INDEX

CHAPTER PAGE
TITLE OF THE CHAPTER
NUMBER NUMBER
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 5
1.2.1 What is Stress? 5
1.2.2 Stress & Job Performance 6
1.2.3 Effects & Symptoms of Stress 8
1.2.4 Sources & Causes of Stress 8
1.2.5 Chronic Stress & Disease 10
1.2.6 Body Awareness 12
1.2.7 Stress Management 12
1.2.8 Employee Counselling 14
Work-Stress Management 15
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE
1.3 17
INDUSTRY
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 27
2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 27
2.1.1 Sampling 27
3 LITERATURE REVIEW 28
QUESTIONS IN THE RESEARCH
3.2 31
INSTRUMENT – EXPLAINED
DATA ANALYSIS,
4 INTERPRETATION AND 36
PRESENTATION
5 CONCLUSION & SUGGESTION 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY 49
APPENDIX 50
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Over the last years, dynamics in labour market have been one of the main objects of research.
Literature on labour economics includes many researches concerning job shifts and the
differences and similarities between the public and private sectors. However only a few of them
pay attention to sector switchers, which demonstrates the lack of empirical research regarding
public and private differences concerning the aforementioned dynamics.

Most databases have not focused on sector switchers or job histories, and when such variables
are included it is difficult (because of the means by which data are aggregated) to relate sector-
switching patterns to motivation, attitude, or outcome variables.

Sector switchers are those workers who move from the private to the public sector or vice
versa. Recent studies have indicated that workers switch sectors for many reasons. Despite the
obvious importance of understanding the relationship of sector switching to career
advancement it is crucial to point out that workers switch jobs for many and particular reasons.
There are literally hundreds of studies regarding job-seeking behaviour, job motivation,
turnover (Karl and Sutton, 1998), and, at the end of the day there is a plethora of reasons that
cause the job switching. In addition to the multiple motivations for job change and turnover, it
is also important to note that turnover is sometimes viewed as an independent variable,
especially in relation to impacts on organizational performance (e.g., Kacmar et al., 2006).

Stress is a very common phenomenon in today’s world. Almost every working professional is
faced with some pressure related to either their personal or job life. This project analyses the
stress factors, effects, causes, sources and how to manage the same in private sector. Private
sector employees can vary extremely against people who work under the Government or public
sector.

Usually, Indian Government offices have a reputation of very poor working environment
conditions yet, a stable pay. However, private firms provide hygienic working space to a certain
extent.

1
Speaking of the private sector, it is a very diverse sector and makes up a big part of many
economies. It is based on many different individuals, partnerships, and groups. The entities that
form the private sector include:

• Sole proprietorships - A sole proprietorship is a business that can be owned and

controlled by an individual. There are no partners in the business.

• Partnerships - A partnership is a business owned by at least 2 partners. The partner can

be an individual, a company or a limited liability partnership. The maximum number
of partners in a general partnership is 20.

• Small and mid-sized businesses - SMEs, or small and medium-sized enterprises, are
defined differently around the world. The country a company operates in provides the
specifics on the defined size of an SME. The sizing or categorization of a company as
an SME, depending on the country, can be based on a number of characteristics. The
traits include annual sales, number of employees, the number of assets owned by the
company, market capitalization, or any combination of these features. SMEs make up
the majority of the businesses operating around the world. Generally, they are
independent firms with less than 50 employees. However, the maximum number of
employees is different from one country to the next. For most companies, the upper
range sits around 250. Some countries dock the total number of employees at 200.

• Large corporations and multinationals - A multinational corporation, or multinational

enterprise, is an international corporation whose business activities are spread among
at least two countries.

• Professional and trade associations - Professional organizations—also called

professional societies—consist of individuals of a common profession, whereas trade

2
 associations consist of companies in a particular industry.

• Trade unions - Labour unions or trade unions are organizations formed by workers from
related fields that work for the common interest of its members. They help workers in
issues like fairness of pay, good working environment, hours of work and benefits.
They represent a cluster of workers and provide a link between the management and
workers.

Each type of entity faces stress under different circumstances or through different sources. For
instance, a sole proprietorship consists of a single-person business wherein the person alone,
bears the responsibilities of his job and the stressors that come along with it. However, MNCs
or trade unions consist of plentiful people working under similar conditions towards a common
goal, therefore, causes of stress can be very similar if we exclude the extra-organizational
stressors which will come ahead in this report.

Public sector employees are healthy as compared to their counterparts in the private sector,
according to a study done by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(ASSOCHAM).

Chandigarh being no exception, holds the fourth position after Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad
afflicted to high level of stress in the private sector. Due to demanding schedules, high stress
levels and performance linked perquisites in private sectors, nearly 85 percent of employees in
private sectors are afflicted to life-style, chronic diseases and acute ailment than the
government employees ranging below 8 percent says the study. While releasing the
ASSOCHAM survey on “Government vs Private employee health scenario”, D S Rawat,
Secretary General ASSOCHAM said, there is due compensation for increased inflation by way
of dearness allowance (DA) to government employees whereas, the private sector is by and
large out of this facility.”

The findings on the Government employees reveal very positive features ranging from
reasonably good health, family stability, cordial relationship etc, adds the survey. The survey
further points out there are many schemes in healthcare for Government employees in addition

3
to pension which reflects better health standards in Government jobs. Around 55 percent of the
respondents who participated in the survey fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed
by 30-39 years consisting of 26 per cent of the respondents which clearly indicates at the
sickening of India’s most productive demography. “Rising cases of marital disputes and
distorted relationship contributing to high level of stress as reflected in increased serious health
problems”, adds Dr B K Rao, Chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and ASSOCHAM Health
Committee. The increasingly demanding schedules and high stress levels are leading to sleep
disorders in private sector. loss of sleep has wide ranging effects including daytime fatigue,
physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration, and low pain threshold
increasing absenteeism.

The survey further points out that nearly 45 per cent of the corporate employees in private
sector sleep less than 6 hours on a daily basis due to work related pressure. Around 58 per cent
of corporate employees in private sector are deeply concerned about their future health, 38
percent are most of the time fearful regarding their future health conditions and rest 4 percent
are not at all fearful about their future health, adds the ASSOCHAM Survey. According to the
survey, only 10 percent employees in private sector have medical insurance, and much of it is
inadequate. Nearly all private health service providers require families to spend out-of-pocket
at the point of service. This leaves people, highly vulnerable. “Without adequate financial
support from the private organization, health remains a major cause of financial insecurity”,
says Mr Rawat. In terms of the physical fitness, it was found that around 57% of the employees
in the private organization said they ‘do not exercise at all’. [1]

4
1.1) CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

1.3.1) What is Stress?

Stress may be defined as a state of psychological and/or physiological imbalance resulting

from the disparity between situational demand and the individual’s ability and/or motivation
to meet those demands.

According to Ivancevich & Malteson, “Stress is an adaptive response, mediated by individual

characteristics and psychological processes, that is a consequence of any external action,
situation or event that places special physical and psychological demands upon a person”.

1.3.2) Stress and Job Performance

Stress can be constructive or destructive. When the level of stress is low, job performance tends
to be low as well. This is because low levels of stress results in boredom and absence of job
challenges. As stress increases, performance also improves as the individual gathers resources
to meet new requirements. Thus stress is constructive in nature.

5
Stress becomes destructive in nature when the level of stress becomes excessive. This is
because too much stress leads to tension, anxiety and low performance. The person is unable
to make decisions and behaves in an erratic manner. If the stress level reaches a breaking point,
then performance becomes zero as the employee may suffer a breakdown, may fall sick or may
not turn up at the workplace to face stress.

To summarize, stress within limits can be beneficial. It is only when stress is excessive that it
becomes counter-productive and has negative effects. If there is no stress at all then a person
might not be motivated to give his best.

