Employee Stress - Let's fight it out!

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Authors: Subhadra. K, Niharika Atchyutuni
Faculty Associate, Faculty Associate
ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research).

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Impact of Employee Stress

Both physical and psychological stressors have a tremendous impact on not only the employees' health, but also the organization's. Some of the impacts of employee stress are:

Absenteeism:
One of the grave impacts of employee stress is absenteeism. Employees under stress do not feel motivated to work and therefore take more number of leaves citing different reasons. As more and more employees cite ill health as the reason, the cost would all be added to the organization as medical reimbursements. Employees might be absent from work to use it as a coping mechanism against stress. Frequent employee absenteeism not only costs millions for the organizations, further it also affects the overall productivity.

Loss of Judgement:
A stressed out employee loses focus on his work. Due to this, the employee misses out on vital information signals leading to ineffective decision making.

Further, various research studies have proved that stress also slows down the thinking process. According to researchers, the enzyme - endorphins released under stress, slow down the ability to think, affecting the ability of judgement in an individual.

Employee conflicts:
Stress also might have an impact on the interpersonal relationships at workplace. As mentioned above, a person under stress tends to be easily irritated leading to troubled relationships with his colleagues.

Workplace Accidents:
Stress results in poor concentration and pre-occupation of the mind leading to workplace accidents. It has been reported that in their drive to attain deadlines and accomplish tasks, employees tend to ignore safety rules, leading to accidents. According to a research conducted by Worked Occupational Health Services, stressed out workers are 30% more likely to be involved in accidents when compared to those experiencing low levels of stress.

In addition to all the above mentioned problems, organizations would also face - high turnover rates of employees, high replacement costs, loss of intellectual capital and increasing grievances. Many organizations have realized the serious impacts of employee stress and have started taking steps to combat it. The responsibility of making a workplace employee friendly and healthy lies with both the employer and the employees.

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