1

WORK-LIFE STRESS AND ITS IMPACT

THIS PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS OF B.COM (HONS) FOR THE PAPER BCH-6.4 DSE GROUP B (F),

TITLED “BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS AND PROJECT WORK”

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

DR. HARLEEN KAUR SHRESHTHA SHARMA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR BCOM HONS-17044504156

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

MATA SUNDRI COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

MATA SUNDRI COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI, DELHI

2

DECLARATION

This is to certify that the project titled “WORK-LIFE STRESS AND ITS IMPACT” is an original

work of Shreshtha & is being submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of B.Com

(Honours) for the Paper BCH -6.4 DSE Group B (f), titled “Business Research Methods and

Project Work” of Delhi university.

This report has not been submitted earlier either to this university or to any other

university/Institution for the fulfillment of the requirement to a course of study.

…………………………….. ………………………………..

(Signature of student) (Signature of supervisor)

SHRESHTHA SHARMA DR. HARLEEN KAUR

BCH/17/272 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The completion of this study would have been impossible without the material and moral

support from various people. It’s my duty to extend my gratitude to them.

First of all I thank the Almighty God for giving me good health and guiding me through the

entire course.

My sincere thanks to principal of our MATA SUNDRI COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, professor (Dr)

HARPREET KAUR for giving me opportunity to work and learn about business research on

“work life stress and its impact”

I express my deep sense of gratitude and profound respect to my supervisor and professor

Dr HARLEEN KAUR. Who has helped and encouraged me at all stages of my project work

with great patience and immense care.

I am very much indebted to my dearest friends Miss Ritika shukla, Miss Sakshi agarwal, Miss

Toshi mittal, Miss Priyanshi pathak, for their encouragement, timely help and invaluable

support during the course of my project work. I am equally thankful to my parents and

relatives for their constant support

I offer my apologies to all whose names are missing here. They are too important part of my

academic and personal life. I am thankful to them all for their loving support and patience.

4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………2

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

Table of contents………………………………………………………………………………………………………….........4

List of tables……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6

List of figures……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………........8

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Definition of stress……………………………………………………………………………………………………..10

1.2 Meaning of stress………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11

1.3 Sources of stress …………………………………………………………………………………………………………11

1.4 Types of stress………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....13

1.5 Contribution of the study…………………………………………………………………………………………….13

1.6 Research objectives…………………………………………………………………………………………………….15

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Origin, Terminology and definition of stress……………………………………………………………….16

2.2 Nature of stress………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17

2.3 Impact of job stress…………………………………………………………………………………………………….18

2.4 Hypothesis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19

5

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design……………………………………………………………………………...……20

3.2 Target population……………………………………………………………………………………………....20

3.3 Sample detail………………………………………………………………………………………………………20

3.4 Data collection…………………………………………………………………………………………………….21

3.5 Measures…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21

3.6 Designing of questionnaire…………………………………………………………………………………21

3.7 Instrument …………………………………………………………………………………………………………22.

3.8 Tool of analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………22

DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Hypotheses and their interpretation………………………………………………………………….23

LIMITATION

5.1 Limitation…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..38

CONCLUSIONAND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………...39

6.2 Recommendation……………………………………………………………………………………………...41

6.3 Future research recommendation…………………………………………………………………….42

REFERENCES

7.1 References……………………………………………………………………………………………………….43

APPENDIX

8.1 Research questionnaire…………………………………………………………………………………...45

6

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: There is no relationship between work related stress and health problems of

employees

TABLE 2: Job satisfaction is not associated with working hours

TABLE 3: There is no relationship between employee’s absenteeism and physical working

environment.

TABLE 4: Married employees have same level of work stress as unmarried employees

TABLE 5: Major cause of job stress is independent of any counseling sessions or

meditation/yoga classes attended by employee

TABLE 6: Working persons in the family of employees

TABLE 7: Workplace harassment

TABLE 8: Major cause of job stress

TABLE 9: Best stress relief method

TABLE 10: Distribution of the respondents by gender

TABLE 11: Distribution of the respondents on the basis of educational qualification

TABLE 12: distribution of the respondents on the basis of experience.

7

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: Clustered column on working persons in employee’s family

FIGURE 2: Stacked column on workplace harassment

FIGURE 3: Pie chart on major cause job stress

FIGURE 4: Doughnut on stress relief methods

FIGURE 5: Clustered column on gender distribution of respondents

FIGURE 6: Clustered column on distribution on the basis of educational qualification

FIGURE 7: Pie chart on work experience of employees

8

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND-In recent years the rise in stress has seen across all spheres of life,

particularly in the workplace. Stress in organizations is a wide-spread phenomenon with far-

reaching practical and economic consequences. Various studies have been conducted to

examine various job stressors ( Lack of financial rewards, Inflexibility in work hours,

Personal issues, Low control over the work environment and Bureaucratic management

system, heavy workload ,physical environment and career opportunities, management style

and job enrichment, and rewards and job security)and their impact on employees

performance, job satisfaction and many other aspects.

AIM-The aim of this study was to identify the major sources of stressors among employees

and impact of these stressors on employee’s personal health, financial condition and finding

various stress management techniques .to assess the level of work stress among male and

female employee. The one of the aims was to ascertain the relationship between variables

of work related stress with various aspects of job satisfaction. Another main motive of this

study is to examine relationship among work related stress and various stress relief

methods. In our study we tried to associate the financial stress of employee with impact of

work related stress. In this study we also tried to understand workplace harassment as one

of the aspect of workplace stress. This study is done to assist management to find out the

areas where the employees undergo stress at their workplace and the consequences that

they face because of this. And develop various strategies to reduce stress of employees and

thus increase their efficiency and effectiveness at work.

