Resilience to Stress Affecting the Job Performance of Rank and File Employees of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 73

Abstract

As organizations grow more complex with time, the greater employees experience the blows of stress. Due to this, a call for resilient organizations emerged. However, before there will be resilient organizations, there must be resilient employees first. This qualitative study aims to determine how resilience to stress affects job performance. The possible effect was illustrated by injecting Ward and Abbey’s Resilience Diagram to Blumberg and Pringle’s Performance Variation Model. This study examined the two variables in the context of Regional Trial Court Branch 73. With the data gathered through an interview of the census of rank and file employees, it was found out that resilience to stress helps employees to perform better. The primary factor that cause stress to the rank and file employees is basically the quantitative aspect of work overload which is experienced by the respondents when they have too many tasks to accomplish and deadlines to meet. To be mentally resilient, respondents usually take breaks and siestas to clear, relax and rest their minds for a while. They also practice their sense of humor and take time to converse with their co-workers. The respondents’ mental resilience has a positive effect on the respondents’ concentration, punctuality in meeting deadlines, interpersonal relationship with co-workers and problem solving skills. Mental resilience enables the employees’ to gain greater concentration which helps them to finish more tasks in hand. Since they are able to meet their deadlines earlier, they usually have the extra time to interact with their colleagues. It also enables the respondents to still be able to employ critical thinking even when stressed which results in more effective problem-solving skills. However, the positive effect of mental resilience on willingness to work is not recognized by the respondents because of their “kailangan-kasi” mindset. Respondents commonly experience irritation brought about by stress. Respondents manifest their emotional resilience by sharing their feeling and sentiments with their friends, confronting the person(s) involved and employing self- control. The respondents’ emotional resilience has a positive effect on the respondents’ concentration, punctuality in terms of deadlines, interpersonal relationship and problem-solving. The respondents’ emotional resilience strategies help them bounce back from their irritation. This results in greater concentration which enables the respondents to be more punctual in meeting their deadlines. The respondents’ emotional resilience also helps them develop a better relationship with their co-workers. Their ability to bounce back from irritation aids them to tender a fair judgment which results in more effective problem-solving skills. However, the positive effect of emotional resilience on the respondents’ willingness to work was not clearly identified because of the respondents’ “kailangan-kasi” outlook. For resilience to stress’ physiological aspect, the most common stress-related health problem that the respondents experience is headache. To avoid this and be physically resilient, they take vitamins and power naps during lunch breaks. Their physical resilience positively affects the 5 bases of performance such as concentration, punctuality in meeting deadlines, interpersonal relationship with co-workers, problem-solving skills and willingness to do their jobs. It was noted that physical resilience results in greater concentration which enables the respondents to be more punctual in submitting their tasks. Another effect of physical resilience is the respondents’ good mood which in turn positively affects their interpersonal relationship with their colleagues. It also enables the respondent to problem-solve faster. Also, physical resilience positively affect the respondents’ willingness to work in such a way that its results in willingness. In a holistic perspective resilience on stress has a positive effect on the job performance of the rank and file employees.