1.3.3) Effects & Symptoms of Stress

The effects of stress on an employee depends on:

• Duration – how long the causes of stress continue

• Strength – how powerful the stressful situation is
• Individual characteristics – the individual’s stress tolerance levels and his ability to
handle stress

The effects of stress are Physiological, Psychological and Behavioural. Stress affects one’s
body, mind and behaviour.

a. Physiological effects: High levels of stress leads to hypertension, high cholesterol in

blood, heart attacks, ulcers, arthritis, paralysis, frequents cold and fever, etc. These
things not only affect the individual but the organization as well as the level of
productivity of the employee effects the company.

b. Psychological effects: Since the mind and body are closely associated, stress affects at
the psychological level in the form of anxiety, tension, boredom, dissatisfaction,
depression. Stress leads to frequent mood changes (mood swings), loss of self-esteem,
inability to concentrate on work, inability to make decisions, etc. The psychological
problems due to stress are as serious as the physical problems.

6
 c. Behavioural effects: At this level, high levels of stress are accompanied by:

• Hyperoxia and Anorexia

• Insomnia
• Alcoholism
• Excessive Smoking
• Reckless Driving
• Poor Interpersonal Relations
• Aggression
• Suicide

Research has proved that workers who are under high levels of stress take to drinking and
they are not able to perform their duties properly.

Extreme Effects of Stress

a. Burnout: Prolonged exposure of intense stress leads to a condition that is marked by

a kind of emotional exhaustion and loss of concern for people, this effect is called
burnout. The employees are emotionally exhausted, apathetic, depressed, irritable,
bored and they tend to find fault with all aspects of their work environment, including
their co-workers and react negatively to stress.

Characteristics of burnout are physical exhaustion (headaches, nausea, poor sleep),

emotional exhaustion (feelings of being trapped, helplessness and depression),
depersonalization (insensitivity, negativity), reduced sense of personal accomplishment
(feel hopeless or worthless).

Research findings indicate that with appropriate help, victims of burnout can recover.
If ongoing stress is reduced and the person suffering from burnout receives the support
of friends and co-workers, develops hobbies and new interests, then burnout victims
can return to recover to a more productive life.

b. Trauma: This occurs due to devastating events in an individual’s life that alters his
or her attitudes, emotions or behaviours. Events such as natural disasters, severe abuse
by the employer, kidnapping, death of a co-worker in a workplace can cause trauma.

7
 Trauma may be of three types such as workplace trauma (loss of self-esteem,
harassment at work, wrongful termination, discrimination or inability to meet
expectations), lay-off survival sickness (due to mass downsizing, feelings of
uncertainty, anger, guilt and distrust occur), post-traumatic stress disorder (witness to
violence, receive violence-related injury or live under the fear of future violence).

1.3.4) Sources & Causes of Stress

The antecedents of stress or stressors are broadly divided into two:

• Extra organizational Stressors

• Organizational Stressors

8
r Extra Organizational Stressors (Stressors outside the organization) – such as social and
technological changes, economic situation, the family situation, the race, religion and
gender of a person, civic amenities such as transport, area of residence, noise and air
pollution and such other matters have deep effects on people working in organizations.

r Organizational Stressors (Stressors inside the organization) –

o Occupational Demands – jobs that involve risk and danger are more stressful.
o Personal V/s Organizational Life – the conflict between the personal life and
the organizational demands will result in a great deal of stress.
o Career Concern – unfulfilled career expectations are a major source of stress.
o Role Conflict – members of organization often experience role conflict when
different actions are expected from them.
o Role Ambiguity – employees experience stress when they are not provided with
a clear picture about their work, duties and responsibilities.
o Work Overload and Underload – excessive workload can put a person under
pressure and if a person does not have adequate work then he has to create the
impression that he is busy with work. Making a show of being busy can be more
stressful than actually being busy.
o Working Conditions – Excessive heat or cold, poor lighting, unpleasant smells,
excessive humidity, distracting noise, presence of toxic elements and radiations,
inadequate safety measures, etc., conditions such as these affect the employees
and leads to stress.
o Lack of Social Support – Employees who share with one another their problems
and sorrows are psychologically better off.
o Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict – Intrapersonal conflict
means conflict within oneself. Interpersonal conflict refers to conflict between
two persons while Intergroup conflicts in organizations are commonly in the
form of conflicts between two departments of a company.

r Frustration

9
 Individuals experience frustration when their drive toward a desired goal is blocked.
For example, an employee wants to finish a report before the end of the day but finds
that something or the other keep interrupting at work.

o Reaction to Frustration – Reactions to frustration are:

§ Aggression. Acting in a threatening manner
§ Apathy. Being indifferent to the work or co-workers
§ Withdrawal. Behaviours such as asking for a transfer or quitting the job
§ Regression. Acting in an immature manner or wallowing in self-pity
§ Fixation. Blaming others for one’s problem
§ Physical Disorder. Upset stomach, fever and so on

These reactions to frustrations are known as defence mechanisms. These defence mechanisms
protect the individual from the psychological effects of the blocked goal.

1.3.5) Chronic Stress & Disease

Chronic or persistent stress can occur when life stressors are unrelenting, as they are, for
example, during a major reorganization or downsizing at work, while undergoing a messy
divorce, or coping with chronic pain or disease or a life-threatening illness. Chronic stress also
takes place when small stressors accumulate and you are unable to recuperate from any one of
them. As long as the mind perceives a threat, the body remains aroused. If your stress response
remains turned on, your chances of getting a stress-related disease may be increasing.

Researchers have been looking at the relationship between stress and disease for over a hundred
years. They have observed that people suffering from stress-related disorders tend to show
hyperactivity in a particular “preferred system,” or “stress-prone system,” such as the
skeletomuscular, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal system. For example, chronic stress can
result in muscle tension and fatigue for some people. For others, it can contribute to stress
hypertension (high blood pressure), migraine headaches, ulcers, or chronic diarrhoea.

Almost every system in the body can be damaged by stress. When an increase in corticoids
suppresses the reproduction system, this can cause amenorrhea (cessation of menstruation) and
failure to ovulate in women, impotency in men, and loss of libido in both. Stress-triggered
changes in the lungs increase the symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory

10
conditions. Loss of insulin during the stress response may be a factor in the onset of adult
diabetes. Stress suspends tissue repair and re-modelling, which, in turn, causes decalcification
of the bones, osteoporosis, and susceptibility to fractures. The inhibition of immune and
inflammatory systems makes you more susceptible to colds and flu and can exacerbate some
specific diseases such as cancer and AIDS. In addition, a prolonged stress response can worsen
conditions such as arthritis, chronic pain, and diabetes. There are also some indications that the
continued release and depletion of norepinephrine during a state of chronic stress can
contribute to depression and anxiety.

How can we prevent Chronic Stress and Diseases?

Here are some ways you can use to maintain your health and prevent illness. You can use it to:

1. Remind yourself of the amount of change that has happened to you by posting the Schedule
of Recent Experience where you and your family can see it easily.

2. Think about the personal meaning of each change that’s taken place for you and try to
identify some of the feelings you experienced.

3. Think about ways that you can best adjust to each change.

4. Take your time when making decisions.

5. Try to anticipate life changes and plan for them well.

6. Pace yourself. Don’t rush. It will get done.

7. Take time to appreciate your successes, and relax.

8. Be compassionate and patient with yourself. It is not uncommon for people to become
overwhelmed by all the stresses in their lives. It takes a while to put into effect coping strategies
to deal with stress.

9. Acknowledge what you can control and what you cannot control and, when possible, choose
which changes you take on.

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10. Try out the stress-management and relaxation techniques presented in this book and
incorporate the ones that work best for you into your personalized stress-management program.

