JOB STRESS

Thus study examines the impact of job stress on employees’ performance in tertiary institutions in Edo State,using the University of Benin as a case study. The research explores key stress factors, including workload-related stress,role ambiguity,lack of job control, and interpersonal conflicts,and assesses their effects ok employee productivity,motivation,and job satisfaction. A structured questionnaire was distributed to academic and non-academic staff with data analyzed using SPSS. Results indicate a significant negative correlation between job stress and employee performance,with excessive workload and workplace conflicts being major contributors. Employees experiencing high stress levels reported reduced efficiency,lower job satisfaction, and increased exhaustion. However coping mechanisms such as time management,supervisor support, and short breaks were found to mitigate stress effects. The study recommends organizational policies that enhance job clarity,workload balance,and supportive workenvironments to improve employee well-being and productivity.

This study examined the effect of job stress on employee performance with the moderating role of presenteeism among academic staff in selected universities in Edo State. Specifically, the study investigated the effect of excessive workload, student-related challenges, career development, compensation and organisational support on employee performance. A survey research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised all academic staff members in the four selected universities in Edo State. The sample size comprised 356 academic staff from selected universities; however, 313 valid responses (87.9%) were obtained from the survey instrumentand used for data analyses. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, regression analysis, and moderation tests with SPSS. Hypotheses were tested at 5% level of significance. The study found that while excessive workload negatively but insignificantly affected employee performance, student-related challenges significantly reduced it. In contrast, career development and organisational support have positive and significant influence on employee performance. The results also showed that compensation has a positive but non-significant effect with employee performance. Presenteeism moderates the relationship between the job stress dimensions and employee performance. It is recommended that University management should adopt workload management frameworks to ensure fair distribution of teaching, administrative, and research responsibilities. Hiring additional academic staff and using technology for administrative tasks could help reduce the burden on current staff.

Stress occurs in various forms in every workplace. Stress has been defined by many in different ways. Olagunju (2018) defines stress as “a chronic complex emotional state with apprehension and is characteristic of various nervous and mental disorders”. According to Topper (2010) stress is a person‘s psychological and physiological response to the perception of demand and challenge. Hence, Stress is a condition of physical and psychological mental disorder which occurs in a situation of pressure, when resources are unable to fulfill the demand of an individual (Syed, 2013). Work-related stress is increasingly becoming a source of concern among organizations and employees around the globe (Gyllensten& Palmer, 2005; Khurshid, Butt & Malik, 2011) as productivity is basic to organizational effectiveness. Organizational performance refers to those attitudes' that have been assessed or measured as to their contribution to organizational goals (Cook &Hunsaker, 2001). High productivity can stimulate improvement and motivate employees (Prokopenko, 2018).