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Employees' Perceptions of the Management of Workplace Stress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Nicholas Buys*
Affiliation:
Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Australia. [email protected]
Lynda R. Matthews
Affiliation:
Ageing, Work and Health Research Unit, The University of Sydney, Australia.
Christine Randall
Affiliation:
School of Human Services & Social Work, Griffith University, Australia.
*
*Address for correspondence: Professor Nicholas Buys, GT1, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University QLD 4222, Australia.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how employees perceive their organisation's efforts to address the management of stress in their workplaces and to examine differences based on demographic variables of organisational location and size. A convenience sample of 85 people at an international disability management conference completed a Management of Stress in the Workplace Questionnaire. Results of this survey indicated that employees were not positive about their organisations efforts to manage stress in either prevention or rehabilitation activities. Employees from smaller organisations rated their workplace environments more positively than larger organisations. A perceived high incidence of stress in an organisation was negatively related to perceptions about the work environment. Lower perceived levels of stress-related compensation claims were associated with higher ratings of prevention and higher workplace environment ratings. Effective disability management programs need to address a range of individual, organisational and system factors that cause and exacerbate stress injuries. In addition to the provision of a range of prevention and rehabilitation services, it is important that organisations look at ways to improve workplace culture and, by association, job satisfaction and workplace morale.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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