The Impact of Workplace Stress on Employee Productivity and Well-being

This essay examines the impact of workplace stress on employee performance and productivity. It explores various factors contributing to workplace stress, such as changing work environments, outsourcing, and increased competition. The essay discusses how these factors can lead to reduced employee well-being, including long working hours, lack of control, decreased holiday time, and increased job insecurity. It also addresses social issues and personal life events that can impact an employee's professional life. The essay references the Person-Environment fit model and provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between workplace stress and performance, concluding with the importance of preventive measures for both managers and employees to reduce stress and boost performance.

Running head: WORKPLACE STRESS
WORKPLACE STRESS
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Author Note:

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Essay question:
Can higher stress levels lower the workplace performances of the employees?
Introduction
Workplace stress can be the most common factor that contributes to a lower level of
productivity of the employees in the organization. Workplace stress can have significant and, in
most cases negative, impacts on an employee resulting in lower performance output.
Paragraph 1
Workplace stress can attribute its origin from many areas and can pertain to different
changing workplace environments. A work stressor is referred to as an environmental demand
that is viewed as being threatening by an employee, which can bring down the productivity level.
Paragraph 2
One of the most significant work stressor can be the changing workplace environment, to
which the employee cannot cope with and that affects the performance. In the recent years, the
market has been characterized by a declining manufacturing outputs, and emphasis on short term
contracts and a boom in the IT sector. Outsourcing, trade union declines and more intense
international competition due to globalization has led to the increased stress in the workplace
environment.
Paragraph 3
These changing workplace environments have put extra stress load on the employees and
can result in a lack of control of the work by the management, longer work hours and decreased

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holiday times. Rewards being declined with increased job insecurities, coupled with poor
feedback and support have also become serious issues that contribute to increasing job stress.
Paragraph 4
Social issues, most commonly some form of discrimination in any way is the biggest
societal reason for decline in work performances. Personal life incidents such as death of a
spouse, divorce, death of a family member, major health issues are significant aspects that
impact professional life of an individual. Person-environment fit model is one of the most
important theories that try to describe the relationship between the workplace stress and
productivity levels.
Conclusion
Stress can be a very subjective issue and the results of it are particularly harmful for the
organizational output as a whole. The managers and employees both can take certain preventive
measures that can be helpful to reduce or at least keep the stress level that an employee
experiences at work, which may boost the performances of the person.

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References
Allen, D., 2015. Getting things done: The art of stress-free productivity. Penguin.
Beehr, T.A., 2014. Psychological stress in the workplace (psychology revivals). Routledge.
McTernan, W.P., Dollard, M.F. and LaMontagne, A.D., 2013. Depression in the workplace: An
economic cost analysis of depression-related productivity loss attributable to job strain and
bullying. Work & Stress, 27(4), pp.321-338.