Mitigating Work Stress in Telecommunications: Analysis & Solutions

This report delves into the concept of work stress within a telecommunications company that underwent significant restructuring, leading to employee downsizing and increased workload for the remaining staff. It examines the sources and impact of work-related stress on employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention, drawing from relevant literature to support its analysis. The report identifies issues such as long working hours, high workloads, and job insecurity as key contributors to stress. It further discusses the negative consequences of unmanaged work stress, including decreased productivity, health problems, and increased attrition rates. The report concludes by offering recommendations for leaders to better manage team stress, emphasizing the importance of addressing the root causes of stress and implementing strategies to improve employee well-being. It also critiques potential interventions, explaining the rationale behind chosen approaches and highlighting why certain strategies may be more effective than others in the given context.

Running head: WORK STRESS
Work Stress
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1WORK STRESS
ABSTRACT
The concept of work stress is determined as the stress that is caused to the employees of a
productive business organisation because of the extra work pressure and load given to them.
Work stress is known to affect the working conditions as well as the health conditions of the
employees. It has been recorded with the help of the studies that the synergy of work stress
affects the mental state of the employees, which leads them to suffer from depression as well
as anxiety. However, if the work stress is managed by business organisations in an effective
and efficient manner, the same would prove helpful for the employees. Maintaining the work
stress will not only increase the productivity and efficiency in the employees but will also
help in higher retention of the employees in the firm. Concerning to this ideology of work
stress, the given report is focused on determining the level of work stress fostered in the
company of telecommunications industry that is connected to the case study the report is
based on. It was examined that the company had re-structured its entire organisation which
led to the down size of 1000 number of employees. This, in turn, had created pressure on the
remaining 3000 employees of the company to fulfil the entire requirements of the
organisation. Thus, the report gets an evidence of how the synergy of work stress increases in
a business organisation and thus provide systematic recommendations that would help the
organisation to reduce the work stress and increase the productivity level as well as the
retention of the employees.

2WORK STRESS
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Scenario.......................................................................................................3
The concept of Work Stress.......................................................................................................4
Statement of the Issue................................................................................................................5
Sources related to Work Stress..................................................................................................6
Disadvantages of Work Stress...................................................................................................8
Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
Critique.....................................................................................................................................10
Evidence...................................................................................................................................11
Limitations...............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13

3WORK STRESS
Introduction
According to the thought process of Kottwitz et al., (2019), the matter concerned to
the diversification in the job process of a business organisation is required to be handled by
the employees connected to the same, and thus the employees are accountable to perform the
diversity in the job roles provided to them. This, in turn, has increased the work stress of the
employees. In this consideration, the stress that is found to be in the job procedure of the
employees is known to create a negative impact on the work performance, mental condition
and health as well as the personal life of the employees (Nelson & Burke, 2018). A little
stress in work is not harmful to the employees as the same helps in keeping the focus of the
employees at a significant point and they become capable of meeting up with the new
challenges that come up in their workplace (Perlman et al., 2017). However, in the hectic
world and the changed scenario of the business world, the business organisations and its
workplace have been determined to be an emotional roller coaster for the employees. The
long hours of work, the strict deadlines, as well as the ever-increasing demands, is known to
worry as well as drain the working individuals.
Overview of the Scenario
Specifically, the ideology of work stress can be defined as the synergy, which affects
the psychological as well as the physical health of the employees (Semmer et al., 2015). This,
in turn, affects the effectiveness as well as the productivity of the business organisation in an
adverse manner. It is so because the employees are considered to be the most integral part of
a productive business firm and the insignificancy in their work hampers the entire working
transactions of the business organisation (Aldrich & Wiedenmayer, 2019). In the connection
of this concept of work stress, it can be stated with the help of the provided case study about
the telecommunications corporation that is known to offer the service of communication

