There Is No Such Thing As a Stress Free Job

According to Shadiya (2015), Stress is not new to all of us, it is seen as a weakness in today’s society, as many people no matter how balanced, will suffer from minor distress when they face transition periods, opportunities, depression, trauma, challenges and losses. Stress plays a major role on an employee’s performance and effectiveness; However, the nature of the demands and coping strategies decide the extent to which stress would affect performance.

There is no such thing as a stress free job. Work is a constant source of anxiety and tension since people have to achieve demands placed on them to enjoy the benefits that comes with having a job. This combined with global competition, uncertainty, expectations of career improvements and advances in digital technology, have led to working lives running at a higher level of tension. For example, the numbers indicates that one-fifth of Japan’s workers are susceptible to what is known as ‘karoshi’ – sudden stroke or cardiac infraction caused by overwork. – and began reaching the highest know level of 1,456 in year 2015. Japan is not the only sufferer, South Korea has a very similar case which is called ‘gwarosa’ and it seems to be affecting China, India and Taiwan also (Zahir, 2017).

According to Mitchie (2002), symptoms of stress can be sensed in the behaviour of people, especially changes in behaviour. Such situations that can cause stress are more likely to be sudden or uncontrollable, uncertain, difficult or bad, or having to do with conflict, loss or ambitions. The problems may be due to short-term events, such as during examinations and when facing work deadlines, or through longer term conditions, such as family problems, job safety or financial worries (Mitchie, 2002).

Everyone needs a good amount of stimuli to have an interesting life and be more efficient. But when this pressure is too long or too long, it can be a problem. The problems can vary depending on the people, if the pressure is light it improves performance, but when in excess reduces performance and efficiency.

There are many benefits in the modern fast pace of our industrialized societies. However, modern society has created complex demands on our mental and physical health. People do not have to go back to the “old days” to regain their health. People only need to know how to deal with stress in a positive and non-destructive way of using skills and knowledge to cope. Eliminating all the problems of life is not possible, but people can learn to eliminate much of this accumulated stress.

Today, people have less friends, live in a more frustrating and isolating society with less social support available. People are less than themselves, have bad dietary habits and areless physically active. Higher crime rates, overpopulation, the increase in the sex and alcohol-related exploitation, natural disasters, and the higher levels of debt and the increased urbanisation of societies all lead to a higher occurrence of stress and depression.

Admittedly, management’s focus on the use of organization resources is to attain goals. However, management is usually constrained by the unavailability and inadequacy of resources which include man, machine, money, material, and method (5Ms) in its pursuit of the attainment of corporate objectives. Due to limited supply of corporate resources, it makes sense that management must seek to optimally blend or combine its limited available resources in the manner that will lead to the achievement of group and organizational objectives.

Among the resources of management, man or human resource stands out because it takes human ingenuity in the first place to combine all corporate resources in an optimal manner. Little wonder the human resource is a very important asset in every organization (Cole, 2000). The success of any organization is generally said to be a function good employees. This management belief has remained since the post-world war era (Cole, 2000).

Employees, if well managed, can impact positively on the profit of an organization. Put differently, employee performance relates strongly to the attainment of corporate goals, yet, it is not easy to manage employees since their performance is marred by a number of factors. Stress, according to Chen & Silverthorne (2008) is one of the critical factors affecting employee performance because of its psychological undertone and implications.

Employees are under pressure because of the demand for home and employment. What’s is stress at work? Work stress is a global phenomenon due to increasing globalization and the dynamisms and competitiveness of the business environment. (Osibanjo, Salau, Falola and Oyewunmi, 2016). Like many other countries around the world, Nigerian es are also affected by stress. The socio-economic organization of the Nigerian business environment makes it important that workers can efficiently cope and perform in spite of stress. (Oyewunmi , Oyewunmi, Iyiola and Ojo, 2015)

Cole (2000) defined stress as the adverse psychological and physical reactions that occur in individuals as a result of their being unable to cope with the demands being made of them. It is the ‘wear and tear” our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on employees/individuals and can create positive or negative feelings (Bratton and Gold, 1999). Stress can be positive or negative feelings. As a positive feeling, it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to interpersonal problems and also, health problems such as headache, stomach upset, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. In adjusting to these different circumstances, stress helps or hinders employees depending on how they react to it (Colbret, 2005).

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