unlicensed job stress in sales department at saigon plastic packaging joint stock company

1 - Chart of statistics of changes in human resources in Sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017 According to the figures above, the retirement status of employee

Company background

April 6 th , 2001: was established with name Saigon Plastic Packaging Limited Company as forerunner and started building factory in an area 5,208 m2

February 2003, the factory had been finished, in turn the machinery was invested, began with gravure printing machines, laminating, slitting and bag making machines

January of 2006, Saigon Plastic Packaging Limited Company was the first who granted both quality management certificates ISO 9001:2000 and environment management certificate ISO 14001:2004

In 2007, the company equitized and rename to Saigon Plastic Packaging Joint Stock Company (SAPLASTIC.JSC)

September 2008, the share was officially listed on the stock market, as the code SPP SAPLASTIC.JSC has been invested by great investment fund, such as: BIDV Investment, Vietnam Holdings, to name a few

In the end of 2010, SAPLASTIC.JSC invested in setting up LAB department, became first and only packaging company which had been equipped fully and modernly equipment This LAB was built with three functions: R&D activities input material checking and output product control

 Công ty Cổ Phần Bao Bì Nhựa Sài Gòn

 English name: SAIGON PLASTIC PACKAGING JOINT STOCK COMPANY

 Address: Lot II, 2B, Group V, Industrial Group II, Tan Industrial Zone, Tay Thanh Ward, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City

 Business license: 0302272627 - Date of Issue: 10/05/2001

 Website: http://www.saplastic.com.vn

 General Director: Dương Quốc Thái

 Email: info@saplastic.com.vn

Mission : Contribute to the stable development of Vietnamese brands in the packaging industry, not only in South East Asia but also whole Asia Market, in order to aim at the global market in future

Vision : Corporate vision for the period 2010 – 2030 is to build SAPLASTIC.JSC to become the great interdisciplinary corporation SAPLASTIC.JSC’s business base is the stable development in association with eco-friendly and social responsibility

1.3 SAPLASTIC.JSC organization chart (Appendix 1)

1.4 SAPLASTIC.JSC Sales department chart (Appendix 2)

Symptom

Table 1 1 - Statistics of changes in human resources in the Sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017

Breakout Ratio / Total Sales Staff (%) 17.65 23.81 33.33

(Source: Administration & Human Resources department in SAPLASTIC.JSC )

Figure 1 1 - Chart of statistics of changes in human resources in Sales department of

SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017

According to the figures above, the retirement status of employees at the Sales Department of SAPLASTIC.JSC has increased steadily over the years 2015 - 2017

In 2015, the total number of employees in the sales department of the company is 17, with 3 employees retiring accounting for 17.65%

In 2016, the total number of employees in the sales department of the company increased to 21, corresponding to an increase of 4 people, corresponding to a 23.52% increase over 2015 But this year the number of employees leaving the department is up to 5 people, accounting for 23.81% compared with the total staff of the sales department The number of employees leaving the sales department increased to 5 people, corresponding to the increase of 2 people compared with 2015, corresponding to the rate of increase of 66.67% Thus, in 2016 SAPLASTIC.JSC has recruited 4 sales staff to expand its business activities in the company's business plan But this year the number of salespersons leaving SAPLASTIC.JSC was higher than the number of employees recruited by the company This is quite dangerous and alarming situation in the sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC

In 2017, the total number of employees in the sales department of

SAPLASTIC.JSC increased to 27, in which 6 people are recruited by the company, increasing by 28.57% compared to 2016 But the turnover status at the dales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC is more serious when this year the number of employees leaving is up to 9 people, accounting for 33.33%, corresponding to an increase of 4 persons and an increase of 80% compared to 2016 Thus, the number of employees recruited to the sales department SAPLASTIC.JSC is lower than the number of employees leaving sales department This proves that the current demand for human resources in the sales department of the company is lacking and significantly affecting the manufacturing and business activities of SAPLASTIC.JSC in the past period

Another alarming problem SAPLASTIC.JSC is facing is sales are tending to decrease, as follows:

Total revenue 426,511 548,254 448,963 121,743 28.54 (99,291) (18.11) Total cost 332,877 422,699 369,771 89,822 26.98 (52,928) (12.52) Profit before tax 93,634 125,555 79,192 31,921 34.09 (46,363) (36.93)

(Source: Sales Department - SAPLASTIC.JSC)

Figure 1 2 - Revenue Results at SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017

Looking at the table above, we see the business results of SAPLASTIC.JSC fluctuating unevenly through the years 2015 - 2017 Specifically:

In 2015, total sales of the company reached VND 426,511 million, profit reached VND 93,634 million

In 2016, revenue increased to VND 548,254 million, equivalent to an increase of VND 121,743 million, a 28.54% increase compared to 2015 The company's profit also increased to VND125,555 million corresponding to an increase of VND31,921 million The growth rate is 34.09% compared to 2015 It shows that in 2016, the company's business performance still meets the target, the rate of the profit growth is higher than the rate of revenue increase In terms of the human resources of the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC in 2016, the department has recruited 4 sales staffs and 5 sales staffs retired Thus, the problem of retirement of the sales staff at this time did not significantly affect the sales revenue and profit of SAPLASTIC.JSC

In 2017, the company's sales revenue fell to VND448,963 million, corresponding to a decrease of VND99,291 million and a decrease of 18.11% compared to 2016 In addition to decreasing sales, pre-tax profit also suffered and reduced to VND79,192 million, corresponding to a reduction of VND46,363 million, corresponding to a decrease of 36.93% compared to 2015

In 2017, the company's sales revenue fell to VND448,963 million, corresponding to a decrease of VND99,291 million and a decrease of 18.11% compared to 2016 In addition to decreasing sales, pre-tax profit also suffered and reduced to VND79,192 million, corresponding to a reduction of VND46,363 million, corresponding to a decrease of 36.93% compared to 2015

Firstly, the status of salespersons of SAPLASTIC.JSC, which has the tendency to increase in the period of 2015 – 2017, has significantly affected the revenue and profit of SAPLASTIC.JSC in the past period All of these are proved by the results of business of SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017 has been stated in the second symptom

In terms of personnel condition in the sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC, in

2017, the company recruited 6 employees but the number of employees leaving is up to 9 employees Thus, the status of the sales staff has directly affected sales and profits of SAPLASTIC.JSC in 2017 The large number of customers, human resources at the moment are not enough to take care of old customers so finding new customers, expanding the business activities of SAPLASTIC.JSC in 2017 are difficult and unsuccessful Thus, we see that the status of sales staff leaving the company has a negative impact on the business results of the SAPLASTIC.JSC

Secondly, the current status of sales staff, apart from affecting the revenue and profit of the company, it also directly affects the cost of recruitment and training costs of the SAPLASTIC.JSC

This is a specialized industry that produces plastic packaging products, which demands salespeople must have the knowledge and skills for industry, knowledge about products to advise and support customers in the way of designing, ordering, contracting, etc So, to get a salesperson know and get him familiar with the job and equipped with the knowledge of packaging, advice to customers, the company spends a lot of time and effort recruiting and training employees According to Head of Sales,

Mr Tran Phu Vinh said: "It takes 2-3 months to recruit an employee according to the company's procedures, then it takes at least one month for training qualified staff having specialized knowledge of packaging and at least 3 months to train a new staff who knows nothing about plastic packaging Thus, the status of many employees retiring has a serious impact on the company's business performance

Thirdly, there is also another consequence that few people care about, which is the business secret of the company being exposed outside, especially the companies that are competitors in the manufacturing plastic packaging industry such as SAPLASTIC.JSC At this point, when the sales staffs quit, competitors in the industry will be willing to pay a higher salary and offer a better working environment to entice employees of

SAPLASTIC.JSC to work for them, they will exploit information from these employees and gradually get customers from the SAPLASTIC.JSC This can be said as the most serious consequence if the status of sales staff leaving SAPLASTIC.JSC still continuously increasing in the future.