1.3.6) Body Awareness

Most people are more aware of the weather, the time of day, or their bank balance than they
are of the tension in their own bodies or their personal stress response. Your body registers
stress long before your conscious mind does. Muscle tension is your body’s way of letting you
know that you are stressed, and body awareness is the first step toward acknowledging and
reducing that stress.

You inevitably tense your body when you experience stress. When the stress is removed, the
tension will also go away. Also, chronic muscular tension occurs in people with particular
beliefs or attitudes and tends to tighten specific muscle groups. For example, a woman who
believes that it is bad to express anger is likely to have chronic neck tension and pain, while a
man experiencing a lot of anxiety about the future may develop chronic stomach problems.
This chronic muscular tension restricts digestion, limits self-expression, and decreases energy.
Every contracted muscle blocks movement.

Differentiating between your external awareness and internal awareness in order to separate
the world from your physical reaction to it is important. External awareness includes all
stimulation to the five senses from the outside world. Internal awareness refers to any physical
sensation, feeling, emotional discomfort, or comfort inside your body. Much of the tension in
your body isn’t felt because most of your awareness is directed toward the outside world.

1.3.7) Stress Management (Coping with Stress) [2]

Stress management is defined as the tools, strategies, or techniques that reduce stress and
reduce the negative impacts stress has on your mental or physical well-being. A variety of
techniques can be used to manage stress.

Organisations have three options in managing stress – Prevent or control it, escape from it, or
adapt to it. The goal of coping with stress is not to eliminate stress but to keep it at the minimum
level so that performance is maintained at a standard level.

Some strategies that can be used for coping with stress are:

12
r Personal Wellness – The effects of stress are magnified (greater) when a person is not
physically fit. Exercise and good diet are two ways of improving physical fitness.

r Social Support – When there is social support, the stressed individual knows that he is
not alone and that he can obtain help in dealing with the problem.

r Foresight – This refers to the advance preparations and the individual makes an
anticipation of the stressful events likely to occur in the future.

r Sabbatical – Those individuals on high stress jobs should be sent on a vacation or

sabbaticals. Such ‘breaks’ enhance the individual’s ability to cope with stress.
Employees when sent on paid sabbaticals feel rewarded an valued by their employers.

r Biofeedback – It is a technique whereby individuals are taught to control a variety of

internal body processes. Biofeedback helps the individual to gain some control over the
internal processes, thus reducing the undesirable effects of stress. This involves the use
of computers and recording system that detect the changes that occur in the body and
brain at the time of stress (such as the changes in heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves)
and display it to the individual.

r Job Design – The stress of a monotonous and routine job can be reduced by job
enlargement by providing greater variety at work through adding more duties and
greater responsibility at job.

r Stress Management Programs – Organizations can conduct stress management

13
 programs to help employee cope with stress. In these programs, employees receive
training in meditation, relaxation, yoga, cognitive strategies, time management and
such other techniques that increase their ability to handle and reduce stress.

All these different coping strategies (personal and organizational) do not guarantee freedom
from stress but they might help. Management of organizations must view stress as a serious
problem affecting their employees and hence, must take every possible measure to combat it.

1.3.8) Employee Counselling

John Newstrom and Keith Davis describe counselling as discussion with an employee of a
problem that usually has emotional content in order to help the employee cope with it better.

The characteristics of counselling are:

r Communication
r Beneficial for the individual as well as for the organization
r Can be performed by anyone
r Confidential

The objective of counselling is to promote better mental health among employees so that they
will grow in self-confidence, understand self-control and will be able to work effectively. The
objective of counselling is to fulfil the following functions:

r Advice – It involves telling a person what should be done. Advice-giving is not very
desirable as it creates a relationship in which the counselee is inferior and depends on
the counsellor. But most workers expect advice and most managers are more than
happy to give it.

r Reassurance – Counsellors often talk to their counselees in a reassuring manner such

as “don’t worry” or “everything will be alright”. The purpose of reassurance is to give
a person courage and confidence to face a problem.

14
 r Communication – The counsellor may also correctly interpret to employees the purpose
behind certain management actions with the help of communication.

r Release of emotional tension – Counselling provides an opportunity for “emotional

catharsis” i.e. the release of emotional tensions. Mere release of emotional tension may
not solve any of the employee’s problems but clears mental blocks and builds a platform
to deal constructively with problems.

r Clarified thinking – The employee is encouraged to look at the problem in a rational

and a realistic manner and examine it on a factual basis and not just emotionally.

1.3.9) Work-Stress Management

The classic symptoms of work burnout include pessimism, increased dissatisfaction,

absenteeism, and inefficiency at the job. While you may not be on the verge of work burnout,
you may be one of the growing majority of Indians who report that their work causes them
stress. Job stress accounts for a tremendous amount of personal misery and billions of dollars
lost annually in productivity, wages, and medical bills. Indians are waking up to the fact that
work-stress management makes personal and financial sense.

Every job includes some built-in difficulties that the worker is paid to adjust to. Job difficulties alone
do not cause burnout. Rather, it is the worker’s lack of control over his or her work situation that leads
to uncertainty, frustration, reduced motivation, fatigue, reduced productivity, and eventually burnout.
Here are some other factors that can lead to work burnout:

• Chronic work overload

• Unfair treatment
• Impossible expectations of your boss
• Unsupportive or hostile co-workers
• Inadequate training
• Lack of recognition or rewards
• Your values conflict with those of your company, boss, or co-workers
• Unpleasant work environment

15
 • Lack of clear direction about priorities
Even minor factors beyond your control can have a stressful impact. Consider the many unexpected
interruptions in the course of your workday: special meetings, e-mail, phone calls, people dropping in,
and equipment breakdowns. Think about having to go through authorized channels and dealing with
bureaucratic red tape. Think about the faulty air-conditioning system or the constant din of machines,
elevator music, and voices. It’s also likely that your daily commute adds to your accumulated stress for
the day as well.

It is a common error to associate only excessive stress with lowered productivity. Stress underload
occurs when a job is too easy or is insufficiently challenging. As early as 1908, Robert Yerkes and John
Dodson pointed out that the symptoms of stress underload are quite similar to those of stress overload:
reduced efficiency, irritability, a sense of time pressure, diminished motivation, poor judgment, and
accidents. We all have a unique “performance zone” within which we experience manageable stress
that stimulates our energy, motivation, decision making, and productivity.

Burnout is not caused simply by too much stress in your job. If your job made no demands on you, you
would be bored. Job-stress management, like stress management in general, involves finding the right
types and amounts of challenge to stimulate your interest and performance without overloading you. It
also requires managing those areas of your job that are inevitably distressing. Finally, it includes
balancing leisure and work-related activities so that they complement one another. Work-stress
management is a dynamic process over which you can exercise personal control.

Work-stress management is effective in increasing your sense of control in the workplace. Increased
feelings of personal control can improve job-related symptoms of guilt, irritability, depression, anxiety,
and low self-esteem. Job-stress management can also reduce job-related psychosomatic symptoms such
as insomnia, fatigue, upset stomach, headaches, eating disorders, and lowered immunity to infection.

16
1.2) IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE INDUSTRY
[3]
Coronavirus is a type of virus. There are many different kinds, and some cause disease. A coronavirus
identified in December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, has caused a pandemic of respiratory illness, called
COVID-19. COVID-19 can be severe, and has caused millions of deaths around the world as well as
lasting health problems in some who have survived the illness.

The coronavirus can be spread from person to person. It is diagnosed with a laboratory test. COVID-19
vaccines have been authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and
vaccination programs are in progress across the U.S. and in many parts of the world. Prevention
involves physical distancing, mask-wearing, hand hygiene and staying away from others if you feel
sick.