4WORK STRESS
throughout the nation of its operation. The telecommunications company is also known to
provide the society with broadband connections as well as the data phone infrastructure
concerned to the mobile industry. It has also been recorded with the help of the case study
that the telecommunication industry initiated its large working organisation with a number of
4,000 employees with an approximate of 4,000 contractors as well. However, it was
undermined that the concerned company had re-structured its organisation and in this
consideration has terminated around 1000 number of employees a year ago, calculated from
the present date. This led to the rise of significant issues as well as problems in the
organisation as the targets and activities of these 1,000 employees had been distributed to the
remaining of the employees so that the work of the organisation does not get affected. Thus,
the work pressure of the present employees increased as they had to fulfil the work activities
of the 1000 employees as well who were terminated from the business firm. Thus, the report
hereby describes the aspect of work stress faced by the employees of the telecommunication
organisation connected to the case study.
The concept of Work Stress
Work stress, as per the viewpoint of Tziner et al., (2015), is generally conceptualised
as the stress that is caused to the employees concerned to their work in any business
organisation they are connected to and have to perform the given amount of duties in the
stipulated time. The stress of work is known to arise because of the conflicting demands of
the business entities regarding the work that the same expects the employees to perform
(Hoven, Wahrendorf & Siegrist, 2015). In the concern of this thought process of the business
organisations, it is noted by Bhagat, Segovis & Nelson, (2016), the initiation of work stress
comes into being when the employees of an effective business organisation are fostered and
expected to handle the amount of work which is higher than their regular amount of work.
Nevertheless, as stated above in the report, if the work stress stays into its limited boundary,

5WORK STRESS
the same turns out to be a form of positive motivation for the employees to increase their
performance as well as productivity level (Allan et al., 2016). Take, for example, the positive
kind of work stress is known to help the workers to fulfil their given job and duties they have
found to be reluctant to perform. This, in turn, contributes to substantial effectiveness to the
business enterprises. Studies show that significant problem occurs in the business
organisations does not maintain the work pressure put down to the employees and the same is
recorded to spoil the health conditions of the employees and the synergy of negativity toll
concerned to the working employees starts to take place (Scase & Goffee, 2017).
Statement of the Issue
The issue concerned to the synergy of excessive stress-related work is known to
include the synergy of long hours, high level of workload, the insecurity towards the job as
well as the conflicts that arise between the co-employees or the co-managers and the co-
owners of a joint venture business (Grover et al., 2017). The symptoms that include in the
synergy of work stress is the drop and lack in the performance, health issues of the employees
such as depression, anxiety as well as the difficulty in sleeping (De Bruin et al., 2017). In this
concern, as compared to the scenario of the case study it was examined that the sudden
changes in the structure of the organisation have brought every present employee and the
managers of the organisation under pressure of handling the work that was segregated to
4000 number of employees, and at present only 3000 employees have to handle the same.
This brought the employees under pressure of handling the massive amount of work and the
managers under the influence of managing and ensuring that the work is completed in the
stipulated time with complete efficiency. The failure in work completed under the specified
time would result in the loss of the customers connected to the concerned
telecommunications industry in the case study.

6WORK STRESS
With the help of the studies, it is undermined that, several numbers of business
organisations expect their employees to fulfil and perform the high amount of work affecting
both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the work of the employees (Herzberg, 2017).
Moreover, the synergy of work stress and high pressure leads to lowering the level of the job
satisfaction of the employees as well as the employee engagement activities that usually take
place in the organisation. The effects on the health and the mental condition of the employees
disregard their loyalty towards the organisation and their desire to continue their work in the
same organisation turns out to be negative (Cohen & Ehrlich, 2019). This, in turn, increases
the attrition rate of business enterprises.
Sources related to Work Stress
Based on the studies, it is examined that there are several numbers of resources that
are related to the sources concerned to the synergy of work stress that every working
individual in a business organisation has to face in the concern that the workload provided to
them is more significant than what they can handle. However, work stress is not related to the
kind of work an employee undertakes; it's the overload of work in whichever designation the
employee is working in. The synergy of the heavy loads of work pressure handled by the
working individuals of any business organisation is considered to be the leading source of the
work stress in the business organisations (Rahim, 2017). Unlike the past proposition of
working in business organisations, the employees are expected to work in a diversified force
in the changed scenario of the modern business environment. Take, for example, the mangers
of a business organisation are expected to work as the leaders of the same as well in the
situation where a leader is absent, and the team needs to be managed and looked after on an
immediate basis. This increases the work pressure of the managers as they have to work for
their allocated tasks along with the fulfilment of the activities of a leader. Not only this, but
several other studies have proven different facts that causes work stress in the modern

