Office design, occupational stress and employee engagement among administrative staff in Makerere University

Abstract

This study was intended to investigate the relationship between office design, occupational stress and employee engagement of administrative staff members in Makerere University. Objectives of the Study were; the study was guided by the following objectives; To examine the relationship between office design and occupational stress at the workplace. To find out the relationship between office design and employee engagement at the workplace and to examine the influence of occupational stress on employee engagement at the workplace. Findings showed that there is significant relationship between office design and occupational stress. The results further show that the relationship between the two variables is negative (r= -.322*), this means that an increase in office design is related with a decrease or decrease in occupational stress. The table showed p=0.934> 0.05, this indicates that there is a significant correlation between office design and employee engagement at the 0.01 level (2- tailed). This means that an increase in office design is related to a decrease in employee engagement. The results indicated that p=0.02<0.000, this indicates that there is a significant relationship between occupational stress and employee engagement. The findings further show that the relationship between the two variables is inverse (r= -.474**). This means that an increase in occupational stress is related to a decrease in employee engagement. Therefore, I reject the null hypothesis and conclude that occupational stress and employee engagement are not significantly related. Recommendations were; further research should be carried out to examine the influence of office design on employee engagement. Organizations should carry out surveys to ascertain the level of employee engagement of their employees. This will also help determine the level of occupational stress. If the level of employee engagement is low organizations should find remedies which increase the engagement.