DESIGN-The study adopted the cross sectional survey design using quota sampling of 43

male and 32 female employees from Delhi and Delhi NCR.

METHOD- Statistical tests employed in this study were descriptive in nature both

qualitative and quantitative data analyses were conducted. Secondary and primary data

were collected for the study. Questionnaire was used to collect the data for the study.

Questionnaires include personal details using demographic variables and work stress details

using various independent and dependent variables. All the close- ended questions were

9

designed to generate responses. Data were analyzed by using chi square, ANOVA and

frequency tables

RESULT - Through our research we found that job satisfaction is not associated with

working hours, employees absenteeism is related to the physical working environment of

the job. Major causes of job stress for employees are volume of work, nature of job & its

responsibilities and physical work environment .One of the major findings of our result is

that a major cause of job stress for particular employees is associated with any counseling

sessions or meditation/ yoga classes attended by that employee. Result of data analysis

shows that married and unmarried employees have the same level of work stress which

means personal issues are not linked with work stress.

CONCLUSION - job stress is a major problem in all kinds of jobs and occupations. As per

our survey we come to know that workplace stress is not only for fresher’s or most

experienced employees but workplace stress is an issue for all in general. The best stress

relief method for employees is entertainment. Companies need to concentrate more on

solving employee’s grievance.

10

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 DEFINITION OF STRESS

1.1.1) ACCORDING TO ROBBINS AND SANGHI (2006) “ A dynamic condition in which an

individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraints, or demand related to what he or

she desire and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important ”

1.1.2) ACCORDING TO NEWMAN AND BEE HR(1979) define job stress or workplace stress as

“ a situation wherein job related factors interact with the worker to change his or her

psychological and physiological condition such that the person is forced to deviate from

normal functioning ”

1.1.3) According to Luthans “Stress is not simply anxiety: anxiety operates solely in the

emotional and psychological sphere, whereas there and also in the physiological sphere.

Stress is not simply nervous tension: nervous tension may result from stress, but both are

not the same. Unconscious people have exhibited stress, and some people do not express

stress through nervous tension”.

These authors were of the opinion that the world, especially the world of work and

business, has become increasingly subjected to fast changing forces like increased

competition, the pressure of quality, innovation and an increase in the pace of doing

business. The demands on employees grew equally dramatically and this created stress

within employees. Apart from stress that arose from the work situation, other sources of

stress could relate to personal factors such as relationships with others and use of free time.

11

1.2 MEANING OF STRESS

Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The

body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. An adaptive

response, to external action, situation, or event that places excessive psychological or

physical demand on the individual. Stress is a normal part of life. You can experience stress

from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. The human body is designed to

experience stress and react to it. . Stress can be positive, keeping us alert, motivated, and

ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous

challenges.

1.3 SOURCES OF STRESS

Society, the working world and daily life have changed almost beyond recognition in the

past years. These changes have contributed to a major increase in stress. We have school,

work, family, holidays, and many more things that contribute to our stress. The things that

cause stress are called stressor .In our daily life we face different type of stressors, such as

biological, psychological, sociological and philosophical in any case, regardless of the

stressor, the body’s reaction will be the same (Greenberg 1990). In normal language

stressors can be good or bad. The good ones could be getting married, getting a promotion

at work. Bad stressors can include divorce, financial problems, or illness. What stresses one

person out may not be stressful to another person.

Stress doesn’t just affect you personally; it also affects the people around you. Your friends

and family and whoever else you spend time around will see and feel your stress. When you

get stressed you tend to be tired all the time which makes spending quality time with the

family hard to do. Also stress can cause you to be in a bad mood which will affect the people

you are around because you might say something or do something you didn’t mean. Being

stressed and busy so much will cause you to lose time with your loved ones and will affect

your relationship with them and that is one of the worst things that could happen in the

personal life of a person.

12

Main sources of stress in an employee’s life can be

● Work factors

● Excessive working hours

● Unreasonable performance demands

● Physical work environment

● Noise and overcrowding

● Health and safety risks

● Ergonomic problems organizational practices

● Lack of autonomy

● Poor communication

● Workplace change

● Insecurity in job

● High turnover relationship

● Poor relationship with superiors

13

1.4 TYPES OF STRESS

1. Acute Stress: Acute stress is your body's immediate reaction to a new challenge, event,

or demand - the fight or flight response. As the pressures of a near-miss automobile

accident, an argument with a family member or a costly mistake at work sink in, your body

turns on this biological response. Isolated episodes of acute stress should not have any

lingering health effects. In fact, they might actually be healthy for you - as these stressful

situations give your body and brain practice in developing the best response to future

stressful situations.

2. Chronic Stress: If acute stress isn't resolved and begins to increase or lasts for long

periods of time, it becomes chronic stress. Chronic stress can be detrimental to your health,

as it can contribute to several serious diseases or health risks, such as heart disease, cancer,

lung disease, accidents, and cirrhosis of the liver.

3. Emotional Stress: The pain of emotional stress can hit harder than some other types of

stress. Strategies that help you to process, diffuse, and build resilience toward emotional.

