CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

One of the common challenges that employees are experiencing in the workplace

anywhere in the world is called stress. Stress is said to influence employees’ performance

and efficiency, and has become a burning issue that firms have to consider in order for

employees to perform their tasks with effectiveness. In fact, stress can attribute to one

life’s imbalance that may also lead to depression. However, excess stress will cause a

scarcity of productivity, a loss of confidence, and therefore the ability to perform routine tasks.

Stress usually occurs when one realizes the strain on them, and this can be more evident during

crisis especially those related to economic or public health and safety. Stress in this situation

contributes to decreased organizational performance, decreased employee overall performance,

high error rate and poor quality of work, high staff turnover, and absenteeism due to health

problems such as anxiety, emotional disorder; work life imbalance; depression and other forms

of ailments such as frequent headache; obesity and cardiac arrests.

Lately, a global disease outbreak threatened the whole planet, named Coronavirus (Covid-19).

On March 11,2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this virus a pandemic.

Many governments have declared health emergencies to prevent the infection spreading,

enforcing physical distancing, people quarantined, and closure of nonessential businesses. Some

employees have been required to take immediate action to change their work styles under the

direction of their company without preparation. Others must continue their usual work.

Moreover, with Covid-19, many people report greater fear, worry, and psychological stress.

Employees’ performance could suffer as a result.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a huge toll on employees’ mental health and productivity.

As individuals struggle with the impact of the pandemic, the collective level of workplace stress,

anxiety and uncertainty that everyone is feeling is affecting productivity Based to the statistics it

has been recorded by “Marketwatch”, during the first week of April, nearly 70% of U.S workers

identified this as the most stressful time of their professional careers, and 94% of workers

reported losing one or more hours a day in productivity.(Forbes,2020)

According to neuroscience expert Dr. Patrick Porter, founder of “BrainTap Technologies”,

mental clarity is crucial for productivity. “Increased stress and anxiety surrounding Covid-19 has

understandably caused work productivity to plummet because your emotional state is directly

connected to your ability to focus.”

Components of job stress that employees may experience during covid-19 pandemic are:

perception of safety, quarantine and confinement, stigma and social exclusion as well as

financial loss and job insecurity, difficulties related to supply of raw materials, lack of tools for

organizing remote work.

Statement of the Problem

According to research and literature it has been noticed that stress is hovering from many years,

but management did not take it up seriously. Stress is considered big factor for low quality

employee performance and less productivity. In the aftermath of lockdown due to Covid-19 in

Lebanon, several organizations were forced to operate remote working, which provides several

challenges and opportunities to the employees and employer, causing a direct impact on their

physical and mental health, which in turn affects their performance.

The main problem faced is that there is no dedicated study that shows the relation between stress

that employees’ are experiencing during coronavirus in Lebanon and their performance at work.

In addition, this study aims to show the correlation of job stressors as perception of safety, job

insecurity, financial loss, with employee performance.

Purposes of the Study

Covid-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge

we have faced from 40 years. Pandemics can be stressful, causing fear and anxiety about a

new disease and what could happen can be overwhelming for adults and children as well,

causing strong emotions in them. The reason for carrying out this study is that the subject is

new, challenging, and occupational stress exists everywhere, also, an inadequate research has

been reported on such type of studies. Moreover, the researcher will try to identify different

job stressors during covid- 19 and find out the relation between these stressors and employee

performance.

Significance of the study

Employees around the world are facing challenges every day, with the outbreak of Covid-19

pandemic. These challenges are included in terms of mental health, employment, source of

income, and prospects for the immediate future. This study addresses the effects of these

challenges causing stress, on employees and businesses. Therefore, it is important to study the

relationship between job stress and employee performance. The importance of job stress can be

expressed through various factors such as perception of safety, threat and risk of contagion,

quarantine and confinement, stigma and social exclusion as well as financial loss and job
insecurity, difficulties related to supply of raw materials, lack of tools for organizing remote

work. So, this is very important especially businesses that are still operating work remotely,

because the result of this study can be used as benchmarks by such companies. The

recommendations can be relevant for further studies.

Definition of Terms

 Job Stress: the harmful, physical, and emotional responses that occur when the

requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker(

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ,2014)

 Employee Performance: The job related activities expected of a worker and how well those

activities were executed. Many business personnel directors assess the employee

performance of each staff member on an annual or quarterly basis in order to help them

identify suggested areas for improvement. (businessdictionary)

 Covid-19: a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. ‘CO’ stands for corona, ‘VI’ for

virus, and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as ‘2019 novel

coronavirus’ or ‘2019-nCoV.’ The COVID-19 virus is a new virus linked to the same

family of viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some types of

common cold. (WHO,2020)

 Quarantine: A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people and goods which is

intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease

and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been exposed to a

communicable disease, but do not have a confirmed medical diagnosis. (Wikipedia)

 Pandemic: an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing

international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people. (WHO,2011)

  Safety: Safety is a concept that includes all measures and practices taken to preserve the

life, health, and bodily integrity of individuals. In the workplace, safety is measured

through a series of metrics that track the rate of near misses, injuries, illnesses, and

fatalities. (safeopedia,2018)

 Job insecurity: Job insecurity is regarded as the ‘overall concern about the continued

existence of the job in the future. (Sverke, M., & Hellgren, J, 2002)

Research Questions

The research questions that would guide this quantitative are stated below:

Descriptive Questions:

1. What are main stressors related to Covid-19 pandemic?

2. How employee’s performance is affected by stress during crisis?

Main Question:

 Is there a significant relationship between job stress related to covid-19 pandemic and

employee performance in Lebanon?

 Does perception of safety during Covid-19 impacts employee performance in Lebanon?

 Does job insecurity during Covid-19 impacts employee performance in Lebanon?

 Does financial loss during Covid-19 impacts employee performance in Lebanon?

 Hypotheses

 Research hypotheses is a specific statement explaining relationship, usually involving two

variables, and including the direction of the relation

Based on the objectives of the study, the following hypotheses can be drawn:

Ho: β =0: There is no significant relationship between stress related to Covid-19 pandemic and

employee performance.

Hₒ1: There is no significant relationship between perception of safety and employee

performance.

Hₒ2: There is no significant relationship between job insecurity and employee performance.

Hₒ3: There is no significant relationship between financial loss and employee performance

 DV: Employees Performance In Lebanon

 IV1: Perception of safety

 IV2: Job insecurity

 IV3: financial loss

 DV= IV1+IV2+IV3 ≠ 0

1. Each hypothesis represents one distinct testable prediction. 

2. The phrasing of each hypothesis clearly reflects the nature of the statistical analysis used to

test each hypothesis.

3. Select the level of significance (α), common values are 0.01 and 0.05

4. Calculate the value of the test

5. Make a decision, Null hypothesis will be rejected

Limitation of the Study

There are some limitations that may affect or restrict the methods and analysis of

research findings. First, coronavirus is spreading so fast while writing this paper, in addition to

time restrictions, the researcher can’t access all the population in governorates of Lebanon due to

limited time and lack of access to data, also lack of available and reliable data concerning

Lebanese employees. Finally, studies which have investigated the impact of Covid-19 stressors

on individual’s mental health are sparse. In addition, there are few studies that have examined

the epidemiological catastrophe from a managerial perspective.