Assessment of Work Stress Influence on Work Productivity in Romanian Companies

This paper presents the methodologies and results recorded in a documentary/field study concerning work related stress and its effects on work productivity. The project had as its main aim the elaboration of an instrumental pattern for the assessment of stress influence on work productivity, based on the investigation of the work stress as well as the diagnosis of its occurrence in the companies of the Romanian economic environment. The methods involved: the provision of a scientific theoretical and methodological base, which could catch and include as many aspects of stress as possible and especially their correlation to the indicators of work productivity (e.g. review various policies and actions aiming at reducing the effects of stress at the work place recommended by institutions with duties in the area; strategies adopted by international companies and European ones); elaboration of a set of hypotheses and investigation criteria of the stress at work and assessment of its effects on the modification of indicators on work productivity; the elaboration of the investigation methodology (hypothesis to approach the inquiry at national level: definition of the investigation area, the variables/indicators necessary to draw up the questionnaires). Work stress was tackled as a component of the present stress phenomenon inside the society and, at organizational level, as cumulus of the individual stress reactions as responses to the job and extra-job stress factors. The findings represented the base from which the elaboration of the assessment system of stress influence on work productivity in the companies of the Romanian economic environment started, as an operational instrument for employers to integrate occupational stress management in the general undertaking to prevent occupational risks with obvious benefits both on workers' health and performance and also on company's health and proficiency. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.