4. Time Stress: The kind of stress is the resultant of one’s worry about time or the lack

thereof. One worry about the number of things that one has to do, and fear that will fail to

achieve something important. One might feel trapped, unhappy or even hopeless. This

stress is common in all facets of lives.

5. Situational Stress This stress occurs in a scary situation that one has no control over. This

stress is not anticipated by the individual and as such it is always sudden.

1.5 CONTRIBUTION OF STUDY

In today’s world, stress has become a worldwide phenomenon. Life these days is full of

stress. We have school, work, family, holidays, and many more things that contribute to our

stress. The existence of human beings cannot be separated from stress, since it as integral a

part of life as is breathing. Stress is something that affects many people each and every day.

Life is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations, and demands.

14

For any organization to survive human resources is the most important resource. The

success of the company is to great extent depend upon the quality and work efforts of the

personnel. Stress is a motivator and is important for survival and progress when stress is in

its productive form but when it is non-productive stress it starts eating away the peace of

mind, efficiency and health. A person can make others happy only if he is happy.

Stress is one of the burning issues that organizations have to deal so that employees can

comfortably produce quality work.

Hence the study was conducted to have a detailed study undertaking the various kinds of

job stress and impact of job stress. The reason behind the study is to help the management

to find out the areas where the employees undergo stress at their workplace and the

consequences that they face because of this. One of the major reasons for the problems like

high rate of absenteeism, indiscipline, low Performance is the existence of high levels of

stress in one’s occupation.

Therefore, every organization should be concerned with knowing how happy and

comfortable the employees are, doing their respective work. Stress when controlled and

reined in properly, can add to quality of performance. It over takes can cause problems with

performance, interpersonal relationship and physical well being of the individual. Therefore

there is no escape from stress causing factors (known as stressors) existing in an

organization and improving the working conditions or helping the employees to cope with

personal stressors. Executives are the pillars on whom the organization depends for its

diversification and development.

It is therefore becomes essential to develop strategies to create a conducive climate and

environment, which would enable them to ease out stress and strain of executives for their

better performance

15

1.6 RESEARCHOBJECTIVES

The objective of study is:-

1) To determine factors that cause stress among employees

2) To find out the outcomes and consequences of stress on personal health of employees

3) To suggest suitable techniques to reduce stress among the employees and stress

management

4) To examine the relationship between work-related stress and health problems of

employees

5) To known about whether or not work and family demands are associated with life stress

of employees.

6) To understand impact of job related stress on Job Satisfaction

7) To find the Impact of job Stress on the Organization

16

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 ORIGIN, TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITION OF STRESS

The term stress was first employed in a biological context by the endocrinologist Hans Selye

in the 1930s. He later broadened and popularized the concept to include inappropriate

physiological response to any demand. In his usage stress refers to a condition and the

stressor to the stimulus causing it. It covers a wide range of phenomena from mild irritation

to drastic dysfunction that may cause severe health breakdown.

According to Robbins (2004), stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is

confronted with opportunity, constraint or demand related to what he desires and for which

the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. From this definition one can

say that stress is not necessarily bad, it also has a positive value when it offers potential

gain. Moorhead and Griffen (1998) also defined stress as a person’s adaptive response to a

stimulus that places physical and psychological demands on a person. Similarly, Sherman,

Bahlander and Snell (1996), also defined stress as any adjustive demand on an individual

caused by physical, emotional or mental factors that requires coping behaviour.

In addition, Taylor Shelley (1995) describes stress as a negative emotional experience

accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive and behavioral changes

that are directed either toward altering the events or accommodating its effects. Again,

Bennett (1994) defines stress as a wide collection of physical and psychological symptoms

that results from difficulties experienced by an individual while attempting to adapt to an

environment. This means the potential for stress exists when an environmental situation

presents a demand threatening to exceed a person’s capabilities and resources. From the

above definitions and descriptions stress can best be seen as excessive demands that affect

a person physically and psychologically. Thus the mental or physical condition that results

from perceived threat or danger and the pressure to remove it.

17

2.2 NATURE OF STRESS

One believes that stress is a complex phenomenon because it is not tangible so it cannot be

overtly touched. According to Bowing and Harvey (2001), stress occurs with the interaction

between an individual and the environment, which produces emotional strain affecting a

person’s physical and mental condition. Stress is caused by stressors, which are events that

create a state of disequilibrium within an individual. These authors also stated that the cost

of too much stress on individuals, organizations, and society is high. Many employees may

suffer from anxiety disorders or stress-related illnesses. In terms of days lost on the job, it is

estimated that each affected employee loses about 16 working days a year because of

stress, anxiety or depression.

According to Ritchie and Martin (1999), for years stress was described and defined in terms

of external, usually physical, forces acting on an individual. Later it was suggested that the

individual’s perception of, and response to, stimuli or events was a very important factor in

determining how that individual might react, and whether or not an event will be

considered stressful. These authors further contended that most researchers acknowledged

that both external and internal factors affect stress. They viewed stress as a response to

external or internal processes, which reach levels that strain physical and psychological

capacities beyond their limit.

According to Blumenthal (2003), for thousands of years, the bodies of cavemen/women

were primed to deal with the harshness and rigorous nature of their environment.