The pandemic slowdown has deeply impacted businesses and jobs. Around the world, companies –
especially micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the developing world – are under intense
strain, with more than half either in arrears or likely to fall into arrears shortly. To understand the
pressure that COVID-19 is having on firms’ performance as well as the adjustments they are having to
make, the World Bank and partners have been conducting rapid COVID-19 Business Pulse Surveys in
partnership with client governments.

Reduced family incomes – whether due to job loss, a stop in remittance payments, or a multitude of
other COVID-19-related factors – will continue to put human capital at risk. With less money, families
will be forced to make trade-offs and sacrifices that could harm health and learning outcomes for a
generation. More than a third of companies have increased the use of digital technology to adapt to the
crisis. The same data warned, however, that the firms’ sales have dropped by half amid the crisis,
forcing companies to reduce hours and wages, and most businesses – especially micro and small firms
in low-income countries – are struggling to access public support.

A study conducted on ‘Work Stress Hampering Employee Performance During COVID-19: Is

Safety Culture Needed?’ by Farida Saleem, Muhammad Imran Malik and Saiqa Saddiqa
Qureshi [4]

During uncertain situations, such as the COVID-19 partial lockdown, maintaining satisfactory
levels of employee performance (EP) is an important area of concern for many organizations.
This study examines the relationship of work stress due to COVID-19 (COVID-19 STR) and
EP. Using social exchange theory (SET), safety culture (SC) is presented as a moderator for

17
stress and performance relationships. A sample of 213 bank employees was collected using a
convenient sampling method. Data were analysed using stepwise linear regression and
PROCESS Macro by Hayes (2013). Results revealed that COVID-19 STR has a negative
impact on task and contextual performance (CP) and a positive impact on adaptive performance
(AP). Similarly, the prevalence of SC significantly moderates the stress and performance
relationships.

The current study proposes a model based on the imminent work stress due to the COVID-19
situation and its impact on EP. The employees may feel more conscious about their health
while coming to their workplaces, which may harm their work performance. There is an
element of reciprocity where the managers who are willing to support their employees by
ensuring their safety through safe working conditions are likely to receive reciprocity from
employees in the form of higher performance levels. It is likely that SC will initiate social
exchanges between the employees and their employers and will develop into a win- win
situation for both parties. A positive SC is characterized by communication based on mutual
trust by shared perceptions of the importance of safety, and by confidence in the efficacy of
preventive measures.

To meet the challenges of economical contribution during COVID-19, the job performance of
employees is of vital importance. Decreasing stress by maintaining a SC is necessary for
improving the TP of employees. At the same time, the existence of a certain level of stress
boosts the AP of employees. SET seems effective in terms of developing exchange
relationships within an organization, shaping the SC and strengthening the task, contextual,
and AP. Furthermore, it is concluded that not only is TP important in banks, but behavioural
performance (CP) and using new ways to get to the targets (AP) are also important.

Another article published on Impact of COVID-19 on Employee Behaviour: Stress and Coping
Mechanism During WFH (Work From Home) Among Service Industry Employees states –

[5]

The continuing crisis of Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) has changed our lives considerably;
imposing the need for various modifications for organizations and individuals to cope up in this testing
time. This study is undertaken to have an insight on how organizations and individuals adapt to these
changes and challenges. The impact of coronavirus on human body is well known and more research is
underway but what it does to the human behaviour and the psychosocial effects are yet to be unravelled.

18
To dive deep into the behavioural consequences of such pandemic, 23 in-depth interviews (Male 12;
female 13, average age of 39 years) were conducted with middle level managers in public and private
service industry of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Using the Conservation of resource theory (COR), this paper
explores the employee’s perception of different types of stressors and examine a variety of coping
mechanisms including the type of organizational support provided during this crisis. The findings of
the interview suggest that the stress levels were moderate to high among all the participants.

The main themes emerged from the interviews were categorized into five:

i. Triggers of stress

The interview began with some rapport building conversation to gauge the participant’s perception
about the current situation. Out of 23 interviewees, all were working from home except one who was
not actively working due to his nature of work. Working remotely and alone has its own merits and
challenges, including the fear of invisibility. All participants expressed their feelings about the stress
this crisis built up. Due to social distancing, most meetings and work were conducted remotely via
technology, with some merits and hinderances such as lack of communication over connection troubles
on video conferences, unable to understand the body language of the person which plays a vital role in
communication, lack of human interaction among the colleagues make it difficult to achieve their
common goal.

According to the conservation of resource theory, people try to maintain the resources and the lack of
resources lead to stress. Stress is perceived high when people feel that the resources are less than the
demand. Time is an important resource during crisis, which needs to be planned and spent wisely as
any kind of imbalance might result into unpleasant feeling leading to increased stress levels. One of the
interviewee asserted that:

“For me, the stress level in this Pandemic has increased as I have to juggle with three important things
in my life; Work, Family & Health. I need to devote time and sometimes I don’t have enough time for
all, which bothers me.”

While another respondent indicated that the stress is seen in the working behaviour as well:

“The current crisis has resulted in a rushing behaviour and attitude to finish the cases which leads to
not solving the issues in-depth due to limited resources of logistics, and research centres”.

19
Gradually people learn to adapt and if they have good planning skills they might pass this crisis
successfully. Not all of the employees or managers can handle emergency situation like COVID-19 in
an appropriate way. One of the female respondent said:

“ If you ask me about stress in the beginning of this curfew, I would say I will burst out but I came to
realize that stressing over things will kill me. I have learnt how to prioritize things in crisis. Effective
communication is the best strategy in this time. In life there are things that we cannot change and we
should learn to adapt to it”.

One of the front liners, working in a hospital, expressed her painful experience:

“ My husband has been laid off due to losses and lack of business in his company. I work in hospital
where I have to manage the staff and provide necessary instructions as my staff is exposed to this deadly
virus in the hospital. I believe the overtime pay is not sufficient to motivate the staff, we need more
security.”

People also felt the crunch of resources like time and energy as some of them expressed their
disappointment with the loss of control over their schedule and time leading to a feeling of low self-
efficacy. Work from home with curfew limitations has also created a kind of stress in people’s lives as
they have to manage many distractions at home while working (work home interface, WHI).

“Work from home caused a lot of struggle and stress such as interruption, unlike working from office
where you are fully concentrated”.

Though stressful situations often arise in life and people deal with it in different ways. With COVID-
19, everyone is facing the challenge of preventing oneself and their families from this deadly virus.
Under stress, people usually keep thinking about the same thing over and over again. It could be
something they are worried about or they don’t like. As a result of this, negative emotions build-up,
affecting their physical health (physical tension) or mental wellbeing. After talking to several
interviewees, we found five different categories of triggers generated by the COVID-19 (listed in Figure
1). Some of the excerpts from the interview are given below:

“Communication with team, colleagues and management, even with vendors and external teams is an
issue. With our old deadlines, still standing it becomes so stressfully to meet them!”

“Short deadlines, high workload, difficulties in team management given the curfew situation, long

20
working hours, urgent requests are the things that stress me out”.

“I currently work from home, so internet connection is the issue most of the time. Especially when I try
to catch a meeting or a conference call while the internet speed is slowing down”.

“Incompatible timing preferences of employees and misunderstanding from poor communication with
so many different stakeholders. I would say even lack of clarity and direction increases my anxiety”.

“It seems there is no clarity about the future of our work as we are working on research projects and the
result needs a time to appear, and collaboration from other entities”.

ii. Organizational support

Organizations are expected to provide support especially, at the time of crisis to maintain the mental
health of employees. During the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown, most of the organizations made an
overnight shift to online working or working from home. Some organizations were not ready for this
change and some others did not plan for the contingencies with appropriate technical support. This is
evident from what the participants had expressed in their interviews. One participant who happens to
be the manager in a private company mentioned that:

“At organization level, there is no program to assist, but our organizational culture is open supportive.
There is no formal program or formal mechanism for this”.

