ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND EMPLOYEE STRESS: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEES IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

This paper addresses the issue of the importance and necessity of introducing constant organizational changes and their impact on employee stress as one of the primary pull factors of the employee turnover intention. In this regard, human resource managers in organizations are becoming increasingly aware that hiring and retaining talents are the most important determinants of success in the complex global world and that they must work more intensively on modernizing the process of change management to help employees, not only for acceptance, but also for their involvement in the change implementation process. The number of respondents from the processed data so far is 439 employees (differing according to their demographic characteristics). The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the four different types of organizational change according to the Cummings and Worley (2014) organizational change classification (Human process changes; Techno-structural changes; Human resource management changes and Strategic changes), regarding their impact on the employee emotional state, as well as which type of organizational change has the most significant impact on employee stress in the Republic of North Macedonia. The survey findings contributed to the conclusion that Macedonian employees in terms of their feelings of fear, anxiety, nervousness, etc., equally perceive the impact of the different types of organizational change. More specifically, there are no statistically significant differences between the impacts of the different types of organizational change over the stress they face because of these changes.

German Law Reform Does Not Reduce the Prevalence of Coercive Measures in Residential Institutions for Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Background: Approximately 10% of children, adolescents and young adults with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) in Bavaria live in residential institutions. 2015 saw media reports raising suspicions about excessive use of coercive measures (cM) in those institutions. Until a law reform at the end of 2017 made permission from family courts mandatory for cM, their use was governed by parental consent. The REDUGIA project conducted a representative survey comparing cM and their relation to challenging behaviour (cB) and employee stress in Bavaria pre and post reform.Methods: We sent questionnaires to 65 residential institutions for children, adolescents and young adults with IDD in 2017 (pre reform, T1) and 2019 (post reform, T2). To assess changes, we analysed data from all available questionnaire pairs (T1 and T2, N = 43). We calculated paired t-test and correlative analyses concerning the relationship between cB, cM, and employee stress.Results: The number of residents overall (T1: N = 1,661; T2: N = 1,673) and per institution (T1: m = 38.6 ± 32.0; T2: m = 38.9 ± 34.5, p = 0.920) remained stable. We did not see any changes in the Index cB (p = 0.508) or the proportion of residents per institution displaying various types of challenging behaviour (all ps>0.220). There was no change in the Index cM (p = 0.089) or any indicator of employee stress, all ps > 0.323. At follow-up, the Index cB correlated positively with the Index cM (r = 0.519 p < 0.001). Regarding employee stress, the Index cB correlated positively with the frequency of sick leave (r = 0.322, p = 0.037) and physical attacks on employees (r = 0.552, p < 0.001). The Index cM also correlated positively with the frequency of sick leave (r = 0.340, p = 0.028) and physical attacks on employees (r = 0.492, p = 0.001).Discussion: Coercive measures are not a general phenomenon, but are focused on specialised institutions. The law reform did not lead to changes in the number of children, adolescents and young adults with IDD affected by coercive measures in residential institutions in Bavaria. There were still large discrepancies between institutions in the prevalence of challenging behaviour and coercive measures. Coercive measures were associated with challenging behaviour and employee stress. Taken together, findings from REDUGIA emphasise the need to prevent challenging behaviour and thus coercive measures.

Off-the-job embeddedness moderates work intensity on employee stress

PurposeWork intensity causes employee stress. This paper demonstrates that off-the-job embeddedness (OffJE), a potential source of social support resources, buffers the negative effect of work intensity on employee stress.Design/methodology/approachGuided by conservation of resources (COR) and job embeddedness theory (JET), this paper reports on the moderated regression analysis of the survey responses of 385 adult employees from a variety of industries in Queensland, Australia, using a student-recruited sampling strategy.FindingsHigher levels of work intensity were found to be associated with higher levels of employee stress. However, this effect was weaker for employees who had higher OffJE. In this sample, work intensity has no relationship with stress for employees who report OffJE beyond the 70th percentile.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the positive role of outside workplace relationships embodied in OffJE on workplace employee experience, justifies employer work-life balance initiatives and community involvement, demonstrates the potential positive return for employer involvement in helping employees manage the experience of work intensity and contributes to the social support, COR and job embeddedness literature studies.