Blumenthal (2003) viewed stress as anything that upsets people’s ability to maintain critical

variables (which can be social, psychological, spiritual or biological in nature) within

acceptable limits. The experience of stress involves an event that is demanding or resources

as well as the subjective feeling of distress experienced in its face. An event could be

experienced as stressful if people appraised (evaluated) it as distressing. Whether an event

is experienced as stressful depends on a person’s psychosocial orientation with things like

culture, spirituality, values, beliefs and past experiences influencing the appraisal. Events

that are appraised as being overwhelming, threatening, unsatisfying or confliction are more

likely to be experienced as stressful.

18

2.3 THE IMPACT OF JOB STRESS

Starting a new job would likely be very stressful if the person felt inexperienced, unable to

cope with workload, uncomfortable around their bosses or colleagues and un-stimulated by

their work. On the other hand, a person entering an area of work where they felt

competent, supported by their colleagues and stimulated, would be more likely to

experience the change as challenging than stressful.

According to Luthans (2002) besides the potential stressors that occurred outside the

organization, there were also those that were associated with the organization. Although an

organization is made up of groups of individuals, there are also more macro level

dimensions, unique to an organization that contains potential stressors.

DCS gaumail (2003) is of the opinion that at the organizational level, research has found

that work-related stresses may be responsible for organizational outcomes such as decline

in performance, dissatisfaction, lack of motivation and commitment, and an increase in

absenteeism and turnover. That is why so many organizations heavily rely on motivational

theories to release the stress of employees and to enhance the attitude towards initiatives.

You can increase the employees performance by rewarding them what they are expecting

(Latham, 2003).

ERP (employee relationship management) has been used for employees’ satisfaction and

their dignity; its basic function is to make interaction between employee’s performance and

relations (Kuzu & Özilhan, 2014). By adopting this kind of strategic management for human

resources, organizations can achieve different outcomes like better job performance.

Levin-Epstein (2002) also noted the most common indicators of stress as feeling

overwhelming and burn out. Emotional and physical exhaustion often accompany such

feelings, he further emphasized that employers as implementers of stress-endangering

policies and procedures, should help employees manage their stress especially if it affects

job performance. Carol and Walton (1997) propagated that the concept of job related stress

has been acknowledged and described by many theorists (Maslach 1976; Cooper 1988; Cox

1991)

19

2.4 HYPOTHESES

On the basis of above literature following hypotheses can be developed;

H1: There is no relationship between work related stress and health problems of employees

H2: job satisfaction is not associated with working hours

H3: There is no relationship between employee’s absenteeism and physical working

environment

h4: Married employees have same level of work stress as unmarried employees

h5: Major cause of job stress is independent of any counseling sessions or meditation/yoga

classes attended by employee

VARIABLES

Independent variables Dependent variables

Work related stress Health problem

Working hrs Job satisfaction

Physical working environment employees absenteeism

Marital status counseling sessions

Major cause of stress

20

3. Methodology

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study was a cross sectional social survey. AS in our study we are investigating a special

chunk of the population under stress. It is scientific in its approach.

3.2 TARGET POPULATION

Our target population was people working as employee under government organization or

private Organization. Our target population includes all kinds of occupations or professions.

Our target population includes both male employee and female employees.

3.3 SAMPLE DESIGN

Sample design opted in this particular study is QUOTA SAMPLING.As strata are formed on

the basis of occupation like medical staff, teachers, ca, army personnel, etc. and selection of

items from the strata were on judgmental basis. So it was a kind of non probability

sampling.

The data for the study draws on surveys was 90% conducted online with the help of Google

form and 10% survey is done through face to face interaction to employees

Our sample size is 95.Out of 95 copies of survey form, 75 were used in this study.5 of them

were discarded due to missing information in their survey form and other 10 responses

were discarded because of vague responses filled by respondents in lack of seriousness. 5

denied filling the form.

Of the 75 respondents, 43 (57.3%) were male 32 (42.7%) were female. The ages of the

participants ranged from 20 to 60, with an average of 32 year. Respondents were from

different states of India but mainly were from Delhi and Delhi NCR. The educational levels of

the participants were: matric (10th pass) is 1 (1.4%), 12th pass. is 6 (8%), undergraduate is

22 (29.3%) & Post graduation 34 (45.3) and any other qualification is 12 (16%). Also, the

Years of Service of respondents: 11 persons representing 14.7% of the respondents have

worked in the institution less than 1 year, 18 persons representing 24% of the respondents

21

have worked between 1-2 Years, 16 persons representing 21.3% of respondent have worked

between 3-5 years & 7 persons representing 9.3% of the respondents who have worked 6-

10 years and the remaining 23 persons representing 30.7% of the respondents have worked

in the company more than 10 years. Marital status of respondents shows that 38

employees representing 50.7% of respondents are married and 37 employees representing

49.3% of respondents are unmarried. Among 75 respondents 43 (57.3% of respondents)

have permanent job structure and 32(42.7% of respondents) have temporary job structure.

3.4 DATA COLLECTION

The data of the study was collected by the way of questionnaire survey. The data for the

study draws on survey was 90% conducted online with the help of Google form. And 10% of

the survey is done through face to face interaction with employees. Responses were

collected normal working hours and on government holidays, although the responses were

allowed to filled 24 hr*7 days because of its online availability.

3.5MEASURES

Demographic Variables-The analysis included seven demographic variables: gender, age,

and education, name, working experience, nature of job and marital status. Gender was

coded (2= female; 1 = male), Age measured in years. Work experience was coded (1=

experience less than 1 year; 2= 1-2 yr experience; 3=3-5 yr experience; 4=6-10 years

experience; 5= more than 10 year experience. Education consisted of five levels coded as (I)

10th pass ;(2) 12th pass ; (3) undergraduates; (4) post graduation; (5) any other degree of

qualification. Marital status was assessed with a fixed-response item (1=married; 2=

unmarried). Nature of the job was stated as (1= temporary; 2= permanent).

