Work stress of facilities managers in the Sri Lankan context

Abstract

Work stress has become a global phenomenon in modern day workplaces. Sri Lankan organisations is no exception and Facilities Managers are increasingly encountering stress issues relating to work day by day. Facilities Managers work environment include both hard Facilities Management (FM) and soft FM functions which is complex and constrained by time, as they run to manage and support the operational functions of their core business. Hence the pressure on Facilities Managers to produce high quality results in limited time is severe. Thus, the impact of this would be reflected on organisation’s core business through unwanted loss in terms of cost and low quality services due to workload. Therefore, it is vital to address this growing issue in order to survive in today’s competitive world and cultivate a healthy profession with good ethical standards. This study focuses on work stress of Facilities Managers working in Sri Lankan organisations. A comprehensive literature review was carried out and identified the factors influencing work stress of Facilities Manager. Questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were used as two separate techniques to explore how work stress of Facilities Manager impacts performance in an organization and to identify the manageability level of stressors by Facilities Manager. Research findings revealed the common problems associated with work stress of Facilities Managers such as contradictory requirements placed at work, multi-disciplinary task, keeping the workplace on top shape, hardly hear good comments from end user and high quantitative demand of work, reasons behind them, and strategies to mitigate work stress, while addressing potential barriers in implementing those strategies.