STRESS MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: A CASE

STUDY

Melita MORETTI, M.A. Natalija POSTRUžNIK, M.A.

Design by Melita Moretti

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

  H1: There is a positive relationship

between work-related stress and

employee engagement.

The research was conducted as a case study on the

influence of stress management on employee

engagement in a selected corporation in the Slovene

insurance industry.

Realisation: November-December 2011

&

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

The instrument of the research - questionnaire:

  17 questions/statements (4 demographic questions, 7 statements dealing with stress at the workplace, 6 employee engagement statements suggested by the corporation);

  The rate of concurrency: on a scale from 1 to 5.

Methodology

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

  Response: 136 out of 874 employees (15.56 % response rate) in the selected corporation in the Slovene insurance industry.

  The statistical reliability of the questionnaire: work-related stress (WRS) * ά= 0.79, Employee engagement *ά= 0.86.

  Demographic data of respondents: in the article

* Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach, 1951)

Sample Description

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

H1: There is a positive relationship between work-related stress and employee engagement.

Testing the Hypothesis

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

  PCA method (Principal Component Analysis): Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) = 0.815; Bartlett’s test of Sphericity p<0.05;

Testing the Hypothesis

Statement FAC1 FAC2   E2: My work makes me feel successful. 0.817   E3: My work makes me content. 0.794   R6: Being a member of our organization makes me proud. 0.721   E4: A trustworthy relationship exists between employees. 0.679   E5: I am free to choose how to perform my work tasks. 0.599   E1: For a well-done job I receive praise or an award.   0.990

•

Total explained variance (%) 44.157 18.468

  the Weighted Average Method introduced a new variable called “engagement”.

First Step

Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization; headlines of the columns: (FAC1) intrinsic elements, (FAC2) extrinsic elements.

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

The analysis shows that four of the WRS-related statements display a positive effect on employee engagement (unstandardized β was between 0.067 and 0.347): Other statements do not have any statistical effect on employee engagement, meaning unstandardized β was 0.

Testing the Hypothesis

Second Step (Constant) -1.960

S1: I feel safe at my workplace. 0.347 S5: I hope my problems will solve themselves. 0.206 S2: I don't suffer from mood swings, decision-

taking, poor concentration, and memory problems. 0.196

S6: The workday is too short for the tasks I have to perform.

0.067

  a multiple regression model (stepwise method)

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

Testing the Hypothesis

Model R R square

Adjusted R Square

 

Std. Error of the Estimate

  1 0.618a 0.382 0.376 0.61777 2 0.711b 0.505 0.497 0.55510 3 0.726c 0.527 0.515 0.54513 4 0.737d 0.543 0.527 0.53815

The analysis shows that the stepwise regression model explains 52.7 % of the variance of the dependent

variable: employee engagement.

Second Step

Design by Melita Moretti

Conclusion

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

  The hypothesis has been accepted;   The most important statement on the effect stress has on the level of

employee engagement is “I feel safe at my workplace“.   There is a high level of passivity among employees (“I hope my

problems will solve themselves“);   Three of the statements do not relate to stress management (“I think

about work-related problems even when not at work “, “I have recently increased the consumption of alcohol and other intoxicating substances (smoking, etc.) “ and “I often struggle with time management“);

  In the analysis we established two factors which define employee engagement: the so-called intrinsic elements and extrinsic elements.

Design by Melita Moretti

Research on the influence of stress management on employee engagement

Recommendations

  Organizations should create a stress management strategy to reduce operating costs and raise employee engagement and productivity;

  Regular courses on stress management at the workplace;   Regular courses for middle management about their role in stress

management and employee engagement, as well as their influence on productivity and brand strength;

  Sharing good experience among European organizations;   Work tasks should be designed in such a way as to give the employee

a sense of importance ;   Roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined.