EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOR DURING COVID-19: STRESS AND COPING MECHANISM

Abstract

The study highlights the psychological state of employees under the COVID-19 pandemic, the attendant job stress and corresponding coping mechanisms adopted to thrive amidst the situation and remain sustainable. The pandemic situation brought operating difficulties and challenges to many industries around the world, and organizational managers were challenged to have the ability to adapt to disasters and recover from such emergencies. It is found in this study that the factors of organizational culture, the abilities to organize and manage operations, the adaptation capacity as well as coping mechanisms of the organizations affect the development of organizational resilience and consequently sustainability of businesses. Workplace stress is inevitable to occur more frequently as there may be numerous stressors in life ranging from personal to professional, especially as enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic epidemic; therefore, it is recommended for modern organizational managers that when epidemic threats result, they should pay attention to the job stress faced by their employees and resolve them in a timely manner, so as to maintain high morale of employees and remain sustainable in business and there should be social support coming from the workplace as integral in helping the employees cope in such times.