When the going gets tough: Strategies Filipino managers use in managing employee stress

To say that the pandemic took a toll in every worker’s mental health would be an understatement. And to be a manager during this period means bigger responsibilities that goes beyond making sure that we’re not just in charge but that we take care of the people in our charge. This descriptive research talks about the story of managers and what they do to manage work stress among their employees. While several models have tried to explain the causes and outcomes of work stress, the literature on stress management intervention has not reached this stage yet. Given the wealth of qualitative studies on the topic, the aim of this study is to fill a gap in the literature by providing a profile of strategies managers use and examining whether there would be significant differences with the managerial strategies based on age, gender, and managerial level. This study used a self-developed questionnaire called “managerial strategies for workplace stress management” (MSWSM Scale). This scale indicates the frequency by which managers use the strategies identified in Jimmieson et. al (2021). Results indicate that Organizational Culture ranked as the highest (M=4.62. SD=0.46) suggesting that strategies under this dimension are extremely observed among the managers in this study. These are strategies that are broader in nature and represents general leadership styles, as suggested by Jimmieson et. al (2021). This may explain why the managers in this study indicated more frequent use of the strategies under this dimension