A study on occupational stress in business process outsourcing (BPO) industry

Abstract

Occupational stress is a commonly known phenomenon for organizations across the globe. The level of occupational stress experienced by employees varies from one organization to another based on their culture, structure and expectation from employees. BPO industry follows a different structure and requirement compared to a conventional organization. Hence, the issue is significant for ABC Bank operations operating under the BPO sector umbrella in Sri Lanka. Employees are the biggest assets of any organization and stress-related issues often lead to employee turnover and reduced performance. Furthermore, the organization spend a large amount of money on recruiting and training employees to meet the expected output desired by the end customer. Reduction in performance and morale of staff creates an additional cost to employers and forces them to lose the competitiveness in the markets. Sri Lankan BPO sector is in a continuous growing momentum and more growth is expected in future according to government plans. Hence organizations need to increase their competitive edge by addressing issues that can reduce their performance and employee wellbeing. Organizations are in a need to assess and understand the factors causing disruptions in achieving the expected level of performance. The occupational stress-related phenomenon is a serious issue which is noted to have a strong presence among BPO employees and evidenced by many types of research in the past. This research was intended to identify the existence of occupational stress and its impact on performance and health in ABC Bank Operation by collecting the primary data from the randomly selected sample population. Data was collected from 47 existing employees of ABC Bank and analyzed using SPSS to derive at the conclusion. The statistical analysis presents a strong response from the sample population experiencing occupational stress in the selected organization with performance issues. Furthermore, it was also evident from the research that a high level of stress-related disorders is experienced by the employees. Relationship between occupational stress and performance issues was significant however the relationship was not strong enough between occupational stress and health issues. Findings from the research are used to understand the current stress level and provide recommendations to the organization to manage the situation.