The Job Stress among Tellers and its Affecting Factors

Introduction: Stress in the modern world is an epidemic problem. It affects all age groups and has negative impacts on the performance of the workers. The aim of this study was evaluation of the occupational stress and influential factors in the Bank tellers of one of the Iranian Southwest cities. Material & methods: This descriptive- analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 81 bank employees in one of the Iranian Southwest cities. Stress levels of Bank employees were assessed using the Osipow occupational stress standard questionnaire. The Osipow job stress questionnaire has 60 questions in a 5-item Likert scale (never=1, sometimes=2, usually=3, often=4, most of the time=5). This questionnaire used the 6 dimensions of role workload, role insufficiency, role ambiguity, role boundary, responsibility, and physical environment to evaluate stress. SPSS.16 software was used for data analysis. Results: The mean age and work experience of the employees was 35.37± 7.65, 11.21± 7.76 years, respectively. Also, the average working hours of the employees were 8.84 ± 1.81 h per day. According to overall stress scores, 16.7% of the employees were stress free, 81.8% had moderate stress and 1.5% had normal stress. Significant relationships were observed between daily working hours and workload and the physical environment of bank, between the type of employment and workload role, between the number of children and role limits, between the overall stress and age groups, and between the overall stress and education. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on our findings, the current stress status of the employees was acceptable but considering the studied dimensions (especially the physical environment), it will not remain desirable in the future. Physical factors in the workplace, such as light, noise, ventilation and chemical agents must be assessed and should be improved in accordance with a regular program.