Air Devils co. has experienced low performance levels because of stress amongst the employees. Of late there seems to be a reaction of employees towards workplace pressure and demands. The employees are no longer meeting the demands from the organization in terms of productivity. For instance the production targets are not being met despite the fact that most of the employees are rarely absent from duty. Most of the employees feel that they can longer cope with the demands from their employers. Therefore the employees of the company can be said to be stressed.
Employee stress in the company has been indicated by the increased discipline problems in the company. Most of the employees are involved in mistakes that find them colliding with the managers. There has also been a notable increase in absenteeism from duty. Most of the absentees give lame excuses for failing to come to work. There has also been a reduction in quality and increased complaints from customers. (Towner, 1998)
The stress in the employees can be said to be caused by both the conditions in the company and other factors outside the company.
Solutions
Workplace conditions
It would be important that the conditions at the workplace be improved. The employees deserve to work in an environment that is attractive and pleasant. There should be less formalization of procedures in the organization. The employees should be given a chance to make arrangements at their workplace. The management has to avoid interfering every now and then with the arrangement for instance employees should be allowed to make their own decorations. In the results, it was revealed that some of the employees are not satisfied with the conditions at the workplace. The improvement of the working environment has the potential of reducing the stress in the employees. According to Herzbergs motivational theoy, lack of hygiene factors at the workplace may be the cause of dissatisfaction and stress at the workplace. If the organization improves the hygiene factors employees are more likely to be satisfied hence their usual performance can be regained. (Robbins&Judge, 2007)
Employee participation in decision making.
Employees in the organization should be allowed to take part in decision making concerning the key issues surrounding their work processes. This would help to prevent managers making unrealistic expectations from the employees. This is because unrealistic expectations from managers who do not understand their juniors can lead to stress at the workplace. It was observed from the results that the management was not doing adequate consultation with the employees when it comes to the implementation of some workplace policies.
Social environment.
The organization has to provide a conducive environment where employees can freely socialize and build relationships. This is vital because, at the workplace there are so many interactions and some of them can be the source of employee stress. With well built working relations the levels of stress amongst the employees can be reduced hence improved productivity. An examination of the social environment revealed that most of the employees in the organization were not having time to interaction. Most of the times they are pre-occupied with various work processes as required by the management.
Maslow described the five different types of needs that can affect the performance of employees. Security needs at the workplace can also cause stress at the workplace. When employees feel that they can lose their job anytime, this can be a major cause of workplace stress. The organization therefore has to endeavor to satisfy the employees security needs at the workplace. Addressing the security needs of the employees is oone way that can be used to improve the productivity of the company. Things like the wage of the employees need to be looked into by the management so as to solve the problem of stress.( Maslow, 1954)
The safety and security needs might also be affecting the employees away from their work environment. For instance if some of the employees are not meeting their daily needs at home, they are most likely to be stressed and less productive. Some employees come from families where they are the only bread winners and they have so many dependants. This can at times be stressful especially when their salary is insufficient to cater for all their basic needs. Another thing is sickness of dependants or close relatives which can cause stress. Psychological counseling for the employees who appear stressed is also a very important in an organization so as to improve productivity. Through counseling, behavior can be changed and difficult situations can be handled. Counseling provides and opportunity for self expression where affected employees can reveal their issues to the counselor. Assistance can be provided at individual level and can help to solve the problem of low productivity by addressing the small problems that affect individuals. (Bohlander&Snell, 2007)
Workplace counseling helps to make use of knowledge of human behavior and cognition to solve workplace stress. The social environment has been observed to play a significant role in reducing stress amongst employees. This shows that understanding of these important aspects of humans can be a very useful tool of creating relationships that reduce stress. As it is known, stress is mainly articulated by the key principle of fear and worry that cloud the minds of employees. (Bohlander&Snell, 2007)
In conclusion, organizations can reduce workplace stressors by creating good working relationships that tend to reduce fear and worry. In such an environment employees express themselves freely and are more productive.
