Approaches to Reduce Occupational Stress - Research Paper Example

? Approaches to reduce occupational stress Introduction Every individual working in an organization undergoes occupational stress at some point in their life in their scope of work. This stress may occur as a response to the challenges, which are being faced by the employee in the workplace. Stress arises when the knowledge and capabilities of an individual are conflicting with the demands and pressures of the clientele or the supervisors that cause a mental, physical or emotional reaction to it. Hence, in this report our main focus is on employees who are working in Wal-Mart in retail business and sales. We will discuss the stress involved in their work. Moreover, we will analyze the situations in which stress arose among employees in Wal-Mart, the programs they initiated to increase productivity and recommendations will be provided to curb its adverse effects on the individual so that there is a minimum impact on productivity. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is a multi-national retail corporation, which has numerous chains, departmental stores and warehouses in different parts of the world. This company is owned by Walton Family in the United States of America and is operating in 15 countries. The employees at Wal-Mart in retail sales have been subjected to various issues over a span of time due to which the stress among employees is rising and there is a need to initiate such progressive programs through which the working conditions can become conducive and there is a regulation that promotes and projects a fair treatment among employees. Issues at Wal-Mart Employees who deal with sales at Wal-Mart are always required to submit a report at the end of the month regarding the percentage of sales, which have occurred during that time. It was seen that the company faced a weak performance and sales were a total disaster. The factors, which were highlighted, showed that the decrease in sales was due to the fact that the economic condition of the United States is affected. It was seen that there was an increase in the Social Security tax due to which the customers could be facing unemployment issues, rise in price of gas etc. Due to these crises the management in Wal-Mart initiated a plan to increase workload but cut hours of employees who were working as retailers which gave rise to a period of lost sales and lower morale of employees (Boyle). The Composition of Stress at the Workplace In organizations, there are certainly outer fields of risk, uncertainty, and challenges which create the inner field of stress for employees at the workplace. Every organization contains this internal influential factor of stress which is described as one state of transaction between individual and environment (Dewe & Cooper, 2012). According to the Lazarus model of stress, employees’ needs and wants make them accept the factor of stress in their working environment. They accept stress because of the formal agreement with their organization or workplace which induces the elements of obligation and responsibility on employees. When employees are to fulfill the obligation and responsibility they inevitably catch the element of stress which is associated to work responsibility and obligation altogether. These are some primary causes of how stress gets involved in employees’ lives (Dewe & Cooper, 2012). The Theory of Work Design by Theorell describes stress as an influencing state that originates from employees’ work designs and more specifically from work demands (Aldwin, 2012, p.73). If demands of work are complex and are of burdening nature, stress is more prominent on employees at the work time. Karasek proposes Job Demands-Control model to control the demands of work on employees at the workplace. The author describes two levels of work demands- physiological work demands and psychological demands. If these two levels of work demands are controlled by employees, they can control the affect of stress at the time of work. According to Karasek, moderate stress is optimum for employees as it keeps employees busy and motivated for performance at the workplace. If stress level exceeds moderate level, it causes physical and mental health problems and if it is lower than the moderate stress, it causes boredom and low motivation in employees (Dewe & Cooper, 2012, p. 24). The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have provided some information of stress on employee’s health and carry out prevention programs to reduce its effect on productivity (Sharma). They show seven potential hazards; culture, demands, role, control, change, relationships and culture which have an impact on employees and may raise their blood pressure, sleeping disorders and other illness which may result in a coronary heart diseases, anxiety or depression which will not only cause issues in the individual but also effect his work potential to carry out organizational goals effectively. The employee will remain absent, show hostility towards the employer and this can result in poor performances (Sharma). Stress Factors in Wal-Mart The average employee who works at Wal-Mart is mostly working part time and the amount of money which employees earned a month was very less to keep them content and out of poverty. Moreover, the associates who were working at Wal-Mart also faced reduction in their working hours, which increased their financial stress. Due to the fact that Wal-Mart emphasizes more on the part time employment has made difficult for employees to provide support to their families and make both ends meet. Many associates working in Wal-Mart also reported the fact that due to strict deadlines the employers also faced injuries in carrying out their work, such as by pulling heavy loads and unloading heavy commodities from the trucks etc. The company did not provide any medical help hence, causing stress and fear among employees that they might have to leave the job (Fefer). Programs to reduce Stress by Wal-Mart The factors that are causing stress in the minds of employees needed to be addressed. If the stress is related to low sales performance, then the root of the problem needs to be addressed. The action taken by Wal-Mart was in reaction to low productivity and they initiated programs that could improve sales and returns without being considering employees behaviors. 1. Wal-Mart initiated a plan that addressed grievances of employees that were due to poor sales. They were supposed to meet with merchandise supervisors and address them their concerns and the impact of stress on their working. However, it was reported that this technique failed as there was no accountability and no actions were taken by supervisors to provide solutions. 