcome the shortcomings so that the company can maintain its level of superiority. The company observed that due to the intense work schedule and the work load over the employees, the employees complained of serious mental and physical constraints, there were repeated complains of irritability, headaches, illness, insomnia, and lethargy. The bank management observed an interesting phenomenon, during the period when the employees are occupied with large mount of work load, and were under extreme pressure, the bank had to spend more towards the health and medical expenses, which was far more than the average spending towards the medical expenses of the employees. The company therefore introduced such policies which were executed to counter the negative fall out of the tense and crucial environment offered to the employees, of course the bank on its part was also bound to put the employees under such constrains and severe condition due to the rapid changes in the world economy, and the increasing number of opportunities that were available, and the market expectations which the bank had to fulfilled. The company received repeated complains of mental stress, and such complains were forwarded by different employees, and few factors were extremely identical and common in heir cases, firstly all hose who ever under mental anxiety and stress worked endlessly without tiring, and reflected partial feelings and emotions, all such cases were observed in those who have increased their intake quantity of caffeine and the use of tobacco. The Barclays therefore adopted a method of change that worked long-term, it availed the services of different programs which were introduced in the market, and the objective of which was to teach and make the employees adopt the techniques which can promote 'stress management and general well being for employees' (John Upson, 2007). Such technique was able to minimize and dilute the concentration of he stress and tense behavior reflected by the employees, therefore the program itself was a 'revolutionary approach to combat stress and increase productivity'. Through such measures the company was able to secure its success, and was able to maintain its standings. It was observed that the revolutionary processes adopted by the Barclays was in it itself exemplary, employees appreciated such scheme, and 'individuals begin to feel the immediate effects', it was observed that the personal willingness, interest and enthusiasm of the employees towards their professional commitment was positive. It was observed that the preventive measures taken by the company was responsible for the increasing cooperation and coordination between the employers and employees, and there was visible force of team spirit which rekindled due to the reforms introduced by the company to overcome the mental illness and stress problems (Smith, 2002).

Vodafone

Vodafone is considered to be major telecommunication giant of Europe; the company has expended its services internationally, and is considered to be reputed. The ongoing competition within the field of telecommunication brought the employees of the company under serious threat to either perform well, else face termination of services, therefore the employees were under mental anxiety and worked accordingly, this resulted in greater failure for the company which was not able to achieve the targeted results even after revision. The company realized that its failure was attributed with the collapse of its supply chain system, further investigation revealed that the failure of the supply chain system was associated with the flaws and irregularities reported within the system, it was observed that the poor implementation of the entire system was responsible for he debacle, therefore the company took the counter measures to subdue the impact of the system, it was also observed that the lack of support and lack of coordination between the upper and lower category employees was also responsible for the failure, the failure resulted in the overall deterioration of the performance previously marked and achieved by the employees, the employees complained of mental trauma which they experienced under the might of individual authority, whose actions deferred from the manifesto of the company. In some of the cases the mental stress was associated with the bullying and racial, sexual harassment from the employers. The stress and concerns were also built once the subordinates performed miserably, and the company suffered a major jolt, which shook up the entire team of he company. The company also observed increasing stress and mental illness associated with the proactive roles of the particular diversified unions within the system, and minor incidents of racial discrimination were reported, therefore the tensions prevailed because of the incorporation of the diversity within the workforce. The prevailing tense work environment, and the mental trauma experienced by the employees, when such employees were placed in extreme conditions without any assistance and resources has been responsible for the failure of the supply chain management system of the company. 'The globalization and competitive pressures for shorter product cycles, supply chain members felt the stresses of role conflict and role ambiguity from different sources' (John Upson, 2007), including the pressure to behave and respond in manner which was based on the need for the thinking and evolution of the process on the basis of the revised and adopted strategies. It was noted that the variation in the role and responsibilities of the negotiator towards others in different organization was responsible for the growing stress and mental illness on the basis of uncertainties experienced by the employees in their interaction and performance. It was also noted that the employees were asked and forcibly compelled to 'analyze the value of various partners' (Harris, 2002), this was of course considered to be risky practice, and the employees reflected their concerns towards the nature of responsibility, but of course were not able to veto because of the threat of the termination of their services was apparent. The technological revolution, in particular concentrated in the cellular and telecommunication technology was responsible for mental illness among the employees. The employees also complained of the mental stress due to the increasing expectation laid down by the employers without any provision of financial rewards, and access to the required information, and resources for the procurement of the targets, therefore the continuous improvement vision by the Vodafone, was another debacle for the mental illness among the employees. The administration of the Vodafone therefore adopted series of remedial measures and plans to counter for the growing complains of the mental illness among the employees, the major purpose of the implementation of the remedial measures was to avail possible financial gains in the going technological boom within Europe and Asian countries, and of course it was unpleasant for the company to experience internal conflicts and constrains during this crucial stage, therefore the company revamped all its previous execution and targeted mostly on such plans which were beneficial and productive for the employees, the well-being of the employees was associated with the economic prosperity and larger turnover of he company. The company trained its employees to deal with the 'new demands of working with a strategic supply chain', the designation and the services were defined in new manner, and any confusion with reference to their services and assignments were addressed, the company ensured that the performance and professional interests of the employees do not overlap. The company, for itself, introduced a process which was aimed at 'the identification and addressing of user issues before and after technological changes' (John Upson, 2007).

