ROLES OF WORKPLACE STRESSORS ON JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG FRONTLINE EMPLOYEES IN SELECTED STAR RATED HOTELS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Purpose of the Study: The hotel industry growth has been felt globally. Being an industry that requires fast and efficient services, there is need for the industry to establish the work place stressors that may affect its frontline employee’s job performance. Overall objective of the study was to investigate the roles of workplace stressors on job performance among frontline employees at selected star hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Statement of the research problem: According to a joint Health Advocate report, stress has a profound negative impact on worker productivity reaching $ 300 billion each year. Around 60% to 80% of workplace accidents are caused by employee stress, around 1,000,000 employees do not attend routine tasks due to work-related stress and 60% of employees they are guilty of absences due to stress. Overloaded workers spend 46% of their time seeking medical attention, while 14% of workers intend to hit their colleagues. Additionally, 29% of employees yelled at their co-workers due to stress, and 43% of workers believed their employers were concerned about work-life balance. Methodology: Adescriptive cross-sectional survey and convenience-sampling technique was used in order to get the required number of respondents. The former was used to put hotels into different categories (strata) whereas the latter was used to select the required number of the study participants from the hotels included in the sampling frame. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through interviews and self-administered questionnaires issued to 353 frontline employees from the thirty-one (31) star rated hotels in Nairobi City County. Result: A weak positive relationship between work life balance(r =.346, p<0.05) and job performance was depicted. Thus, null hypotheses indicate a relationship between the variables. It can be concluded that job performance increases with employee’s assurance of work-life balance. Conclusion and Recommendation: Results of the study have vital practical implications regarding how management of star rated hotels can enhance frontline employee’s job performance by minimizing work place stressors, Designing jobs to reflect the demands of the changing environment as well as the organization’s technology, to enhance work life balance.