Initial cause effect map

To figure out the causes and problems of job stress leading to the high turnover rate in Sales Department at SAPLASTIC.JSC, the author conducted the interview of 5 current and former employees at SAPLASTIC.JSC:

1 Sales Director: Mr Tran Phu Vinh

2 Deputy Sales Manager: Ms Tran Thi Bao Tram

3 Sales Executive: Mr Mach Thanh Hai

4 Sales Manager (Resigned): Ms Pham Thi Que

5 Human Resource Manager: Mr Vo Quoc Hung

Based on the results of the survey of 5 experts, who are currently working and use to work at SAPLASTIC.JSC, about the causes of quitting job in the sales department of the company, most of their opinions pointed the sales target that are assigned by the board of directors to the sales department and then to each employee is too high which exceeds the capacity of employees and results in the failure to achieve the target assigned by the board of director For the illustration, we review the business plan of SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017 as follows:

Table 1 2 - Business plan of SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 – 2017

Target revenue 400,000 560,000 750,000 160,000 40.00 190,000 33.93 Real revenue 426,511 548,254 448,963 121,743 28.54 (99,291) (18.11) Reality/target

The number of sales staff

(Source: Sales Department – SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017)

The above table shows the planned revenue set by SAPLASTIC.JSC is constantly increasing through 2015 – 2017 Specifically, in 2015 the company's revenue target was set at 400,000 million, while the actual revenue this year reached 426.511 million which reached 106.63% compared with the plan and the target sales/staff is 23.529 million

By 2016, the company set a sales target of VND560,000 million, an increase of VND160,000 million and a 40% increase compare to 2015 However, in fact, the company's revenue in 2016 is only VND 548,254 million, reaching 97.90% of the plan and the target of sales/staff of this year is VND 26,667 million/employee/year Thus, in

2016, the company is close to achieving the target The sales target for each salesperson increased to VND 3,137 million/person, corresponding to a 13.33% of increasing

In 2017, the company set a sales target up to 750,000 million VND, equivalent to an increase of 190,000 million VND and a growth rate of 33.93% compared to 2016

In fact, in 2017, the company's revenue was only VND 448,963 million reaching 59.86% of the plan The sales target for each salesperson is VND 27,778 million/person/year, corresponding to an increase of VND 1,111 million and 4.17% compared to 2016 The reason for the sharply reduction of sales revenue of the SAPLASTIC.JSC in 2017 is due to the high number of staffs quitting (9 people), most of them are experienced, knowledgeable and having a good relationship with the customers, while the new recruits do not have enough knowledge and skills to care customers Those new employees need time to get acquainted with the new environment and learn the knowledge Since there is not enough manpower to take care of the customer that leads to the sharply fall of sales revenue in 2017, the sales department must coordinate with the Organization and Administration Department to recruit more staff to fill vacancies

In addition, the current facilities of SAPLASTIC.JSC are bad such as the backward production line, the limited number of machines, the old machines that need maintaining and upgrading, etc., which significantly affects the quality and quantity of products of the company In contrast, SAPLASTIC.JSC has set up its business targets increasing gradually over the years as the increase of 40% in 2016 compare to 2015 and the growth of 33.93% in 2017 compare to 2016 This inadvertently puts pressure on salespeople to achieve the high target of the company, and it is the cause of stress in the workplace and lead to the status of many sales staffs time off work in the past

The concept of stress in the workplace is of great interest to many researchers in biology, psychology, medicine, and economics in the world and in Vietnam

Job stress exists in every department and every company It is generally defined in the correctional literature as feelings of work-related hardness, tension, anxiety, frustration, worry, emotional exhaustion, and/or distress Lamber E.G et al (1) stated that job stress occurs as a result of stressors in the work environment and has been found to have numerous negative effects on correctional staff

According to a survey of 5 employees, they all agree that stress is a major cause of many job quits In the opinion of the interviewees, there are many causes of stress in the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC, including: Work pressure (KPI, regular meeting, sales report, old customer care, new customer search, etc.), personal relationship (relationship with leader, coworker, etc.), the conflict between work and personal life, career development opportunities, working environment conditions, etc., these are the main causes of job stress in the sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC

According to a book of MacLean J.P (2), there is a connection between low compensation and high turnover rate In this book, many literatures about turnover are collected by author and a relationship between low compensation and turnover is described The author pointed that low wages increases the turnover rate in company and also had negative impact on recruitment – the company is more difficult to hire new good employee Compensation comes up with tangible and intangible part, which affect directly to staff morals The compensation packages a business offers to employees affects the company’s recruitment rate, retention rate and employee satisfaction