7WORK STRESS
business environment. In this scenario, it was stated by Koldijk, Neerincx & Kraaij, (2016),
that the working hours in several business organisation are considered to be too long, and
moreover, there are several employees who have to continue their work after getting back
home from work in the concern of completing the vast stipulated targets provided to them.
Including to this, the employees are required to work in the rational shifts which become
uneasy for them to fluctuate as well as the need of performing the diversified number of
urgent tasks as well as performing the different levels and kinds of responsibility which the
employees are either not the expertise of, or the same is not of their interest (Matthiesen &
Einarsen, 2015). In addition to this, the ineffectiveness in the management of the business
organisations concerned to the conceptualisation of the leadership as well as the higher level
of control in providing the right kind of service to the employees as well as fulfil their
feedbacks regarding the work issues faced in the organisation, also brings the synergy of
work stress to the employees as they find that they are not valued in the organisation.
Connecting to the case study provided, it can be undermined that the concerned
telecommunications organisation in the case study had taken a sudden decision of re-
structuring the entire working organisation and the same contributed to the loss of 1000
employees from the organisation because they were down-sized from the organisation. Thus,
the work volume of the 4000 employees had turned to 3000 employees, and therefore, the
work pressure increased for the employees. The business organisation of telecommunications
industry had been recognised to impose a high level of targets to the rest of the employees,
and these aggressive targets have been recorded to be more than that of the usual targets
given to those employees in the previous time before the organisation was re-structured.
These increased number of targets also increased the working duration of the employees and,
in turn, adversely affects the work and life balance of the employees as well as the entire
business organisation.

8WORK STRESS

9WORK STRESS
Disadvantages of Work Stress
Work Stress and the level of dissatisfaction in the job
The conceptualisation of the work stress is known to have a direct relationship with
the job satisfaction level of the employees (Chen, Sparrow & Cooper, 2016). This is because
a profound level of work pressure and stress levied upon the employees takes the place of
negativity in the mental state of the employees. The work stress, as examined above in the
report, increases the adversity of the health as well as the psychological conditions of the
employees, creating a direct impact of the work-life balance of the employees. Thus, the job
satisfaction level of the employees is reduced as they feel overburdened with work and
getting no prior concerns regarding the same.
In the context of this ideology, the concerned company of telecommunications
connected to the case study, under discussion here in the report had been recorded to down-
size 1000 number of employees from the organisation within a span of time which turned the
employees to an aspect of unemployment. Not only this, but the same increased the work
pressure of the remaining employees along with bringing them to a threat that they can even
be disregarded from the organisation at any uncertain point of time. Thus, it is suggested that
the organisation should take up effective strategies to reduce the work pressure of the
remaining employees, and that would help the same to motivate the employees to sustain in
the organisation.
Work Stress and disregard of the Employee Engagement
The synergy of work stress has been known to impact the engagement of the
employees into the aspect of extra-curricular activities as well as workshops been undertaken
in the business organisation as the same effects the working time of the employees (Selander,
2015). The employees are recorded to be so busy and engaged in the organisational activities

10WORK STRESS
and aggressive targets been provided to them that they do not find time to involve themselves
in the employee engagement activities and communicate with the different employees
existing in the business firm (Park & Ono, 2017). It was stated by Guillaume et al., (2017),
the employees working in one particular business organisations need to engage with each
other in the concern that they can adopt a culturally diversified business organisation along
with the synergy of learning a new level of knowledge and skills from the expertise level of
other. However, in the business organisations where the employees are known to face a
higher level work stress due to the pressure of work being provided to them, the employee
does not get ample time to grow up and learn from each other.
Work Stress and failure in Employee Retention
As examined in the report that the reduction in the level of job satisfaction reduces the
level of quality and quantity concerned with the performance adequacy of the employees
(Armstrong, Atkin-Plunk & Wells, 2015). The cycle continues to affect the entire
productivity level of the organisation as the employees are the ones who are known to take up
the activities of a business organisation. The synergy of job satisfaction is vital not only for
the production level of the employees but is also essential in the concern of determining the
decisions of the employees connected to their retention or resignation in the business
organisation. Thus, with the increase in the mental pressure and adversity in the health
situations of the employees makes them lave the current firm they are working in. As stated
by Wehrmeyer (2017), at present business, gaining only monetary benefits is not the motive
of the employees, they wish to have a human-friendly and healthy working environment in
the organisation they work.