3.6 DESIGNING OF QUESTIONNAIRE

- To understand the various aspect of work related stress and its impact respondents were

asked such kind of questions like Do you have long working hours, do you get enough rest

break in between of work , Are you allowed to give suggestions and ideas related to your

work, Do you get financial rewards for your Hard work , How much satisfied you are from

22

organizations policies, Are you subject to personal harassment in form of unkind words or

behavior and respondents were asked about any kind of health problem because of job

stress. Questions were scored on a five point scale ranging from 1 for “strongly disagree”, 2

for “disagree”, 3 for “neutral”, 4 for “agree” and 5 for “strongly agree”

questions in this survey were chosen and selected with slight modifications from several

studies of Montgomery et al. (1996), Beehr and Newman (1978), Zohar (1997), MacKay et

al. (2004), and Arrington (2008) and some of the research papers referred for questionnaire

are: The effect of job related stress on employee satisfaction: a survey in health care ;Impact

of stress on employees job performance in business sector of Pakistan; job stress &

productivity : case of Azad Kashmir public: job stress of employees (IRJ)

3.7 INSTRUMENT

Primary Data sources were used for checking the level of stress and its impact, the main

instrument for primary data collection was the use of questionnaire as well as the

qualitative data is also determined through observations, articles and recent research

papers.

3.8 TOOLS OF ANALYSIS

The study applied both nominal and ordinal scale to measure various work related stressors

and their impact on the employees. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze this data. The

mean responses and other relevant statistics were computed to better understand data.

The data collected was then coded according to responses. Relationships between

responses were assessed and presented using tables and graphs. Percentage analyses, chi

square, ANOVA are the tools used for analyzing the data on the Microsoft excel sheet.

Percentage analysis is done to classify the percentage of employees who have recorded a

certain type of response. ANOVA, chi square statistical techniques was performed to

determine which type of work related stressor contributes significantly to the stress level

among employees and its impact on employee health and other aspects.

23

4 Data Analysis

4.1HYPOTHESES AND THEIR INTERPRETATION

H1: There is no relationship between work related stress and health problems of

employees

ANOVA: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

Column 1 9 288 32 11.5

Column 2 11 326 29.63636364 8.054545455

Column 3 3 95 31.66666667 1.333333333

Column 4 5 158 31.6 3.3

Column 5 47 1402 29.82978723 9.666049954

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS D f MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 55.13624758 4 13.7840619 1.52418244 0.2045867989 2.502656463

Within Groups 633.0504191 70 9.043577415

Total 688.1866667 74

TABLE 1

As the p value is 0.204586 which is more than 0.05(the alpha value) so our null hypothesis

is accepted. Hence our alternative hypothesis is rejected. This means there is no relationship

between work related stress and health problems of employees. so we can conclude that all

variables( long working hours ,decisions and suggestions making ability , repetitive work

,personal issues, appraisal, supportive work environment etc) which construct work related

stress have no kind of relation with any health problem of employees.

24

H2: job satisfaction is not associated with working hours

ANOVA: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

Column 1 32 860 26.875 50.82258065

Column 2 10 300 30 36.88888889

Column 3 23 719 31.26086957 48.4743083

Column 4 10 256 25.6 46.26666667

ANOVA

Source of

Variation SS D f MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 366.3318841 3 122.110628 2.557226689 0.04194194056 2.733647186

Within Groups 3390.334783 71 47.75119412

Total 3756.666667 74

TABLE 2

As the P value is 0.04194, which is less than 0.05 that is our alpha value. Which means in this

case our null hypothesis is rejected or we can say our alternative hypothesis is accepted.

In simple words there is a relationship or association between job satisfactions of

employee’s and number of working hours they have to work for.

25

H3: There is no relationship between employee’s absenteeism and physical working

environment original table

Count of employees absenteeism

physical

working

environment

employees absenteeism Neutral satisfied

very

satisfied dissatisfied

very dissatisfi

ed

Grand

Total

very low 3 4 7

Low 3 8 7 1 19

Normal 5 5 7 3 20

High 4 8 2 1 1 16

very high 3 3 3 2 2 13

Grand Total 15 27 23 7 3 75

EXPECTED

TABLE

Count of employees

absenteeism

physical

working

environment

employees absenteeism Neutral satisfied very satisfied Dissatisfied

very dissatisfied

very low 1.4 2.52 2.146666667 0.653333333 0.28

Low 3.8 6.84 5.826666667 1.773333333 0.76

Normal 4 7.2 6.133333333 1.866666667 0.8

High 3.2 5.76 4.906666667 1.493333333 0.64

very high 2.6 4.68 3.986666667 1.213333333 0.52

Grand Total 15 27 23 7 3

TABLE 3

P value = 0.01055382, as the P Value (0.0105) which is less than 0.05 (the alpha value) so we

can say that our null hypothesis is rejected and our alternative hypothesis is accepted.