2. The employees could also report their grievances and call Resources for Living. All the conversations are recorded in this program and even though there is confidentiality in whatever there is spoken but this can be broken under some conditions if the Wal-Mart wishes. 3. There were strict deadlines so the company initiated a “Project Impact” program, which was intended to help the company overcome the sales issues, but the company was not able to achieve its objective (Marshall). 4. Another approach, “Win, Play, Show’ was not able to meet its goal. As there were mostly failed attempts by the management there were a high level of dissatisfaction among employees and the stress level has also increased. This has resulted in high turnover in the company (Marshall). 5. There was a new labor allocation system by the name of “Task Manager” introduced in the company. This system used to assign very strict deadlines to complete the tasks, which were given by the store managers. Many employees grew impatient with the program as they realized that they could never complete their work in the given time frame, which was allotted to them (Marshall). 6. Wal-Mart introduced also introduced a “Computerized scheduling” program in order to boost the employee’s morale in the workplace. However, this program also failed as employees were not able to match or schedule their work according to the program (O’Connell). Discrepancies Wal-Mart’s programs only focused on working with strict deadlines without taking consideration of how employees felt under pressure. Their main focus was only on achieving sales and maximizing productivity. Mostly, the training programs only focused on the entry level of the market retailers with very less investment in how the employee could achieve satisfaction in his career path. In one indication, it was seen that employees had minimum training in their working procedures as well as related to their psychological or emotional element relating to stress (Allen). Majority of employees working in Wal-Mart are in the view that there will be better performances in the workplace, if the company starts investing on the people, on developing their skills, capabilities and also reducing the stress involved with meeting deadlines and cutting working hours. Effects of Stress on the individual and the Organization The hazardous factors that have an impact on an individual can be due to in-conducive working environment which can result in poor work performances. Wal-Mart was cutting working hours, the amount of workload was more and the time allocated to complete their tasks were less hence, due to these reasons most of the employees had negative emotions, there was increased turnover, low morale, less commitment, and increased hostility to the management. Therefore, due to these issues the stress increased and there were more accidents and litigation seen against the company (Sharma). Programs to Reduce Stress Even though it has been known that the difficulties in working procedure still remain the same in Wal-Mart, with very less emphasis on training and development, it is still necessary for the management to initiate plans that can reduce its adverse effects and focus on stress management to have better working performances. In order to break this vicious circle of unsatisfied employees, which give rise to low sales, it is necessary that the management of Wal-Mart takes initiatives to make investment in their workforce as manpower is the backbone of any organization. It is necessary to initiate such programs in which the workers grievances are not just addressed, but they also take input from employees regarding what they think can be instilled in their operating systems to improve the working procedures of the store and reduce the stress involved in completing the tasks in fewer hours. Most of employees who were working in Wal-Mart feel that there is a need to value the employee and provide incentives through which employees gets motivated to perform their tasks. Even though Wal-Mart initiated systems that were measuring productivity of employees, but the systems failed as deadlines set out were unattainable and resulting in stress (Baird). In order to provide solutions to combat stress the following recommendations are provided; 1. A program that ensures that workloads are designated as per the workers capabilities to perform their tasks by providing employees with challenging but still attainable deadline. 2. Taking measures to improve communication between the management and employees. 3. Providing incentives and motivational workshops and programs through which the employee can be de-stressed. 4. Encouraging employees to take support from the stress management resources and programs that focus on managing stressful situations by developing strategies to reduce its adverse effect (Hardy, Carson and Thomas). Conclusion We can conclude that in this report we have analyzed the challenges that are being faced by employees working in Wal-Mart, which are causing weak sales and dissatisfaction among employees. The working procedures with strict deadlines and less working hours have increased stress among employees. Wal-Mart has been initiating programs that focus on productivity but there is a need to introduce programs that focus on stress and take effective measures to address its causes and provide necessary techniques to overcome these issues. Works Cited Allen, Kevin. Survey: Walmart and Sam’s Club worst in customer service. Vers. Web. 2011. 14 December 2013 . Baird, Nikki. Workforce Optimization and Unintended Consequences. Vers. Web. 23 August 2011. 14 December 2013 . Boyle, Matthew. Walmart Plans to End Extra Pay for Sunday Shifts Next Year. Vers. Web. 2010. 14 December 2013 . Dewe, Philip J. and Cary L. Cooper. Theories of Psychological Stress at Work. Research Report. London: Springer, 2012. Print. Fefer, Mark D. Attention Wal-Mart workers: Please do not report injuries. Vers. Web. 9 October 2006. 14 December 2013 . Hardy, Sally, Jerome Carson and Ben Thomas. Occupational Stress: Personal and Professional Approaches. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 1998. Print. Marshall, John. The high Price of Low Cost. Vers. Web. 2011. 14 December 2013 . O’Connell, Vanessa. Retailers Reprogram Workers In Efficiency Push. Vers. Web. 10 September 2008. 14 December 2013 . Sharma, Subhash S. "Model of organizational stress for use within an occupational health education/promotion or well-being of members of the organization." Industry Psychiatry Journal (2009): 135-136. Print. Read More