11WORK STRESS
Recommendations
The senior-level managers, as well as the leaders of a business organisation, is known
to undertake the management activities concerned with the same (Fayol, 2016). In this
synergy, the given report suggests some strategic processes that will help the relevant
telecommunications company of the case study to reduce the work stress of the employees
and motivate them to work harder and sustain themselves in the working organisation.
 The managers and the leaders at the telecommunication organisation should
effectively focus on encouraging the training and development program concerned to
the motivation of employees and helping them work with efficiency by distributing
the tasks into group activities (DeCenzo, Robbins & Verhulst, 2016). This would help
in the reduction of the stress related to the employees working hours and overloaded
activities and tasks. Moreover, adopting the synergy of group tasks will help the
different number of employees working in the organisation to engage with each other
and thus increase the concept of employee engagement activities in the firm (Aguinis
& Glavas, 2019).
 The business organisation should ensure that the re-structure of the organisation is
done in such a manner that the competent employees of the organisation are not
down-sized (Clarke & Higgs, 2019). The firm can re-structure its organisational
structure on the basis of the performance level given by the different number of
employees. This will not only help the competent employees have their job safe in
hands but will also help the business organisation to retain its better level of
employees and keep the productivity level of the organisation at the same position.
The same will also the organisation to reduce the pressure that is created upon the
employees because of the work stress.

12WORK STRESS
Critique
The above-mentioned recommendations are clearly based on the scenario of the
telecommunications industry connected to the case study. The effective way of encouraging
the employees with the help of providing training and development to them and fostering the
synergy of group work will help in the reduction of the work stress caused to the remaining
employees in the company. This, in turn, will prove beneficial to the telecommunications
company in sustaining the employees. In addition to this, the intervention related to the
proper re-structuring of the organisation will help the organisation to keep its productive
employees into working and also the same would reduce the high workload given to the other
employees. The recommendations have been chosen as the particular mentioned intervention
because the same is precisely based on the worst situation of work stress running down in the
telecommunications industry. The other intervention such as the use of variable pay-scheme
and recruiting and selecting new employees in the organisation is not undertaken as the same
would not prove beneficial to the organisation because it would have increased the cost of
operations of the company.
Evidence
The above-stated report is entirely based on the explanation of the concept of work
stress and its adverse effects on a business organisation. This statement is evident from the
fact that the report firstly explains the synopsis of work stress in the field of business
organisations. Thereafter, the report states the concept of the work stress in the general
working organisations based on the expertise of different theorists along with connecting the
same to a case study of a telecommunications business industry. While examining the
concept of work stress, the report clearly examined that the synergy of work stress causes an
entirely negative impact on the mental state of the different level of employees working in a
business organisation. Moreover, while examining the disadvantages connected to the work

13WORK STRESS
stress, it was recognised that the work stress synopsis does not only effects the employees. As
the employees are considered to be an integral part of every business firm, therefore, the
entire working conditions of the whole of the business enterprise is affected in a negative
manner. In this connection, the report suggests the strategic recommendation that would help
the concerned business organisation in the case study to reduce the work stress in the firm. In
light of this presentation made in the report concerned the entire concept of work stress, it can
be stated that the intervention of the report is a justified one.
Limitations
The report, however, has certain limitations to its research as the same is based on the
secondary data which is researched in the past by some major theorists. The different
viewpoints of the different theorists turn out to be a limitation for the concerned report.
Moreover, the lack of real-time data such as the collection of interview and questionnaires,
which would give more genuineness to the report is also found to be a limitation to the same.
Conclusion
Given the findings based on the research of the concept of work stress, and relating
the same to the case study of the telecommunications industry it can be stated that work stress
is that negative factor which is known to impact the entire working conditions of a business
organisation adversely. This is because the synergy of work stress negatively impacts both
the physical and mental health of the employees who are pressurised with heavy loads of
work. Thus, the employees get demotivated to work in an effective way and make a decision
to discontinue their work in that particular business entity.