In simple words we can say that there is some relationship between employee’s

absenteeism and the physical working environment

26

h4: Married employees have same level of work stress as unmarried employees

ANOVA: Single

Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

Column 1 38 1151 30.28947368 10.8598862

Column 2 37 1118 30.21621622 7.951951952

ANOVA

Source of

Variation SS D f MS F P-value F crit

Between

Groups

0.10060692

27 1

0.100606922

7

0.0106735273

2 0.9179980422 3.97203743

Within Groups

688.0860597 73 9.425836435

Total

688.186666

7 74

TABLE 4

As the P VALUE is 0.91799 which is more than our alpha value that is 0.0. So we come to a

conclusion that our null hypothesis is accepted and alternative hypothesis is rejected. This

means that married employees have the same level of work stress as unmarried employees

or there is no effect of marital status over work stress of the employees.

27

h5: Major cause of job stress is independent of any counseling sessions or

meditation/yoga classes attended by employee

Count of major cause of job stress

counseling sessions or

meditation/ gym and yoga

classes attended

ORIGINA

L VALUE

TABLE

major cause of job stress most frequently never often some time

very few time

Grand Total

any other cause 9 2 3 14

nature of job & it's responsibilities 3 16 1 10 8 38

personal health issues 5 1 1 7

physical work environment 1 1 2

volume of work 5 1 7 1 14

Grand Total 3 35 2 21 14 75

Count of major cause of job

stress

counseling

sessions or

meditation/

gym and yoga

classes

attended

EXPECTED

VALUE TABLE

major cause of job stress

most

frequently Never Often

some

time very few time Grand Total

any other cause 0.56 6.533333333 0.373333333 3.92 2.613333333 14

nature of job & it's

responsibilities 1.52 17.73333333 1.013333333 10.64 7.093333333 38

personal health issues 0.28 3.266666667 0.186666667 1.96 1.306666667 7

physical work environment 0.08 0.933333333 0.053333333 0.56 0.373333333 2

volume of work 0.56 6.533333333 0.373333333 3.92 2.613333333 14

Grand Total 3 35 2 21 14 75

P value =0.022597672 TABLE 5

As the P value is less than 0.05 that is from our alpha value so it means our null hypothesis is

rejected where else our alternative hypothesis is accepted. Which means a major cause of

job stress for employees is dependent on any kind of counseling sessions, gym or meditation

or yoga classes attended by the employees.

28

No of working persons in family

Among 75 respondents there are only 18 employees who are single working person in their

family which represent only 24% of the respondents are sole earner and face financial

problems , where else 57 number employees are not single working in their family or we can

say that 76% of the employees are financially supported by other working family

members

In chart, 1 represents those employees which have more than one working person in their

families. In chart, 2 represent those employees which are the single working person in their

families

Data of number of working person in employee’s family is represented by the chart given

below,

number of working person in

family

Frequency Percentage

One 18 24%

more than one 57 76%

TABLE 6

FIGURE 1

29

Workplace Harassment

Among 75 respondents 28 number of employees that is 37% have never faced any kind of

personal harassment in form of unkind words or behavior and 22 employees said that its

rarely happen to them. Where else 21 employees feel that they have to face workplace

harassment sometimes. Three of the respondents explained that they are often harassed at

work and in our survey we have come across one respondent who told that he is harassed

at his workplace always.

Workplace harassment Frequency Percentage

NEVER 28 37%

SOMETIMES 21 28%

OFTEN 3 4%

RARELY 22 30%

ALWAYS 1 1%

TABLE 7

FIGURE 2

30

Major cause of job stress for employees

Out of 75 respondents 38 employee’s respondents feels that the most prevalent cause of

their stress is nature of job and responsibilities associated with job, and 14 employees

stated that their cause of job stress is volume of work and 7 employees said that the

because of their own person health issue they feel more work stress where else only 2

employees put physical environment of the work place the cause of their stress and

remaining 14 said there other causes for the job stress. So we can say that our research

found the major cause of job stress amongst the employees is Nature of job and

responsibilities associated with specific jobs.

JOB STRESS REASON FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Nature of job & responsibility 38 51 %

physical work environment 2 3 %

person health issues 7 10 %

volume of work 14 18 %

any other cause 14 18 %

TABLE 8

FIGURE 3

31

Best stress relief method

Our respondents were asked about the best stress relief method according to them one

should go for. So Entertainment was the most suggested relief method as it is supported by

39 of our respondents. The second most suggested stress relief method is yoga and

meditation as this gets 22 votes and our third recommended relief method is social support

network with 13 votes and 8 respondents suggested counseling sessions whereas no one

was in favor of taking supportive pill as a stress relief method.

STRESS RELIEF METHOD FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Entertainment 39 52%

Yoga/meditation 22 30%

social support network 13 17%

counseling session 1 1%

supportive pills 0 0%

TABLE 9

Figure 4

32

Gender distribution

In our sample there are 43 number of male employees where female employees are 32 thus

there are 57% males and 43% female so we can say that male working percentile is still

greater than female working percentile in our country.

GENDER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

MALE 43 57 %

FEMALE 32 43 %

TOTAL 75 100

TABLE 10

Figure 5

33

Educational qualifications

From the chart we can say that most of the persons go for employment after completing PG.

According to our survey 30% of people opt for job or occupation after completion of under

graduation where 16% do job after completing job specific degree .Rarely do people do job

after passing 10th class or 12th class.

