Work-Related Stress as a Major Cause of Illness and Absenteeism of the Employees - Literature review Example

Chapter 2 Literature Review for Research Project Carrie Hall Concordia St. Paul Literature Review The researchers Cole and Kleiner d in their study that absenteeism became a very vital problem among the employees. In the competitive business environment the companies are putting huge pressure on the employees to increase their productivity and performances. The organizations are developing many new processes and programs for making themselves up to date with the changing business environment. But this process creates many problems among the employees. In many companies employees are performing a particular type of work for a long period of time. It becomes difficult for them in accepting new process of performing their job or different types of work as per the requirements of the company. They become habituated in performing a specific type’s job and are not comfortable to accept any changes which affect their job. But the company creates pressure on them in accepting the changes which causes stress among the employees. Excessive amount of stress cause illness and results in absenteeism of employees. This type of employees cannot match up to the expectations of the company with cause stress in them. As the requirements of the company increases the stress level of the employees also increases. The organizational members need to perform better for matching up the expectation level of the company. By following the views of the researchers, strong co-operations of the companies with the employees helps them to build good connection with the organization. Financial performance of the company is also enhanced by supporting the employees for fulfilling their goals and objectives. But according to the authors the many employees are very inefficient. Work pressure compels them to deliver good performances. They often tend to delay the work process by not being present in the office. Absenteeism of employees creates huge financial loss of the companies. Absenteeism can be controlled by maintaining attendance record off organizational members in details. This will help the company to know which employees are frequently taking leaves and off. With the help of this record the companies can take necessary actions against the employees and can encourage them to actively participate in the work process. The researchers emphasize that traditional approach of preventing absenteeism is by giving punishment and rewards. But many companies follow various modern techniques for reducing absenteeism. According to the researchers organizational leaders play a vital role in reducing the stress issues of the employees by providing continuous assistance to the employees for performing their work (Cole &Kleiner, 1992). According to the author, Darr, every organization needs to implement some changes for its growth and development in the changing business environment. This is because every company is innovating new products and services for satisfying the changing needs of the customers. For this reason change in business process and services is required for a company. While implementing changes a company requires training its employees to make them understand the importance of the change and the things they have to do for implementing the change. Implementation of new process or programs creates different types of impact on the employees. For delivering good performance within the company the employees try to implement the change effectively which cause huge amount of stress among them. The author states that stress factor creates absenteeism in the employees. Stress related illness is a major cause of absenteeism. For huge amount of work pressure or stress staffs tend to spent more time away from work. This creates many difficulties of the company in implementing several changes. Therefore work stress is strongly connected with absenteeism. The author analyzed this connection with the help of theory of causation. For implementing any new process or program within the organization the employees need to be very attentive and efficient. But the efficiency of the employees is disrupted by different stress factors which arise for implementing the change properly. It is a huge loss for the company if its employees spend maximum time away from their work. The organization pays salary or wages to its staffs but for paid time off of the employees the productivity and performance of the company does not get enhanced. As a result in spite of effective programs and processes a company is not able to improve its performance for absenteeism. The standard working hours of the employees get reduced for their absenteeism which lowers their productivity. The author states that, company implements different types of laws for paid time off of the employees. These laws will help the company in reducing absenteeism among the employees (Darr, 2004). After some years the author Darr has found another which creates stress among the employees. The author John supported the view of Darr that continuous changes of the organizational process and functions creates many difficulties for the employees in performing their work effectively. Sometimes employees are not able to accept the organizational changes properly which affects their productivity. Good training program helps to implement changes. In the training program different types of knowledge are provided to the employees, which help them in accepting and implementing the changes properly. Many employees face problems in understanding the necessity of changes. This creates a stress among them for which their performance gets hampered. This problem can be managed by the companies by developing and implementing effective training programs which will facilitate the employees in becoming attentive regarding their job role and functions. But the training programs consume a good amount of time. The employees who