Employee Stress Management

EMPLOYEE STRESS MANAGEMENT Nowadays, environmental and technological changes tend to be rapid and increase the challenges faced by organizations. One of the challenges that organizations must face is trying to improve the quality of human resources. The problem that is often experienced related to human resources is stress. According to the Ministry of Health in 2017, these stress trigger factors can be classified into several categories, namely workload, work systems, and matters related to the organization (in Lina Herlina, 2019, p. 119). Robbins and Coulter (in Asih, G.Y. et al, 2018) stated that "stress is a negative reaction from people who experience excessive pressure imposed on them due to too many demands, obstacles or opportunities". From the explanation above, it can be concluded that stress can affect a person's psychological condition, such as their emotions and thought processes. One of them is stress experienced at work, which can occur due to a less conducive work environment, excessive workload, and unclear work assignments. As for Fajar Sarasani, et al. (2022) argue "Work stress often causes problems for workers, both in groups of executives (white collar workers) and groups of ordinary workers (blue collar workers)". Work stress can be experienced by all groups, regardless of superiors or ordinary workers, and if left unchecked, it will harm employees' health both physically and emotionally. If this continues, it will greatly affect employee work productivity, where the higher the employee's work stress level, the more employee work productivity will decrease. Based on data obtained from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2020, it is known that workers affected by stress, depression and anxiety related to work in 2019-2020 were 828,000 workers with an average prevalence rate of around 1,579 cases. per 100,000 workers (in Mesi Parlinda, 2020). As for data from the 2012 Regus survey obtained from CFO Innovation Asia Staff (2016), it was found that the level of work stress in Asia Pacific countries, namely Malaysia 57%, Hong Kong 62%, Singapore 62%, China 73%, Indonesia 73%, and Thailand 75%. In Indonesia alone, the number of work stress continues to increase by 9% from the previous year which was only 64%. Based on Basic Health Research (Riskesdas 2018) of the Ministry of Health, data shows that the number of cases of mental disorders reached 9.8% and the work stress rate reached 35%, which is a serious problem in Indonesia. Work stress has now become a global phenomenon experienced not only by workers, but also by employers in both developed and developing countries. This of course affects employee performance, where if work stress continues to be ignored it will cause a decrease in employee work productivity. According to Anak Agung's wife Kirana Sari. et al, 2021 "Performance is the real behavior that someone does or shows when they do their work which will then produce something that can provide benefits to a company or organization." With this, the success of a company or organization depends on the quality of its employees' performance, so organizations must continue to develop and improve the performance of their employees. Work stress is closely related to employee performance. It is important for a company or organization to always pay attention to the work stress level of its employees. This is because companies or organizations certainly think about profits, if employee performance is high it will support employee work productivity. On the other hand, if the level of employee performance is low, it will cause organizational productivity to decrease. Managing employee stress is very important to minimize employee work stress levels so that employees continue to improve their performance. Based on the explanation above, this research was conducted at the West Java Provincial Education Office. The West Java Provincial Education Service is a regional apparatus located in West Java Province and has the task of managing government affairs in the education sector. Departing from the Nomenclature Changes carried out by the Government as the organizer of Education by Letter Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 079/0/1975 concerning the Organizational Structure and Work Procedures of the Department of Education and Culture, as well as being a follow-up to Presidential Decree Number 44 and 45 of 1974 concerning the Organizational Structure of the Department and the Principles of Departmental Organization. With the enactment of the above Presidential Decree, the West Java Education and Culture Teaching Office was changed to the Regional Office of the West Java Province Department of Education and Culture (Kanwil Depdikbud). Then, along with the creation of regional autonomy, centralized government governance changed to regional government. The basis that regulates this is Law Number 22 of 1999 regarding Regional Government, where the regional structure of the country is divided into regions. In order to adapt to the governance of autonomous regions, namely with the issuance of Government Regulation (PP) Number 25 of 2000 concerning Government Authority and Provincial Authority as an Autonomous Region, at the regional level responded by issuing Regional Regulation (Perda) of West Java Province Number 15 of 2000 concerning Service West Java Province Education. This was reinforced by the enactment of West Java Governor Decree Number 39 of 2001 concerning the Main Duties and Functions as well as Details of Duties and Units of the West Java Provincial Education Service. One of its duties and functions is to facilitate the implementation of Basic Education (Dikdas), General Secondary Education (Dikmenum) and Higher Education (Dikti), Special Education (PLB), Out-of-School Education and Regional Technical Implementation Units (UPTD). Based on Law No. 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government, it mandates the division of authority for the management of government affairs. In this order, the West Java Provincial Government, through the Education Office, is given the authority to manage the Secondary Education level to date.