14WORK STRESS
References
Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2019). On corporate social responsibility, sensemaking, and the
search for meaningfulness through work. Journal of Management, 45(3), 1057-1086.
Aldrich, H. E., & Wiedenmayer, G. (2019). From traits to rates: An ecological perspective on
organisational foundings. In Seminal Ideas for the Next Twenty-Five Years of
Advances (pp. 61-97). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Allan, B. A., Douglass, R. P., Duffy, R. D., & McCarty, R. J. (2016). Meaningful work as a
moderator of the relation between work stress and meaning in life. Journal of Career
Assessment, 24(3), 429-440.
Armstrong, G. S., Atkin-Plunk, C. A., & Wells, J. (2015). The relationship between work-
family conflict, correctional officer job stress, and job satisfaction. Criminal justice
and behaviour, 42(10), 1066-1082.
Bhagat, R. S., Segovis, J., & Nelson, T. (2016). Work stress and coping in the era of
globalisation. Routledge.
Chen, P., Sparrow, P., & Cooper, C. (2016). The relationship between person-organisation fit
and job satisfaction. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 31(5), 946-959.
Clarke, N., & Higgs, M. (2019). Employee Participation in Change Programs. In Evidence-
Based Initiatives for Organizational Change and Development (pp. 179-199). IGI
Global.
Cohen, A., & Ehrlich, S. (2019). Exchange variables, organisational culture and their
relationship with constructive deviance. Management Research Review.

15WORK STRESS
De Bruin, E. I., Formsma, A. R., Frijstein, G., & Bögels, S. M. (2017). Mindful2Work:
Effects of combined physical exercise, yoga, and mindfulness meditations for stress
relieve in employees. A proof of concept study. Mindfulness, 8(1), 204-217.
DeCenzo, D. A., Robbins, S. P., & Verhulst, S. L. (2016). Fundamentals of Human Resource
Management, Binder Ready Version. John Wiley & Sons.
Fayol, H. (2016). General and industrial management. Ravenio Books.
Grover, S. L., Teo, S. T., Pick, D., & Roche, M. (2017). Mindfulness as a personal resource
to reduce work stress in the job demands‐resources model. Stress and Health, 33(4),
426-436.
Guillaume, Y. R., Dawson, J. F., Otaye‐Ebede, L., Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2017).
Harnessing demographic differences in organisations: What moderates the effects of
workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 276-303.
Herzberg, F. (2017). Motivation to work. Routledge.
Hoven, H., Wahrendorf, M., & Siegrist, J. (2015). Occupational position, work stress and
depressive symptoms: a pathway analysis of longitudinal SHARE data. J Epidemiol
Community Health, 69(5), 447-452.
Koldijk, S., Neerincx, M. A., & Kraaij, W. (2016). Detecting work stress in offices by
combining unobtrusive sensors. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 9(2),
227-239.
Kottwitz, M. U., Gerhardt, C., Schmied, S., & Elfering, A. (2019). Sleep, Work Stress and
Headache in Printing Business: An Actigraphy Study. Sleep and Vigilance, 3(1), 9-15.

16WORK STRESS
Matthiesen, S. B., & Einarsen, S. (2015). Perpetrators and targets of bullying at work: Role
stress and individual differences. Perspectives on Bullying: Research on Childhood,
Workplace, and Cyberbullying, 22(6), 135.
Nelson, D. L., & Burke, R. J. (2018). Gender, Work Stress, and Health.
Park, J. H., & Ono, M. (2017). Effects of workplace bullying on work engagement and
health: The mediating role of job insecurity. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 28(22), 3202-3225.
Perlman, A., Smith, B., Lynch, W. D., & Shatté, A. (2017). The Positive Effect of Resilience
on Stress and Business Outcomes in Difficult Work Environments.
Rahim, M. A. (2017). Managing conflict in organisations. Routledge.
Scase, R., & Goffee, R. (2017). Reluctant Managers (Routledge Revivals): Their Work and
Lifestyles. Routledge.
Selander, K. (2015). Work engagement in the third sector. VOLUNTAS: International
Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organisations, 26(4), 1391-1411.
Semmer, N. K., Jacobshagen, N., Meier, L. L., Elfering, A., Beehr, T. A., Kälin, W., &
Tschan, F. (2015). Illegitimate tasks as a source of work stress. Work & Stress, 29(1),
32-56.
Tziner, A., Rabenu, E., Radomski, R., & Belkin, A. (2015). Work stress and turnover
intentions among hospital physicians: The mediating role of burnout and work
satisfaction. Revista de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones, 31(3), 207-
213.
Wehrmeyer, W. (2017). Greening people: Human resources and environmental management.
Routledge.