Occupational stress and mindfulness: an empirical study

Abstract

Purpose- There is a need for organizations to be innovative and keep on adapting to changes and new circumstances in today’s highly competitive world. Accordingly, some challenges emerged for both organizations and employees in adapting to the new situations as well as work-related daily routine tasks. Adaptation and coping capabilities of the employees have become an essential part of the work environment. These challenges have created stress among employees, affecting their personal lives and business lives. A concept of “Mindfulness” that enables people to be flexible and adaptable in adverse environments, and this, in turn, reduces people’s stress levels is used in business life as well. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting employees’ occupational stress and clarify their coping capabilities using mindfulness during turbulent times. Methodology- There are qualitative and quantitative studies about occupational stress and mindfulness in business and psychology disciplines. This research consists of an extensive literature review regarding the factors found in the literature, including stress and employee cooping capabilities in terms of mindfulness, and an empirical field study applied through an experimental group. They had an eight-week MBSR course and a survey applied before and after the training, in 2021. The data from the research was analyzed through the SPSS 25 program. Findings- According to literature, employees’ stress levels increased because of many factors like workload, time pressures and deadlines, extended working hours, work/family conflict, and an environment of uncertainty in general. On the other hand, in the literature, the factors affecting employees’ coping capabilities with stress are two crucial: employee well-being and resilience at work. The analyzed data from the experimental study supported the literature that mindfulness training reduces the stress level of employees while increasing their resilience and well-being levels. Conclusion- The study encourages Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs to be applied to employees during challenging times when there are high levels of uncertainty and stress. Experiential studies of mindfulness interventions demonstrate that mindfulness serves to reduce stress and improve well-being and resilience. Keywords: Stress, mindfulness, resilience, well-being, coping capability. JEL Codes: M10, M12, M19