Another participant working in the banking industry shared how her bank has supported the employees
during this time:

“They really understand the difficulty of the current situation, and they provided us with the hygienic
equipment needed such as: facemask, gloves, hand sanitizers. They also removed the access fingerprints
and reduced the working hours, and all of this was before the curfew”.

However, for government entities the support was felt minimal. Participant working in the top
managerial level in the government sector expressed his disappointment with the non-availability of
any organizational support for him and his employees:

“Most governmental organizations do not offer support. I don’t think we are prepared properly to handle
stress; we didn’t attend training programmes or read about it, and people assume that they can develop

21
the skill with no time. So, I don’t think we have been prepared to deal with stress in my organization”.

When there is inadequate organizational support to handle stress, this may lead to low productivity and
low work morale. Similarly, another participant working in government sector responded that:

“Unfortunately, government agencies don’t have any programs to support the employee’s psychological
welfare”.

On the contrary, participant from a private company brought the light in the tunnel as few organizations
are spending time and effort in making their employees feel comfortable at this difficult time and E-
learning has been the most prevalent thing. She said:

“My organization has been providing us with a number of good online training opportunities. And of
course a lot of adapting & coping tips are shared via emails are really effective!”

While some organizations are fostering creativity and applying innovative strategies to motivate the
employee, which includes the following:

“Thought sharing board -we have a page on our website to share thoughts, new ideas and hear from
everyone not only our risk management team….”

“They are trying to spread positivity through internal communication, make our virtual place of work
healthy, positive, and easy to navigate. In addition, they try so hard to ease our transition to the digital
communication tool (Video conferencing, chatting tools…)”

Organizational support can exists in the form of supportive boss or manager as well. As per one of the
respondents, the manager has been supportive which is important for the team’s performance.
According to her:

“My manager has been very supportive and understanding during this pandemic. He’d gather us and
explain every situation we’d been put on, assured us and made sure that he’s always available for us.
We have a daily team meeting that is never closed until any one has any concerns.

While other participants spoke about the most common technical support provided by the organization:

“I can call the IT department to trouble shoot and solve the problem. This usually takes less than 2
hours. We did not face any issue in business continuity, support teams were available 24/7.”

22
The COVID-19 pandemic is new to all the organizations around the world and similarly for Saudi
organizations. They are trying to help the staff to cope with it by different means. Some are proactively
working towards supporting their employee while other are still learning.

iii. Coping strategies & resources

The coping mechanism were shared by the participants and we identified mainly five different
categories which are presented in figure 1 below. One of the interesting strategies was shared by one
participant as she said:

“As COVID 19 is making everyone stressful, I am trying to avoid reading any news, stories, statistics
.. Etc about it. Me and my family all agreed not to share any devastating news”

While, other participants expressed that they work better under pressure:
“Well, I have different situations on daily basis, if it is a positive pressure usually it helps me to deliver
a better quality or product, also it impacts positively on the teamwork dynamics”.

“I try to take stressful situations easily and with flexible mind, as being stressed and anxious during the
challenging times will not solve complex situations”.

One of the strategy mentioned by majority of the participants is the planning and time management.
This strategy works for most of the time except in the current situation when there is a lot of work-home
and home-work interface, especially when there is a limited relief period during curfew, as expressed
by the following participant:

“Sometimes I have to prioritize my home related work against my office work in the curfew period. For
example, there were times where I didn’t attend important meeting because I had to buy groceries for
my family”.

A senior person from a government entity shared his thoughts on coping with the stress under this
pandemic and highlighted the role of personality and experience in following words:

“For me, a long experience in the work creates some sort of immunity system to dodge these stressful
events as well as prioritizing the situations based on the severity of the issue”.

Stress has impacted the employees working from home in many ways, however, the coping resources

23
or mechanisms were reported to be inadequate. Moreover, the lack of clear guidelines and information
added to the anxiety of employees in most cases.

iv. Blurred boundaries during WFH

Work from home has its own merits and limitations, especially at the time of emergency and lockdown
situation. A quite space with good internet connection at home is the conditions for effective work from
home (WFH), though they do not guarantee the quality of output and performance. There are other
things to be considered as well. The most important concern raised by many participants was about the
timings and expectations. One of the female managers working in a private company expressed that she
feels overwhelmed with the work and deadlines during this pandemic:

“One significant down side is that in normal cases, we’d be working for 8-9 hours a day, go home and
leave the work in the office. On contrary, working from home easily becomes a non-stop task and a 24
hours commitment”.

Similarly, one of the senior managers from a private company expressed his disappointment with the
work-home interface:

“Now things are a bit messed up, while working from office I also get challenged to do something that
is home related work and vice versa. I used to work sometimes at 10 at night or 11 at night. This is
causing me stress and of course the schedule has been distorted big time now. It is no more like 7 to 3
or 8 to 4 the work I do, and during this office hours, I don’t have any other thing to do other than work,
but now the schedule has been impacted as well”.

While others participants took time to adapt to the new working environment i.e., home. One manager
considered this change as a learning curve for him:

“My performance during the first week of working from home was weaker than the usual as I am still
adjusting to the situation. It is difficult to find time for everything (work, family, self-care)”.

The work is no more limited to the 6 or 8 hours people used to spend at the office, now the schedule
has been distorted creating stress as in a normal work setting an individual may immediately shift their
mindset from work matters to home matters once they physically leave the office. In most cases, this
shift doesn’t require a major effort from the individual side and often happens involuntary as a result of
the shift of physical setting and surroundings. In addition to the psychological and mental blocks, people
also face other glitches while working from home. It was highlighted by many participants and below

24
are a few excerpts:

“I need a good lighting at home, as at office we have natural sun light coming for the glasses and now
at home I use the tube lights which is not enough”.

“At home, I am usually on the phone and sitting on my desk for long hours. I am not used to of this
setting as I used to walk around on-site and check on the workers very often”.

“I think technology is improving, but it is going to take a while until we have a kind of technology that
incorporate body language. Sometimes people think that working from home means vacation or being
laid back, and some of them don’t have a proper work environment at home; therefore, it impacts their
ability to work effectively. If you have kids, they might cause some distractions”.

WFH using technology is a good alternative in the time of curfew, however, it has mounted the stress
levels among most of the employees as the boundaries have become more blurred and there is no clear
distinction between office hour/work and family hour/work. This Work-Home interface (WHI) and
Home-Work Interface (HWI) has led to more stress then comfort.

v. Positivity in this crisis.

People’s perceived stress would vary among them due to their behavioural and environmental
differences. Stress is seen as a negative element in life and considered as a challenge when one perceives
that resources outweigh demands. However, there can be some positive affects as well, as said by Hans
Selye, eustress is a positive stress that brings better results. Similarly, the current situation has also led
to some constructive output. Some positive responses were recorded as mentioned below:

“My home gym got reactivated again. Family activities to de-stress, that could be short walks around
the house, movie nights, board games, cooking…etc.”

“I have learnt to be more flexible during this crisis.”

More importantly, the two participants reported that the pressure has actually made them more
organized, innovative and focused:

“Stress can also be the driving force to achieve your work and you may realize certain inner aspects

25
within you that you have not noticed it before about yourself. Also, stress can make you think outside
of the box and on an organization level, it can open doors for new opportunities to create ways to
simplify the steps in order to solve the issues faster and effectively ”.

“I have become more focused and try to keep good quality in my performance”.

Though the recorded negative statements outweigh the positive ones, the optimism cannot be ignored.
There are positive thoughts and people have learned new things and skills in this lockdown period.
Unravelling oneself, valuing life and understanding the meaning of life has been specifically reported
in most of the interviews. This is a behavioural activation that sparks positivity as it has been proven
that appreciating life at the time of crisis and trauma actually reduces the stress and increases the mental
wellbeing.

