The impact of the physical and psychological stress on employees’ productivity: a study on an engineering consultancy firm, Malaysia

Work stress is a pervasive problem that is faced by many organisations. This research seeks to examine the effects of work stress on the productivity of employees. This study is focus on knowledge workers in an engineering consultancy firm. Results of the research have revealed that work stress do have tremendous impact on the physical and psychological wellbeing of employees, which in turn results in lower productivity. The research revealed that high level of stress is pervasive amongst the employees of the company and is primarily caused by job task and management style. While the firm has taken some initiatives to address work stress, this was found to be not sufficiently effective. Hence, the management should revisit its measures and direct its efforts to deal with the primary job stressors in order to improve productivity.