Ford

Ford was previously considered to be largest giant of the automobile sector, and has good number of units produced on daily basis, but due to the escalation of the automobile industry from Chinese and Japanese region, the company has reported reduced number of unit production on daily basis, the company has also reported financial loss for few consecutive years. The recession of the American automobile industry was responsible for the cases of mental illness among the employees, it was reported that the employees faced continuous threat of termination, and was therefore unable to deliver its utmost for the company. Surprisingly, the Ford Motors was able to combat the recession phenomena, however there were other internal concerns and malpractices which turned the employees unsecured about their job prospects, and that particular category of the employees worked under extreme mental illness. There were cases where the employees behaved in manner which can be regarded as 'out of character' (David, 2000), the employees were observed to suddenly shift towards excessive use of alcohol, and caffeine. The employees complained about their rising work hours, and their inability to relax and sleep well, the rising work pressure was responsible for the abrupt changes within the employees. The employees of the company were also identified with different health problems due to their abrupt changes in their social behavior, the employees were registered with different diseases of stomach ulcers, heart problems, allergies, skin disorders, migraine, arthritis, cancer, diabetes and depression. Apart from the health concerns which originated due to the recession of the company's standards, production and profitability. There were cases of cultural and social uprising which was also responsible for the further aggravation of the problems associated wit the mental illness of the employees. In some of the cases, the employees intentionally suppressed their mental illness, because of the common concern that the identification of the employee with a mental illness is withdrawal from the services, therefore the employees refuted the offer for diagnosis through stress management, and the personal mental illness of the employees further deteriorated. Ford experienced steady damage, because not only the competition from the Japanese, Korean and Chinese company was challenging, but also because the internal situation of the company was in doldrums. Therefore the company tried to share its communication in strategically manner, the company adopted a responsible course of action, and ensured that any irregularities are avoided; the company tired to achieve a situation can be best regarded as win-win situation for the employers and the employees. The company further took the initiative of trusting its management through their direct association and linkages with the supply chain partners. The company permitted the direct interaction and correspondence of its management with supply chain partners reflected its flexibility, and adopted certain contingent plans which were aimed at their direct dilution of the forces that were responsible for the mental illness within the organization. The Ford Motors also established a network, the purpose of which was to provide greater access to information to the local employees, the employees of the company previously expressed their concerns over the confidentiality of all the issues and matters related to the employees, their performance and services. The company also introduced 'corporate entrepreneurship through establishing a culture of change and creativity' (John Upson, 2007). It was observed that such practices and exercises were directly responsible for the improvement of the performance by the individual workers, the overall team performance of the individual department also improved, the working relationship between the employees and the departments also improved, and resultantly the overall production of the company got boosted (Susan, 2002).

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