Employee perception of work stress in a large construction company in Australia

Construction Management and Property, Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales UNSW, Sydney, Australia

^* Corresponding author: b.lim@unsw.edu.au

Abstract

Managing stress effectively is touted to be a key determinant of increased performance. It is however believed that individuals perceive and cope with stress differently. This thus makes stress management more complicated in construction. The aim of this research is to investigate the perceived work stress of construction employees by examining how perceived stress vary across employees and the perceived stress correlate with employee performance. In addressing these, an online questionnaire survey of 187 construction employees was undertaken, and data were analysed using the relative prevalence indexing method, ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests. The overall results show that poor work-life balance and work overloads are the major negative perceived stressors for construction professionals. Furthermore, there were differences in the perceived stress among cadets, operational staff, middle and top management. Lastly, the findings reveal the interpersonal and organisational climate have strong association with employee performance. In conclusion, the findings shed lights on the spectrum of work stress underling employee performance and how different cohorts of employees perceive and experience work stress.