EDUCATIONAL

QUALIFICATION

FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

MATRIC (10TH PASS) 1 1 %

INTERMEDIATE(12TH PASS) 6 8 %

UNDER GRADUATION 22 30 %

POST GRADUATION 34 45 %

ANY OTHER DEGREE OR

QUALIFICATION

12 16 %

TABLE 11

Figure 6

34

WORK EXPERIENCE

In our sample of 75 respondents we are having very experienced employees and fresher

too. 31 % of the respondents are working for more than 10 years. 24 % of samples lie in the

bracket of 1-2 year experience. Where else 22 % employees have 3-5 years experience. 15%

employees are fresher’s who have worked less than 1 year .only 8% employees are those

who have served 6-10 years.

WORK EXPERIENCE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

LESS THAN 1 YEAR 11 15 %

1-2 YEARS 18 24 %

3-5 YEARS 16 21 %

6-10 YEARS 6 8 %

MORE THAN 10 YEARS 23 31 %

TABLE 12

FIGURE 7

35

5 LIMITATIONS

5.1 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Write whatever you felt were the limitations of your study, e.g. Small sample size, only Delhi was

undertaken as a unit of study etc.

1) It has been conducted in Delhi and Delhi NCR only

2) The analysis and interpretation are based on the sampling techniques, which have in

built assumption and limitation

3) Some employees have failed to give their duly filled in questionnaires in time due to

their hectic schedule

4) The respondents were reluctant to give their personal details and true answer due to

the fear of personal consequences

5) The study was not focused to find out the participant’s bias

6) This project is of qualitative nature

7) Observing employee behavior and interviewing employees through personal

interaction was not possible ;as the study is conducted during lockdown Because of

outbreak of Covid-19 and all citizens were asked to stay home and to maintain

social distancing.

36

6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 CONCLUSION

Any organization aims to be successful. This success can be achieved through the

employee’s involvement and contribution. Successful people do not do different things but

they do things differently

This is evident in this organization as its success is mainly due to the fact that the company

thinks their most valuable asset is their employees and employees have a high level of

commitment and involvement towards the growth of the company. The growth of the

company reflects the growth of the company and vice- versa

From this study the researcher has carried out from the profile of respondents with whom

there had been an interaction and from the data thus collected, that male employees are

more than female employees which shows that even in today's modern world women

employment is still less than men employment. We also come to the conclusion that

married and unmarried employees have the same level of work stress. As we found that the

maximum number of employee’s are post graduates which means most of the people in our

country prefer to first complete their higher education and then opt for jobs .Which all

means that companies select more educated personnel for their posts. As in our study we

tried to cover all kinds of professions and occupational employees and we found that job

stress is a major problem in all kinds of jobs and occupations. As per our survey we come to

know that workplace stress is not only for fresher or most experienced employees but

workplace stress is an issue for all in general.

Variables like high working hours, excess of work, repetitiveness of work, family demand,

financial rewards, supportive work environment, and job insecurity constitute work related

stress.

In our study work related stress has no impact on the personal health of employees.

37

Various variables like salary paid, leaves for absence, health care benefit, retirement

benefits, disputes handling, current position, physical environment, career opportunities,

promotion terms construct job satisfaction of employees. In our research we found that job

satisfaction is not associated with working hours. This means employees do not create any

kind of relationship between the number of hours he is working and his satisfaction with his

job.

one of the major finding of our research is that employees' absenteeism is related to

physical working environment of job, so from this findings organization will be benefit and

will take concern steps to improve physical environment due to which employees

absenteeism will reduce along with it employees will be more enthusiastic to do work. We

found that nowadays, most families have more than one working person. In our research we

also found that workplace harassment is very less in today's working world but it's not fully

ended. From our research we found that major cause of job stress for employees are

volume of work , nature of job & its responsibilities and physical work environment .One of

the major finding of our result is that major cause of job stress for particular employee is

associated with any counseling sessions or meditation/ yoga classes attended by that

employee. The best stress relief methods suggested by employees in our research is

Entertainment among other methods such as yoga/meditation classes, social support

network, counseling sessions and supportive pills.

38

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

THE ORGANIZATION CAN TAKE THE FOLLOWING STEPS:

Create supportive organizational climate

This should be done by decentralized, participative decision-making structure where

upward communication is more. More control over job is necessary.

Enrich the design of task

1) Reduce conflict and clarify organization roles

2) Plan and develop career paths and provide counseling

Awareness about new technology

The use of the computer and other software technology has been inevitable and necessary.

Therefore all the officers should be exposed to computer related programs, which should be

held on continuous and regular bases.

Counseling

The employees can be provided with a counselor who will help them deal with work related

and personal problems, thereby helping in reducing the stress felt by them.

Educational program

As a majority of the employees feel that they are under qualified for their jobs, to avoid a

feeling of inadequacy due to lack of a sufficient educational background, an educational

program especially tailored to suit employees’ job profiles can be made available

Organizational get together

As the majority of the respondents feel that there is conflict existing between the

departments, an informal get together would help in creating personal bonds between the

various individuals belonging to the organization and this will definitely contribute towards

better relations at the workplace

.

39

Stress management.

The employees can undergo weekly sessions of Yoga and other such calming exercises in

addition to stress and anger management classes, so that they are able to deal with stress in

a more constructive manner. The organizational culture should be such that innovative

thinking is encouraged even if it leads to failed ideas; this also helps in bringing down the

stress experienced by the employees.

6.3 FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

It also must be noted the research focuses only on the effect of work-related stress on Job

satisfaction. It is recommended that future research explore the effect of work-related

stress on other outcome measures, such as commitment to organization, employee

motivation, and leadership effectiveness.

