The Impact of Work Stress on Employee Performance in the Hotel Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Stress is an important factor that can affect employee performance of any organization. The employees have a tendency towards high levels of stress regarding time, working for longer hours which reduces the employees‟ desire for performing better. The management approach towards their employees can impact on either reducing or increasing stress on them. The identification of the link among these factors would be helpful to boost employee performances of any company. The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of work stress levels on employee performance in the hotel sector. The nature of work in hotels include hard deadlines, unexpected interactions with guests, long working hours, night and evening work, repetitive work, high emotional demands, low influence (control), shift work, high workspace, and problems with coordination of work. Therefore, working in the hospitality industry can be stressful and many workers are vulnerable in terms of their poor working conditions and low wages. According to previous research, the factors affecting employee stress were identified as work ambiguity, and workload whilst the results caused due to stress were identified as performance, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. This study examines the relationship between job stress and employee performances among hoteliers in seven selected hotels that operate in the Southern province. The sample of 120 participants consists of Senior Managers, Guest Relation officers, HR officers and the service crew. The data was acquired through self-administered questionnaires. The results showed a negative impact of job stress on employee performances. Therefore, the job stress considerably reduced the performance of an individual.