Overall, the main findings can be summarized as; 82% of the respondents perceived high level of stress
during Covid-19 Pandemic, 78% did not receive or attend any training to deal with stress, 65%
mentioned work from home as the main reason for stress, 69% cited the imbalance as the reason for
stress (distorted boundaries and timings while working from home), 62% observed lack of resource and
clear directions as a source of stress and 60% were not aware about any formal stress coping
mechanisms or resources.

The study presents an integrated Stress Model with key triggers, coping strategies (resources),
organization support and outcome. The triggers inducing stress includes fear of unknown, ineffective
communication at work, lack of clarity and direction, interruptions during WFH resulting in loss of
resources like time and energy. All this might disturb employee’s mental health leading to prolonged
stress or even psychosomatic diseases. Therefore, it is an important issue which need to be given priority
in all organizations. The findings support the notion that there is a dire need for psycho-social support,
community support and an effective system of organizational support to sustain employee’s emotional
and mental wellbeing.

The findings of the study are valuable and have urgent policy implications for devising a special EAP
for crisis like COVID-19 and any future cases. Although the lockdown would be gradually eased,
organizations need to rethink about different alternatives to work. The need of the hour is to be more
agile and flexible to foster creativity and innovation.

26
 CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1) RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The main objectives of conducting this research are:

• To understand the different causes that contribute to stress of an employee

• To analyse what percentage of people of sample size actually suffer from burnout or
are having high chances of experiencing burnout
• To make them aware whether, if they are stressed and try to manage it.
• To understand whether the employee is stressed or not

2.1.1) Sampling

Sample Size: People of age between 18-50 who work in a certain organization as an intern or
as an employee, 62 Responses were collected.

Reason: Most of the humans complete their high-school studies by the age of 18 and that is the
legal age of becoming an adult, as per the laws of Government of India. After 18, the person
has an option to either pursue higher studies or work under a certain firm or both. If the person
is studying, they have school-work as a major cause of stress, however, if a person works in an
office, the cause of stress is the workload. Unlike the above cases, if the person simultaneously
works as well as studies, the contribution to stress is likely to increase.

Type: Random Sampling

Type of Data: Primary and Secondary

Limitations: Following are the limitations of the research survey conducted –

• Lack of evidence of person’s credibility

• The stress measurement is just an estimation
• The responses are an overview of the employee’s general life events and not specific.

(refer to appendix for the research instrument used and the questionnaire)

27
 CHAPTER 3

LITERATURE REVIEW
[6]

Gunnar Aronsson and Anita Rissler “Psycho physiological Stress reactions in female and male
urban bus drivers of Stockholm traffic in Sweden (1998)”. The researchers carried a
comparative study on Male and female drivers working in urban area driving in urban traffic
regularly. The two aspects were focused Work condition and watching educational programme.
For this study 10 full time male employee and 10 women employees were considered. The
dependent variables such as Neuroendocrine, Blood pressure, Self- Reported mood and Work
demands were considered. In study it was identified that noradrenaline, adrenaline and cortisol
exertion level was significantly high during driving hours than comparison session (i.e.
watching educational programme) among both male and female drivers and there were no
significant sex differences in self-reported mood during bus driving. The researcher observed
that compare to male drivers the female drivers pay more price in psychological effort. So this
provides the need for further study on gender differences in health and occupational stress.

Amat Taap Manshor, Rodrigue Fontaine, and Chong Siong Choy, the researchers (2003) in
their paper titled Occupational stress among managers: a Malaysian survey, published in
Journal of Managerial Psychology made an attempt to examine sources of stress among
mangers working in multinational companies in Malaysia. For the survey a sample of 440
managers were involved. The questionnaire was shared with managers of 34 MNC’s operating
in Malaysia. In the survey it was observed that there is strong link between relationship at work
and working conditions and workload were the important factors which create stress among
managers. It also revealed that some demographic factors also create stress. It was found that
managers experience the stress predominantly because of the factors such as excess work load,
working conditions, new technology, role ambiguity and conflict, risk and danger, video
display terminal, relationships at work, and career development. Sergeant Corey Haines (2003)
“Police stress and the effects on the family”. The researcher carried the work to understand the
blow of stress on families of police officers. The aim of this study is to recognize how the stress
negatively affects families of police officers. The stress can’t be separated from police job, but
the researcher made an attempt to search the origin of stress and recommend strategies to
reduce the stress. During the study the author found that policy officers are stressed mainly

28
because of the shift work, low pay, and conflict with friends and family, supervisors, irregular
sleep schedules. The researchers recommend conducting some training programs to create
awareness about events which create stress, and create the ability to understand its impact. This
will help them to handle the stress effectively. Some individual counselling session should be
organised for the officers, and discussion during counselling should kept confidential. This will
make them comfortable and they may open up and share their problems. Overall the outcome
this study can be interpreted that stress is part of police job. The factors like work shift, poor
pay, conflict among colleagues are the factors create stress.

The proper training and counselling will help the officers to cope up with stress.

John L.M. Tse , Rhona Flin, Kathryn Mearns.(2006) “Bus driver well-being review: 50 years
of research”. The authors carried the study by reviewing different research papers, for this
purpose 27 important studies related to stress were considered. On the basis of this study the
author identified that the nature of the job is the main reason for the ill health of drivers. In the
study it is observed that the stressor such as physical environment, organizational issues and
job design causes the stress among drivers. The moderator factor such as demographic factors
(gender), Personality of the employees (Type A and B, Negative affectivity, hardiness) also
responsible and causes the stress among the drivers. The effect of these factors can be
experienced in the form of psychological, physical, and behavioural (substance abuse) disorder
among drivers. Stress among drivers causes ill health which badly impacts the organization
performance by increasing labour turnover, more number of accidents, employee absence. The
researcher found that along with the above mentioned stressors the passenger’s violent
behaviour and heavy traffic, tight work schedules are compounding factors for stress among
bus drivers. The authors are of opinion that bus operators should take some initiatives to
improve work environment so that job stressors can be reduced. Further suggested to bus
operators to work along with policy makers, trade unions, researchers, and bus drivers so that
they can take some initiatives to safe guard the drivers form stress.

P.S. Swaminathan, & Rajkumar S. (2010) – “Study on Stress Levels in Organizations and its
impact on Employees' Behavior”.

Researchers carried a study that focused on the influence of work environment on the degree
of stress faced by employees and different profession, age group, hours of work and different
varieties of jobs. For the study 250 sample size was taken which includes Bank officers,

29
Leaders in Business Organisation, sub ordinates in business organization and academicians.
By this study some of the common factors such as meeting deadlines, coping with sudden
changes, working with limited resource, and the standards and high expectations from the
employees are also the factors which creates stress. The researchers found specific
organizational role related stressors such as role overload, role self-distance and role stagnation
causes stress. Researchers suggest that each individual should frame his own methods or plans
to deal with the stress. This can be done by understanding events causing stress, identifying the
reasons behind them such as family, or own expectations etc. Adopting good habits like eating
healthy food, by doing regular exercise, taking sufficient rest, proper time management.

Ipseeta, Patnaik and Mitra (2014) the researchers conducted study to identify impact stress on
IT employees. According to the researcher the stress is the main cause for behavioural
consequences which may be experienced in the form of more dependence, less attention to
family members, fights and arguments on relatively unimportant matters, lack of commutation,
unfairness, less interest or more interest in sex. and Cognitive consequences may be in the form
of overemphasis on self rather on task, more focus was on problems in retrieval/ recall from
memory, negative aspects of life and work.

