Employee's perception of managment of workplace stress

Employee’s Perception of Management of Workplace Stress Stress in places of work continues to be persistent in many Western nations and results to both social and economic costs not only to the employees but also to organizations, families and governments. Work place stress results to absenteeism and reduced turn over and productivity which have high costs in United States, United Kingdom and Australia. In Australia, employee absenteeism due to stress related disorders averaged at 20 weeks annually; this is way above the 10 day absenteeism average due to injuries at work places (Buys et al, 2010, p. 25).
Work place stress is a multifaceted issue that involves work life, environmental and personal aspects. There have been recent researches across the globe to address the causes of stress in work places. Notably, the research on employee perceptions of management of stress in workplaces identifies that the source of stressors and individual behavior need to be viewed to diminish this condition (Buys et al, 2010, p. 25). The research on employee perceptions of management of stress in workplaces notes that it is ineffective to return workers to the same surrounding that conduced their stress. It is thus significant to have intercessions at the organizational level since some of the stress contributors can be regulated by the employer; such as unreasonable performance demands, excessive working hours, poor communication, bullying, and job insecurity. These factors are embedded in the organization’s culture which can be changed through helpful leadership and common indulgent organizational goals. Legislative and policy systems devised to assist injured employees also contribute to stress related disorders in work places and hinder rehabilitation efforts (Buys et al, 2010, p. 26).
The research on employee perceptions of management of stress in workplaces employed qualitative data collection method. It employed the use of questionnaires on 600 respondents, who had attended an international conference on disability management in Berlin, Germany (Buys et al, 2010, p. 27). The questionnaire had two sections; section one required a respondent to fill information on the location of their organization, the number of employees, organization type and the respondents role in the organization. Section two engrossed 30 statements and open-minded questions that touched on the approaches that the organization uses to manage stress. The statements called for the respondent to specify the level of agreement on a 6-point Likert scale having ranges from “ strongly agree” to “ strongly disagree”. Analysis of the data acquired from the questionnaires was done using descriptive statistics based on frequency data and correlation (Buys et al, 2010, p. 27).
The results of the study portrayed that the respondents were not positive on how their organizations deal with work place stress. The average scores on the study items ranged from 3. 06 to 4. 85 (Buys et al, 2010, p. 27). This implies that most of the respondents somewhat disagreed, somewhat agreed and agreed. The only area that the respondents viewed intervention to be satisfactory was provision of procedures to diminish physical workplace injuries and risks (Buys et al, p. 28). The respondents graded Rehabilitation measures a little bit positive. The respondents perceived provision of workplace accommodations, follow up, and monitoring to be best handled while they perceived training of supervisors to aid employees with stress injury to get back to work as an area that of most concern. In addition, the survey established that a high incidence of stress in an organization was significantly and negatively linked to perceptions about the work environment (Buys et al, 2010, p. 29). Apparently, the results of high levels of reported stress associated it with low ratings of workplace surroundings. Moreover, low levels of compensation were linked with high ratings of deterrence and high workplace environment ratings (Buys et al, 2010, p. 29).
It is essential for employers to adopt procedures to avert stress injuries due to the factors in workplaces that contribute to stress and the negative effects associated with employee’s compensation system. The results of the study have a meaningful application in workplaces. The results indicate that the employees are not impressed by the attempts by their employers to solve stress in their workplaces (Buys et al, 2010, p. 29). In order to address the issues that contribute to stress in workplaces, it is imperative to collect data to identify the work related perils to mental health and adoption of rehabilitation initiatives. The results identified areas of concern such as safety training, wellness programs, and stress prevention training which can be rectified through interventions (Buys et al, 2010, p. 30). Organizations that effectively adopt disability management has cultures, structures, perspectives, and procedures that up hold rehabilitation of injured employees. This provides for early identification of stress contributors and thus early intervention.
Works Cited
Buys, N., L. R. Mathews, and C. Randall. ” Employees perceptions of the management of workplace stress.” International Journal of Disability Management 5. 2 (2010): 25-31. Web.