In this section, findings of what Taiwan public bank employees did to cope with their job stress were explained in two parts. At first, interview findings showed four coping strategies from the participants in this study. Next, the descriptive statistics result of questionnaire was presented in sequence (Figure 4.3). In the end, Table 4.3 provided a summary, merging findings of two data.
Interview Findings
Though coping strategies varied from participant to participant, this study listed the most effective ones based on 20 public bank employees’ interviews and 120 questionnaires.
Some of the strategies adopted by the participants were self-psychological adjustment, speak out, exercise, and accumulated time.
Self-psychological adjustment.
When perceived job stress, public bank employees often changed their thoughts, and talked to themselves that didn’t take things seriously or forgot things quickly. For them, fixating on job stress wouldn’t make things better; instead, let things pass by is a better way.
The following was a quote from public bank employee Sherry,
From the beginning I entered in the bank, I wanted everything to be perfect. I am afraid of making any mistakes. Now I am getting easier. I can accept myself being not so good instead
of pushing myself to be in a perfect me. I told myself to take everything easy so that I didn’t feel in a spin.
The following was another quote from Fred, “I had better to forget those things, which bothered me a lot. Because that you can let things go since it had been past. Just don’t keep those bad things in mind.” On the other hand, three participants viewed job stress as a motivation to make progress. They all thought that everyone has job stress. Job stress is assistance for improvements. If an individual didn’t perceive job stress, he/she would be stuck and not moving forward. Orchid, public bank employee from the Land Bank of Taiwan, stated,
When I perceived job stress, I usually didn’t think it was a stress. I viewed it was a problem from my job, so that I had to resolve it. While lots of work needed to be done, I felt anxious.
But at that time, I told myself to calm down and take a deep breath. After I broke through these difficulties made me stressful, I felt that I made progress a little bit.
Speaking out.
Another widely used coping strategy utilized by Taiwan public bank employees was speaking out. Participants in this study tend to feel better after speaking out something while they are stressed. Public bank employee Wendy described as follows,
Sometimes I felt thankful when someone was willing to listen to me. When I was down and felt stressed, I always talk to others. If I can’t tell anyone, I felt very painful. Even though that person cannot provide very useful suggestion and just listen to me. What he does still made me feel comfortable and relax; it seems that my stress is released by speaking out.
Speaking out meant they shared their job stress to friends, family, and those who were close to them. After talking to them, public bank employees felt better. The following was a quote from public bank employee Irene, “I usually hang out with my colleagues after work.
We had dinner and chat together. Through these activities with my good friends and colleagues, I transferred my attention from work.”
Another speaking out strategies was discussing with supervisor and colleagues, especially when the public bank employee had some problem about work. They tended to seek experienced employees for help so that would lower down their job stress. By doing this, the participants didn’t lost directions and find a shortcut to finish work. Participant Una stated, “When I felt frustrated and had difficulties about work, I often discussed with my supervisor or colleagues. Ask them how to solve the problem I bumped into.” If Una hadn’t spoken out job stress to her supervisor, she couldn’t resolve the difficulties. So, she would be stressed and even make things worse.
Exercises.
Almost every participant does exercises when they are stressful. The exercises are swimming, jogging, mountain climbing, yoga, and walking. Among these exercise, swimming seems to be a good exercise to alleviate job stress. There were four participants enjoy the benefits of swimming in the water. Public bank employee Lynn said,
I think swimming is quite a relaxing exercise, especially when I feel extremely stressful. When I was upset and felt lots of stress, I swim very fast; but if I just want to relax, I swim slowly.
Sometimes, I just float on the water. I swim fast or slow depends on my level of stress.
Furthermore, a few participants like taking a walk or go jogging after work or on the weekends. As participant Ting said, “I usually took a walk in the park that close to my home. Sometimes I even go jogging there. Sweating made me happy and free from worry.”
All these exercises alleviate their stressful body; especially those exercises that could be finished by one person. Though talking to others sooth one’s stressful mind; sometimes, doing some activities alone is effective when public bank employees are stressed.
Experience.
A proverb said, “Time will fix everything.” Many participants mentioned that “time”
helped them resolve job stress. Owning to the fact that job stress came from inexperienced with work. However, experiences were accumulated by time. So, when they got used to it, they perceived less stress. In the long run, stress can finally been cured through time. As mentioned by a public bank employee Judy,
Initially I took over this new job, I felt so nervous when interacting with clients and my supervisor, I was afraid of speaking something inappropriate or making mistakes. After working a few years, I got used to my job and more familiar with my supervisor. I felt more comfortable when interacting with people.
Susan, from Bank of Taiwan, shared her coping strategies experience as the following.
A few years ago, she was assigned to do a credit case, which she had never done before. At first she was so nervous, luckily after a few times try-out in sequence, she found the tips by herself. As she described as follows,
Actually I have been doing this work for many years; I got used to credit department. I already understood the process and knew how to make the work schedule. Now I already have my own working style. I don’t feel panic when doing similar credit cases.
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Figure 4.3. Coping strategies of Taiwan public bank employees
People
Through time, Susan had learned the experiences. Next time, when she encountered similar problem, she knew how to take directions to deal with. Accumulated time was a coping strategy among Taiwan public bank employee.
Questionnaire Results
A multiple choices question was used to survey public bank employees’ coping strategies for job stress. The choices were leisure activity, change thoughts, talk to family or friends, learn new skills, discuss with supervisors, take day-off, religion, quit the job, and retirement. Figure 4.3 showed that almost every public bank employees in this study did leisure activity as coping strategies to lower down job stress. The top three strategies Taiwan public bank adopted in descending order included: leisure activity (101 people, 87%), change thoughts (69 people, 60%), and talk to family or friends (63 people, 54%).