The factors such as the boss use the words were more focused rather than under what context
he used those words. So it shows that responsiveness to the incidental data was reduced. Due
to constant worry and anxiety the employees were unable to concentrate. The study reveals that
stress management is important factor for an employee. The researcher is of opinion that
employees put efforts to keep fit so that can reduce stress. There are various factors which acts
as source and attributes for stress such as job satisfaction which directly related to stress and
organization work culture. There is a significant correlation between job stress and climate of
organization, higher stress straight forward impact on IT professionals’ quality of work life.

30
QUESTIONS IN THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT – EXPLAINED

1. Are you satisfied with the performance you give at your work?

Reason for asking this question: Asking this question pops up the idea inside a person’s
mind that is he/she indeed satisfied with what they are doing at work or not. If yes, it builds
a positive mindset that the person may most probably be happy. If not, it is very likely the
person must be stressed due to the dissatisfaction at work or maybe some other reason.

2. Do you think that you are suffering from depression?

Reason for asking this question: Depression is a state of mind where a person is suffering
from rumination of negative thoughts, melancholy, anxiety and keeps falling in the vicious
circle feeling numb. This questions makes a person understand whether if they are feeling
this way, if yes, it is likely they suffer from stress.

3. Do you feel that you are not getting what you want out of your job?

Reason for asking this question: There may be several goals or targets that a person wishes
to achieve in their life and the job helps complete to a certain extent. For instance, the
person has a responsibility of providing for his family and hence, takes a job which will
yield him with the money (salary/wage) and fulfils the basic requirements of the house. If
the person is not getting what he wants out of the job, then he must be dissatisfied with it
and may be thinking to quit the job or absentmindedly reduce his work performance.

4. Do you discuss about your problem with your spouse or friend or any other close
to you?

Reason for asking this question: Discussing problems with a friend/spouse/close person
can relieve an individual of stress immediately. If they do not discuss, they may not even
get any solution or advice or guidance from the close one and also risk the piling of
problems within one’s mind and keep thinking negatively.

5. Do you worry about your colleague’s opinion about you?

31
Reason for asking this question: Some actions that an individual does may prompt others
to think about them too. But if the individual is least bothered about their opinions, he/she
may be happier and may not fall into the pit of overthinking and cause a nervous
breakdown. Nervousness, overthinking and worrying about others opinion of oneself may
cause stress.

6. Do you work more than 8 hours?

Reason for asking this question: One must lead a balanced life. Work is important indeed
but so is giving time to family, friends and self. A person must not work more than 8 hours
a day, the person may already be exhausted and fatigued and may not have the capacity to
work efficiently anymore. They need to rest and spend time with their social circles too.
Hence, if the person works more than 8 hours, they may likely be pressured to give more
time to work and less to personal life.

7. You have an important function at your home but your boss asks you to give a 4-
hour overtime. What is your response?

Reason for asking this question: If the response of the employee is ‘YES’, then the person
prioritises work over family. If the response is ‘NO’, the person prioritizes the event over
work. This is a more likely situation because given the person gives 6 days of the week to
their job, they can spare a 4 hour overtime for an important function which will happen
only once a lifetime.

8. Do you regularly spend time for entertainment?

Reason for asking this question: If the person regularly spends time for entertainment, they
may feel happier than usual, stress is reduced and the effectiveness at work is also
increased. Contrariwise, if latter is the case then the person may become dull, insensitive
and show a lack of interest in activities.

9. Is your social-life balanced?

Reason for asking this question: Social-life includes family, friends, neighbours,
colleagues, etc. A balanced social-life means there are no grudges, hard feelings and have
amiable relationship among each other. The individual seeks comfort from a healthy social-

32
life, but if the social-life itself is a havoc-wreak then the person can be in a state of
loneliness and suffer from depression.

10. Do you fear about the quality of your performance?

Reason for asking this question: Fear is a strong word. If the person fears about the quality
of their performance then they give importance to it more than necessary which will deeply
impact them if things go south. Concerned is a healthier word, it gives motivation to
perform better as well as would not deeply affect the person if the performance is
unsuccessful.

11. Do you plan out your work before implementation?

Reason for asking this question: Planning out the work prior to acting upon them gives a
clear picture of what lies ahead of them and how they can mentally prepare themselves. It
is like a heads up and reduces stress as one has already processed what to do with it. Those
who choose not to plan out their work or do not get time for the same can be mentally
exhausted at the end of the day as they might feel they are working endlessly.

12. Do you feel that you could use your time in doing more important work rather
than the ones which do not require much attention?

Reason for asking this question: Those who feel this way may not understand how to
prioritize their work. There is always going to be a tension in their minds that a very
important work is left and they would much rather finish that than doing something
unimportant or can be done at a later stage.

13. Do you worry if you weren’t able to achieve your target?

Reason for asking this question: If a person worries too much about achieving his target,
he may end up not achieving it at all due to overthinking, nervousness and mental pressure.
Certainly one cares about achieving their targets, if they fail they can always try again and

33
work harder, but by constantly thinking whether they can achieve their target or not, what
will happen if they fail and so on can cause a state of distress.

14. Do you feel stressed sometimes?

Reason for asking this question: This question is too generic and unspecific, and meant for
a layman to understand. If they occasionally feel that too much work needs to be done,
frequent headaches, body pain, fatigue, etc., then they must be stressed sometimes.

15. If you are a student, do you feel you are able to manage job/internship and
classwork effectively?

Reason for asking this question: Burden of school work and professional work both rests
on a student’s shoulders who is doing a job. Assignments and homework, preparation for
examinations needs equal attention in addition to the work given at office. Effective
planning, dedication as well as time needs to be given to both the aspects and also spare
some time for entertainment to cool off is the best way to manage classwork and
job/internship. If they are unable to manage either, it creates an imbalance and eventually
the person has to give up.

16. If you are a student, do you consume enough energy foods to build your strength?

Reason for asking this question: Ample strength and nutrition is needed for the body which
works twice than usual. If the person lacks nutrition, they may get easily tired and may not
be able to focus upon work. It is imperative that health needs the most attention of all, not
only will it cause stress if one is unhealthy, but will also impact the performance.

17. Is the reason of your stress your work load?

34
Reason for asking this question: If work load is causing more stress, take measures to find
solutions on how to calm the mental state and solve issues step by step. This may or may
not be the major reason for stress.

18. Are you stressed because of family problems?

Reason for asking this question: Some issues within the family can be the major cause of
stress and this question enables the employee to understand the source of stress. This may
or may not be the major reason for stress.

19. Do you get stressed when your boss scolds you?

Reason for asking this question: If an inadvertent mistake occurs and the boss scolds, a
sense of fear and embarrassment develops which creates tension in one’s mind. If they are
able to calm themselves down, it is a great way to ease the stress but if not, tension builds
up causing more damage.

20. Do you try to find a solution to calm your nerves?

Reason for asking this question: This question helps in understanding whether the person
takes steps to manage their stress or not.

21. (IF YES) Do you practice yoga or any other ayurvedic therapy for reducing stress?

Reason for asking this question: There are various methods to calm a mind, and whether
physical activities is one of the methods the employee tries to apply or not to manage stress.

22. Overall are you content with your job and are leading a comfortable life?

Reason for asking this question: In conclusion, answering this question enables if the
person is satisfied with their job or not, or if he is living happily or still on the path of
happiness.

35
 CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION &

PRESENTATION
A survey was conducted by distributing google forms consisting a set of questions related to
stress management. Below presented are the graphs and their interpretation.

1) Gender

About 46% of the sample size were females and 54% were males.

2) Age

Most of the sample size belonged to the age category between 18-30, 20 years holding
maximum number of people. Age category between 31-50 holds one person each.

36
3) Performance satisfaction at work

About 92% of the sample size is satisfied with their performance at work. The rest 8% feel they
could do better.

4) Depression

About 10% of the sample size feel they are suffering from emotional instability or depression,
rest 90% are either happy or managing their emotional health well.

