Stress at Work and Employee Motivation

Today’s work environment poses many challenges for organisations in terms of stress management and motivation. The main objective of this research is to determine the relationship between workplace stress and employee motivation levels. The research investigation was conducted on the example of employees of a local government institution (city hall) in north-eastern Poland, exploring their experiences of occupational stress (stress) and declared motivation. An online survey questionnaire was used in the study. The research sample consisted of 90 people (100% of staff). The main finding of the research is that few people do not experience stress in the workplace. This is an important observation that highlights the prevalence of this phenomenon. Of course, it is not always at a dysfunctional level. However, it should be noted that one in five employees is severely affected by it. Respondents showed a moderate level of their professional motivation. The majority of staff are focused on their job duties and recognise their commitment, but work is not their passion. A negative correlation was found between stress levels and professional motivation. There is also variation in the way stress affects motivation. Depending on employees’ gender, age, income and occupational position, the relationship is clearly different. Men show a greater susceptibility to decreased motivation in stressful situations compared to women. In addition, those in managerial positions show a weaker correlation between stress and motivation, i.e. their motivation is not as strongly linked to stress as for employees in lower positions. Similarly, the relationship is for older versus younger people and higher earners versus lower earners.