are participating in the training program cannot perform their job while attaining training. The organization cannot engage them for doing different types of job but the companies have to pay the employees during the time of training. Productivity of the trainee during the time of training is nil but the companies expect that after having the training the employees will be capable enough of implementing changes and increasing the productivity of the company. For this reason, companies provide salary to the employee during their training period. By this process the organization tries to reduce the stress of the employees which are associated with their job, performance, salary etc. Effectiveness of the employees is very important for the growth and development of the companies. Excessive stress can create illness. For this reason many employees tend to absent more frequently for avoiding work pressure and stress (Darr& Johns, 2008). As per the authors Schaufeli, Bakker and Van Rhenen different types of job demands changes for enhancing the work process. Changes are implemented by the company also for improving the engagement level of the employees. High level of stress causes different types of sickness among the employees. They become demotivated for performing their job. Stress factor create a sense of fear among the employees. Many organizations take necessary actions among the employees who are unable to implement different organizational change effectively. Increase in job demand makes it necessary for the companies in implementing different changes. Organizational changes facilitate the company in improving its performance and relationship with the employees. By implementing effective changes, companies try to help the employees in understanding its work processes. The authors states that stress factors of the organizational members can be reduce by the company through providing strong support to them. Guidance and support will make employees feel that they are important resource of the company and without their contribution the organization cannot achieve its goals. For this reason many companies try to increase the paid off time of the employees. This will facilitate the firm in cutting off the stress factors of organizational members. Increase in paid of time will help the employees in getting better job in other sectors. Effective training and guidance will benefit the employees in increasing the standard work hours of the employees and facilitate to perform their duty efficiently. According to the authors a company can reduce the stress factors of the employees by communicating with them properly. Good and friendly communication with all organizational members will encourage the employees in discussing different work related problems. By this process the employees will be able to solve many issues which create stress among them. This is one of the very effective measures in reducing employees stress and the authors state that this method is implemented by most of the companies in the present situation (Schaufeli, Bakker & Van Rhenen, 2009). According to researchers Prater and Smith, organizations need to learn different ways for reducing absenteeism of employees. In the present business environment, companies loss huge amount of money for handling different stress issues of employees and encouraging them to maintain their standard working hours. Illness, absenteeism, anxiety of employees reduces the productivity of the company. With irregular employees an organization cannot implement necessary changes for its growth and development. In the modern era of globalization companies develop and implement corporate training programs for engaging the employees in increasing the performance of the company. It is the duty of the company to make the employees capable enough to handle stress efficiently. Increasing paid off time is a tool used by companies motivating the employees to stay engage with their assigned work. The authors states that increase in paid off time ensure the employees that company is concerned about their benefits and facilities. The organization is always supporting the employees and giving them time for implementing various organizational changes effectively. Leaning about new process and services consumes some amount of time. With the help of paid off time the organizations support the employees in making their learning process effective (Prater & Smith, 2011). Conclusion This literature review highlighted the views and opinions of different authors regarding stress. This paper focuses that huge amount of stress in the organization affects the employees negatively. Work related stress is a major cause of illness and absenteeism of the employees. If the factors creating stress are not managed properly then the productivity and performance of the company get hampered. The authors highlighted that stress can be created for several reasons. Continuous change in the work process is an important reason for developing stress among the employees. The authors stated that for avoiding stress employees tends to absent more. This has become a major problem of the companies. References Cole, T. C., &Kleiner, B. H. (1992). Absenteeism control. Management Decision, 30(2). Darr, W. A. (2004). Examining the relationship between stress and absenteeism: A research synthesis. Retrieved From: http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/8354/1/NR04066.pdf . Darr, W., & Johns, G. (2008). Work strain, health, and absenteeism: a meta-analysis. Journal of occupational health psychology, 13(4), 293. Prater, T., & Smith, K. (2011). Underlying factors contributing to presenteeism and absenteeism. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 9(6), 1-14. Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Van Rhenen, W. (2009). How changes in job demands and resources predict burnout, work engagement, and sickness absenteeism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(7), 893. Read More