5) Want Satisfaction from job

37
People have goals and targets which they wish to achieve by working at their jobs and just
about half of the sample size are satisfied, but 51% are unable to acquire what they expected
to achieve out of the job.

6) Discussion of problems with someone close

Discussing problems with someone reduces tension, sometimes even yields a solution or advice
on ways to handle problems. About 70% of the sample size are comfortable and discuss their
issues with their friends/family/co-workers etc. However, the rest of the 30% either do not get
time or aren’t comfortable in discussing problems with their close ones, this can get slightly
toxic and can contribute to stress.

7) Worrying about other’s opinion of you

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It is wiser and healthier to avoid what people think about you. In spite of this, about 47% of
the employees from the survey worry about their colleague’s opinion about them, this can lead
to nervousness and anxiety which can cause a mistake at work. 53% of the employees are likely
to be less stressed if they are not concerned about other people’s opinions about them.

8) Daily duration of work in hours

Working more than 8 hours can lead to exhaustion and fatigue, people are unable to allot time
to their families and themselves. about 60% of the people give more that 8 hours of their time
to their job and multiple reasons can contribute to it. Owing to the pandemic situation, many
people are working from home and are required to be at beck and call of the company, this is
one of the reasons, others can be deadline, need of promotion, pending work, etc,. Then again,
39% of the employees work 8 hours or less and can be much happier than the latter, stress is
less likely to occur here.

9) Work-Home dilemma

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Given a situation where the boss requires an employee to work overtime but the employee has
an important function to attend at home, 63% of the survey responses say ‘no’ to work overtime
and 37% say ‘yes’ to work overtime. Those who said ‘yes’ deserve a much needed break from
work as they may be worried about work which led them to say yes and are stressed about it.
However, 63% prioritize function at home, it is also important and may not occur again. It can
be taken as a break/holiday from work, this will also reduce stress.

10) Entertainment

Regularly sparing time from a schedule for entertainment is healthy. It refreshes the mind and
the productivity also can increase. Maximum number of employees spend time for
entertainment either by watching TV, plays/shows, singing/dancing or doing any activity
besides work. 23% on the other hand are reluctant to give entertainment some of their time.

11) Social-life

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 Social-life includes family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, etc. A balanced social-life
means there are no grudges, hard feelings and have amiable relationship among each other
and about 74% have it under control. Rest 26% can be in a state of loneliness and suffer
from depression as they are unable to seek comfort in others.

12) Quality of performance

26% of the sample size are calm about the quality of the performance they give at work, we
cannot say the same about 23% who worry about the quality of their actions for the job. About
52% sometimes are concerned for their performance, depending upon the level of importance
at work or their mood.

13) Planning before implementing work

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About 10% of the people go with the flow, 24% plan their work sometimes, depending upon
its importance and 66% always plan out their work before execution. Planning out the work
gives a clear picture and how they can mentally prepare themselves it reduces stress as one has
already processed what to do with it. Those who choose not to plan out their work can be
mentally exhausted at the end of the day.

14) Importance of work and its allotment in schedule

Maximum of the employees feel that they would rather do a much more important work than
what they are doing, several reasons contribute to it. They may feel their skills are being
underutilized, they cannot inquire with their boss to give them a much more valuable work or
they may not feel motivated enough to work on a much bigger task given with the time they
have, etc.

15) Target achievement

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About 73% of the people worry if they are not able to achieve their target. This causes extreme
stress and burden upon the person to redo all their work again till they achieve the target, they
may also be worried about the response of their superior. Rest of the 27% are not worried if
they fail to achieve the target.

16) Job/Internship with studies

From the sample size, 54% are not students. Nonetheless, 39% of the students are able to
effectively manage their work and studies in a balanced manner. Very minimal percentage of
students are not able to manage both and may be prone to stress.

17) Eat healthy to build strength for students

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Everyone should eat healthy but as per the survey, 54% are not students, but 37% do eat healthy
as energy is needed to balance work and student life. Very less percentage of the crowd pay
attention to their food choices.

18) Generic feeling of stress

86% of people from the survey are able to realise that they feel stressed. 14.5% of them either
are unaware whether they are stressed or not or they do not feel stressed at all.

19) Is work load the reason for stress

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More than 50% of the people are unable to measure if work load is the main reason why they
are stressed. About 30% of the people are able to identify they are stressed because of work
and 16% are not stressed because of work.

20) Are family issue the reason for stress

About a quarter of the survey responses yield that they are unsure if they are stressed due to
family issues or something else. 56.5% of the employees are sure that family problems are not
the reason they are stressed and approximately 18% are positive they have issues in the family
which are bothering them.

21) If the boss scolds, do you get stressed

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52% of the employees are unaffected and do not personally take boss’ scolds and worry
themselves but it is unfortunate for the rest 48% of the people who are deeply affected when
their boss scolds them and get stressed when instead, they can be calm and composed, and deal
with the situation more effectively without disturbing their mental health.

22) Any solutions implemented to calm yourself when stressed

Maximum number of people do take the initiative to calm their nerves, about 84% of the
employees. However, 16% of them do not get time or are reckless about not calming
themselves down when they are stressed and it affects their physiological and psychological
state immensely.

23) Physical/Counselling activities for stress reduction

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27% are not making peace with the activities that they must do to reduce stress, so are the 17%
who do not even think about any ways to calm their nerves. Bit more than half of the people
from the survey take some initiative to practice yoga or any other ayurvedic therapy for stress
reduction.

24) Comfortable life and content with job

Hardly 3% of the employees are dissatisfied with their jobs and life, they need serious help
before they reach burnout. 50% of them are still trying their best to manage and achieve work-
life balance. Nevertheless, 47% are happy with their jobs and life.

CHAPTER 5

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 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

After going through the concepts of stress and stress management, understanding various
methods on work-life balance and coping with stress, conducting a research and analysing the
data, studying various articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted the
private sector; it can be concluded that low level of stress and a very high level of stress yields
lowest productivity but optimal stress load can motivate an employee to a certain extent which
yields highest level of productivity. Private sector has suffered more than the public sector,
specifically those employees who work in MSME’s or entities whose size is less, the pandemic
has hit them hard and it has been quite difficult for them to ensure safety levels. Only those
who remained calm and optimistic managed to overcome the challenging times of COVID-19.
Those who panicked and were stressed suffer immensely, they need to learn how to manage
stress efficiently and take support of their loved ones.

The research survey shows that maximum number of people do face some levels of stress but
are trying their best to manage their job life and personal life. Barriers and challenges do affect
them, but they are humans after all and most of the people make positive decisions in life when
it comes to stress at least. Stressors and triggers will always come in life but they are still
working on balancing their life well.

Healthier employees operating under manageable levels of stress will be happier and more
positive, helping to maintain a strong, healthy workplace culture that's conducive to creativity
and productivity. Less sick days: Stress is one of the leading causes of absenteeism in the
workplace.

Stress can’t be entirely eliminated, and a healthy amount of stress leads to productivity and creativity.
But there’s a fine line and when employees become overly stressed, it takes a toll on both them
personally and the overall health of the company. To ensure you have happy, healthy, and engaged
employees, stress management in the workplace is a must.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Referred article of Private sector employees - victim of high-level stress

[2] Information referred from Stress Management: Definition, Techniques, and Strategies

[3] Information about Coronavirus

[4] An article on Work Stress Hampering Employee Performance During COVID-19: Is

Safety Culture Needed?

[5] An article on Impact of COVID-19 on Employee Behaviour: Stress and Coping

Mechanism During WFH (Work From Home) Among Service Industry Employees

[6] An article on WORK PLACE STRESS AMONG EMPLOYEES: A LITERATURE

REVIEW

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APPENDIX

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