Study of Indian bank shows psychological contract breach (PCB) during restructuring has impact on stress

Purpose Restructuring is a common strategy to increase competitiveness, but a lot of the time it is unsuccessful. The author believes this is likely to be because of “psychological contract breach” (PCB), but says the phenomenon has not been studied much. Another factor, he says, is the high level of stress caused by the restructuring. Therefore, the researcher wanted to study the impact of both the psychological contract breach and stress on employee job outcomes during restructuring. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from bank employees using a questionnaire. A total of 322 completed questionnaires were used in the analysis. There were also 30 interviews with native employees of SBI to find out their opinions of working with bank associate employees. There were 17 questions covering PCB, job stress, job involvement and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Findings The results confirmed Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 2 and Hypothesis 3. Therefore, the author’s research proved a positive relationship between PCB and employee stress, a significant negative relationship between employee stress and job involvement, and a significant positive relationship between job involvement and OCB. However, analysis rejected three other hypotheses. Although there was a change in stress, job involvement and OCB after the merger, it was not significant. Originality/value The study was a significant contribution to research because few previous studies have dealt with the impact of organizational restructuring on stress and job outcomes in India.

Effects of a mindfulness app on employee stress: results of a randomised controlled trial in an Australian public sector workforce (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Workplace-based mindfulness programs (WMPs) have good evidence for improving employee stress and mental health outcomes, although less is known about effects on employee productivity and citizenship behaviours. Most of the supporting evidence for WMPs is derived from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of programs that use in-person or online class-based approaches. Mindfulness apps have potential to increase access to training for distributed workforces, but little is known about whether self-directed app use is sufficient to realise benefits equivalent to WMPs that include classes. OBJECTIVE This study primarily aimed to assess the effectiveness of a mindfulness app, both with and without supporting classes, for reducing employees’ perceived stress. Changes in participants’ mindfulness, mental health, quality of life, perceptions of job demand, control and support, productivity indicators, and observer-reported changes in citizenship and mindful behaviours at work were also investigated. METHODS A three-arm randomised controlled trial was conducted in an Australian public sector workforce. The app used in the Smiling Mind Workplace Program (SMWP) formed the basis of the intervention. The app has 43 elements, including lessons, activities and guided meditations, and is supported by four instructional emails delivered over eight weeks. Usage guides recommend 10-20 minutes engagement with the app, five days a week. Reported data were collected using online surveys at baseline (T0), three-months from baseline (T1), then at six-months follow-up (T2). At T0 respondents could nominate a work-based observer to answer some questions about the participant’s behaviours. Eligible participants (n=211) were randomly assigned to self-guided app use plus four one-hour classes (App+), self-guided app use (App-only), or wait-list control (WLC). Linear mixed effects models were used to assess changes in the two active groups compared with the WLC at T1, and for head-to-head comparison of the App+ and App-only groups at follow-up. RESULTS App engagement by the App+ group (35%) and App-only group (13%) was considerably lower than the recommended dose. Compared with the WLC at T1, no significant change in perceived stress was observed in either active group. However, the App+ group, but not the App-only group, reported lower psychological distress (= -1.77, SE=0.75, P=.02, d=0. -21) and higher mindfulness (=0.31, SE=0.12, P=.01, d=0.19). These beneficial effects were retained in the App+ group at six-months. No significant changes were observed in the other study outcomes. Compared with the WLC at T1, observers reported no significant changes in either active group, however, at T2 the App+ participants were more noticeably mindful and altruistic at work than App-only participants. CONCLUSIONS Including classes in the training protocol appears to have motivated engagement and led to benefits, while self-guided app-use did not realise any significant results. Effect sizes were smaller and less consistent than meta-analytic estimates for class-based mindfulness training. CLINICALTRIAL ANZCTR Ref: 12617001386325

Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria

PurposeThis study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study's context is Nigeria's banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.FindingsIt was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees' “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation's ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings.Practical implicationsIn order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors facing employees.Originality/valueEmployee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies.

Employee Stress and Well-Being

This article provides a general overview of overarching topics in the literature on stress and well-being. Broadly stated, the study of employee stress and well-being is concerned with the impact of work on the mental and physical health of employees. Topics covered in this overview include stress theories, commonly studied job stressors, strains associated with those stressors, moderators, and mediators of the stressor-strain relationship, as well as interventions to address job-related stress in the workplace. In addition to general overviews of these topics (and subtopics), brief annotations of research articles for each topic are included.