IMPACT OF WORK-RELATED STRESS ON EMPLOYEES PERFORMANCE IN THE KENYA DISCIPLINED SERVICES

Abstract

The employees in the disciplined services are exposed to the stress outside the range of usual human experience. The operational duties of their work, by their nature, may at any time place the employees at high stress levels. In addition to the operational stressors inherent in disciplined services work especially the police, numerous studies have shown that factors related to organizational structure and climate can be an even greater source of stress for the disciplined officer. In the disciplined services, officers and staff are bound by strict difficulties in managing their occupational role. Without effective stress identification mechanisms as well as stress management programs, stress can have detrimental impact on staff and organizations performance. The purpose for this paper therefore was to evaluate the impact of work-related stress on employee’s performance in the Kenya disciplined services. Kenya Disciplined services staff at NYS Nairobi stations were surveyed to identify their perceived job stressors and measure degree of impact of job related stress and organizations performance. The result was used to design effective strategies for reducing job stress that in turn result in improved job performance among these staff. A  Sample size of 111 employees from a population of 557 was drawn for the study. Structured questionnaires were administered and data analysis done with the help of statistical package for Social Scientists (SPSS). The study findings indicated that 50.5% of staff were exposed to stress arising from excessive work pressure also recorded negative concentration of work; 2.97% of staff who suffered stress triggered by frequent abuse by supervisors had their concentration of work impaired. Also 58.1% of staff who are exposed to frequent run-ins with supervisors experienced impaired creativity. Adequate job control enhanced work creativity as posited by 59.2% of participating NYS staff. Findings also supported that staff exposure to sexual harassment in the office impacted negatively on creativity. It was therefore, recommended that there was a need for NYS to realign its vision, mission and long-term objective for the challenges of becoming a premier disciplined Service will be reflected on the quality of service delivery. Achieving these organization performance indicators calls for among others a stress free working environment among staff and a comprehensive stress policy to monitor, manage and prevent work stress.