40

7 References

Arrington, P 2008, Stress at work: How do social workers cope? NASW Membership

Workforce Study, National Association of Social Workers, Washington, DC.

Beehr, TA & Newman, JE 1978, „Job Stress, Employee Health, and Organizational

Effectiveness: A Facet Analysis, Model and Literature Review‟, Personnel Psychology, vol.

31, pp. 665-669

Bennet, R. (1994). Organisational Behavior. 2nd Ed. London: Pitman Publishing

Blumenthal, I. (2003). Services SETA. Employee Assistance Conference Programme. 2 (2). p5-

21

Bowin, R.B. & Harvey D. (2001). Human Resource Management an Experiential Approach.

2nd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Carroll, M. & Walton, M. (1997). Handbook of Counseling in Organizations. London: Sage

Publications

DCS gaumail (2003). Work Stress Management and Prevention. [Online]. Available from:

http://dcsgaumail02.dcs.gov.za/exchange. [Accessed: 12th January 2016]

Kuzu, Ö. H., & Özilhan, D. (2014). The Effect of Employee Relationships and Knowledge

Sharing on Employees Performance: An Empirical Research on Service Industry. Procedia -

Social and Behavioral Sciences 109, 1370-1374

Latham, G. (2003). Goal setting: a five-step approach to behavior change. Organizational

Dynamics, 309–318.

Levin-Epstein, M. (2002). Tackle Workplace Stress to Improve Productivity, Reduce

Absenteeism. Staff Leader. 15 (2)

Luthans, F. (2002). Organisational Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc

41

Mackay, CJ, Cousins, R, Kelly, PJ, Lee, S & McCaig, H 2004, „Management standard and work

related stress in the UK: Policy background and science‟, Work and Stress, vol. 18, pp. 91 –

112.

Montgomery, D.C., Blodgett, J.G. and Barnes, J.H. (1996), “A model of financial securities

salesperson' job stress”, The Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 21-34.

Moorhead, H. & Griffen, F. (1998). Organisational Behaviour. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Company

Ritchie, S. & Martin, P. (1999). Motivation Management. Hampshire: Gower Publishing

Limited

Robbins, (2004). Organization Behavior. 11th Edition, New Jersey, Pearson Prentice Hall

Robbins and sanghi (2006). Organizational Behavior. (11ed.), India: dorling Kindersley.

Sherman M., Bahlander, S. & Snell, B. (1996). Managing Human Resource. 10th Ed.

Cincinnati Ohio: South West College Publishing

Taylor, S. (1995). Managing People at Work. London: Reed Educational and Professional

Publishing Ltd.

Zohar, D 1997, „Predicting burnout with a hassle based measure of role demands‟, Journal

of Organizations Behavior, vol. 24, pp. 101 – 105.

42

8. APPENDIX

“WORK-LIFE STRESS AND ITS IMPACT”

1) Name:-

2) Age (year):-

3) profession/job status:-

4) Gender:-

( ) Male ( ) female

5) Educational qualifications

( ) Matric (10th pass) ( ) Intermediate (12th pass)

( ) Under graduation ( ) Post graduation

( ) Any other degree/ qualification

6) Marital status

( ) Married ( ) Unmarried

7) Nature of job

( ) temporary ( ) permanent

8) Work experience

( ) Less than 1year ( ) 1-2years

( ) 3-5years ( ) 6-10years ( ) More than 10years

43

(Please tick the desire checkbox which best reflects your opinion SA= strongly agree5,

A=agree4, N=neutral3, D=disagree2, SD= strongly disagree 1)

SA A N D SD

1. I have very long working hours

2. I’m allowed to give ideas and suggestions

related to my work

3. Too much work is allocated to me

4. My work is repetitive & monotonous

5. I don’t get enough rest breaks in b/w work

6. I can't meet my family demand due to

workload

7. I don’t get financial rewards or any appraisal

for my hard work

8. I’m financially unstable because of low

wages/salary

9. Supportive work environment

10. I have fear of joblessness

44

(Please rate your satisfaction through a tick)

(1= not at all satisfied, 2= somewhat dissatisfied, 3= neutral,

4= somewhat satisfied, 5= very much satisfied)

1 2 3 4 5

11. SALARY PAID

12. LEAVES FOR ASENCE

13. HEALTH CARE BENEFIT PROVIDED

14. RETIREMENT BENEFITS

15. LISTENING TO EMPLOYEES IN DISPUTES

16. CURRENT POST IN THE ORGANISATION

17.PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT(proper lighting ,

infrastructure, cleanliness)

18. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

19. PROMOTION TERMS (Terms and requirements

stated for promotions are they appropriate?)

45

20. Are you the only working person in your family?

( ) yes ( ) no

21. I’m subject to personal harassment in the form of unkind words or behaviour?

( ) yes ( ) no

22. Most prevalent cause of job stress for you?

( ) Volume of work

( ) Nature of job &its responsibilities

( ) Physical work environment

( ) Personal health issues

( ) any other cause

23. Do you have any health problem due to stress:-

( ) Depression

( ) Blood pressure

( ) High pulse rate

( ) Nervous breakdown

( ) none of the above

24. Do you attend any counseling sessions or meditation/ gym and yoga classes?

( ) Most frequently

( ) Often

( ) Some times

( ) Very few times

46

( ) Never

25. What is best stress relief method according to you?

( ) Entertainment

( ) Yoga/meditation

( ) Social support network

( ) Counseling sessions

( ) Supportive pills