Abstract
The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of stress among workers. A sample of 100 workers was used in the research and this included both sexes. Stress is generally a psychological problem that interferes with the stability of the mind of an individual. Interviews were carried out among the 100 workers where they were asked of how stress affected their performance at work. Not all workers were reached out to be interviewed. Therefore, use of questionnaires was employed in the exercise. According to the results it was found out that stress had negative effects on the performance at work among most workers. More than 50 workers involved experienced fatigue, lack of concentration at work, lack of sleep and depression due to stress leading to poor performance. Some had positive effects as it motivated them to do work.
There are several known causes of stress on individuals which are either positive or negative. Positive causes include pay rise while the negative causes include divorce and lack of finances. Stress is harmful to the body as it results to health deterioration hence reduction in its performance.
There are several theories related to stress. First there is the fight or flight which causes the victim to feel frightened easily or ready to engage in an exchange of blows incase on comes on their way. Such people get hurt in the process as the stress makes them to be brutal to others. Such workers are hard to handle as they always feel unloved when their bosses assign them certain tasks.
There is another theory invented by Hans Selye in 1970 which provides a safer way of getting rid of stress. It entails three phases; the alarm, resistance and the exhaustion phase. When one is under stress, the body engages in an activity which results to exhaustion of the body. It therefore remains strong and stress free. This can therefore be a good way of controlling stress by engaging in tiring activities which are different from the daily activities.
The current study aids at proving that stress has negative effects to workers. The stressed workers were at times unable to work or complete the tasks which resulted to less output at their respective work places.
Method
Participants
The participants in the research included 150 workers of both sexes. These were people within the 40-60 years range. This group was used as it had a lot of experience at work and would perform better if there were no hindrances in their work such as stress. The participants were of different standard as they varied from managers to subordinate staffs. Also most of them had families which could be a cause for their stress. The participants worked in offices and production industries working each day for 8 hours a day that is from 8 in the morning up to 4 in the evening. In that duration they were engaged in their respective assigned activities in various fields.
Materials
The data was collected through the use of questionnaires which had different questions on the effects of stress among workers. They were distributed to the workers for filling. Also for those who could not get the questionnaires, telephone interviews were applied to collect information from them. Calling as well as printing charges were incurred during the process.
Procedure
The questionnaires had a bunch of questions on the effects of stress among workers which were distributed to various workers in the area of study. The workers were to fill them fully and return them to the researcher for analysis. They were to be truthful about their experiences at work linking it with the various types of stress they had. Telephone call interviews were carried out among the workers who worked far from their work places for instance sales persons. Similar questions as those in the questionnaires were asked during the interviews. This was to ensure that both data collected in both ways were the same and would not result in different analysis. The interviews were efficient as they enabled the interviewer get detailed feedback from the workers unlike the case for the use of questionnaires.
Results
Some workers did not submit their questionnaires while others were not ready for an interview. Out of 150 participants used in the research, 50 participants did not give any feedback. Among the 100 workers that were used in this research, 75% of them admitted that they were stressed due to various reasons. Some claimed it was due to loss of their loved ones, divorce, lack of finances and lack of family support. This made them take lots of time thinking about how they were going to rectify the problems so that life would run smoothly. Some engaged in drug and substance abuse as a way of eliminating the stress which did not actually solve their problems. Instead they had fears of being laid off incase their bosses came to know of their drunkenness.
The workers claimed to feel asleep in their work which resulted in poor work performance. Some claimed to have loss of memory in some things. They could not recall the instructions given by their bosses which lead to quarrel in case the managers got to know that they did not do what they instructed. There were also complaints from clients that they were not being served properly while others claimed having not been served. This led to loss of confidence by the clients and had to seek help from other places.
The managerial staff claimed that they had high levels of absenteeism in their organization as the workers claimed to be unable to work at those times. This made them look for other sources of labor so as not to retard the progression of the companies. In those cases where there was no absenteeism, the workers arrived late and no self- drives at work. More so, there were accidents that were reported among the workers. Some fell while working while others hit themselves with the machinery they were using at work.
Some workers always complained each time they were working. They took the work as a burden and the only drive that made them continue working was the salary at the end of the month. In case the manager was not supervising them, they would just sit around and gossip without working. This gave the managers and other supervisors a hard time in ensuring that everything ran smoothly.
Discussion
The various stress that workers had affected them negatively. Out of 100 workers only 25 were delivering what was expected of them at their work place. The rest were affected by stress and were offering only little efforts in their work. Some were not looking for the right remedies to avoid or ease the stress they had. Those who engaged in drugs as a way of reducing stress were not only adding stress to themselves but also harming their bodies.
The organizations had failed in their performance due to the stressful lives of some workers. The clients were not happy about the kinds of services they were receiving from the organization. They claimed that the workers showed no interest in serving them. This resulted in losses in the organization instead of profits that each organization aims at.
The stresses that the workers had made them have difficulties in their work and worsened the relationship between them and those around them. They should have looked for remedies to eliminate the stress they had. Such include seeking guidance and counseling on how to eliminate stress in their lives. Also they could have engaged in recreational activities such as swimming, playing football and jogging among others as they can help them get the stressing events out of their minds.
In case of further research about the effects of stress among workers, the author of this report proposed that interviews should be used unlike questionnaires because it offered a chance to get clear information from the participants. Also some questionnaires were half filled while others were not returned to the researcher. This did not give the expected results from the ones expected. Some handwriting in the questionnaires were also illegible giving the researcher a hard time in trying to figure out what the workers had written.
References
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