SAPLASTIC.JSC is applying salary policy through KPI system, in which the efficiency of work (the revenue that sale can get in month) accounted for 50% Previously, the performance score was calculated to cover 25% of purchase orders and 25% of sales in the month However, since the beginning of 2017, the board of management changed the policy of applying a 50% KPI to revenue Combined with high sales expectation pressure and unreasonable, the income of sales executives is affected much

Deputy of Current Accounts Manager at SAPLASTIC.JSC was also mentioned on how to calculate bonus points beyond the target at the company is unreasonable The staffs are required to reach the target but there is absolutely no regulation or bonus for those who exceed the excellent criteria in the month This bonus is based on the sales pitch proposal but does not exceed 10% of the KPI score In addition, for the 13th month salary, the company has a policy that this bonus is split into two phases: one received at the end of the year and a haft will be paid at the end of the following year

In addition, the interviewees took the example of sales executive staffs are not supported for telephone charges, gasoline fee Meanwhile, the nature of the work requires move out frequently, but these costs are not supported from the company although they are big deal with staffs.

Updated cause effect map

To find out the other causes that can effect on turnover rate in industry related to manufacturing, the researcher conduct studying literature to identify more reasons that can be cause high employee turnover rate And there are many causes group that lead to high turnover rate for the business organization leaving for something better and leaving an unsatisfied job In a study of Strolin et al (3) showed that: “the causes of workforce turnover are abundant and have been categorized into three areas cited most often throughout the literature: individual factors, supervisory factors and organizational factors”

Stronlin et al report also concreted its findings by categorized each group:

“Individual factors can be defined as causes of turnover that stem from individual worker characteristics such as educational background, professional commitment, and demographics Supervisory factors are defined as the causes of turnover that stem from insufficient supervisor support and competency Organizational factors are those causes of turnover that stem from the organization such as caseload size, organizational climate and culture, salary benefits, promotional opportunities and administrative burdens.”

Combined with the factor groups mentioned above, I went back to interview the interviewees that whether there are other reasons lead to the high turnover rate at the company or not The causes I proposed include:

Individual factors : Burnout, demographics (age, time in the job, gender or even ethnicity issue) or professional commitment, which is argued as “who are more committed to profession and its goals are less likely to be highly committed to the organization” by Wallace (4)

Supervisory factors : in a study of Fleischer (5) stated that inadequate and insufficient supervision has been cited as an important factor in a caseworker’s decision to leave the job, while Dickinson et al (6) argued perceptions of supervisory support contributed to a caseworker’s decision to stay

Organizational factors are aggregated by a variety of reasons, but much of it was mentioned in the first round of personnel interviews on salary, bonus, benefits, etc So that they were not mentioned in second round

Conducting the interview again, I received many answers concur with some reasons I gave In that burnout is often referred to as over work load The reason is that because tasks need to be solved a lot, staffs are often required to work over time without adding salary or more time annual leave

In the case of SAPLASTIC.JSC, the interviewees confirmed that the work in the sales department is too much As the former employees, they have to bear not only their responsibility and also the work of the employees have been off Ms Tram, the deputy sale manager, said that many employees must work up to 8-9pm to resolve customer reports and emails Staying up late at the company after 10h to browse samples for timely delivery also occurs frequently Meanwhile, the company does not grant any compensation for them She believes that if this situation continues, some employees who cannot bear the pressure of work will again resign in 2018

The two remaining causes in the individual factors confirmed by respondents do not have this status at the company However, respondents mentioned that they were aware of the limited employment of Northern workers The reason given is after the holiday, workers who have or live in the distance tend to stay longer or even quit working, which makes the company difficult to arrange workers But this law only applies to workers, not to the office staff The interviewees also said that there is no clear evidence of professional commitment factors affecting the high turnover rate in the flexible plastic packaging industry

With supervisory factors, the respondents said they are satisfied with the direct supervisor in currently – Sales Director, for his support and communication of the experience that he brings to all sales executives

Sales Department also assigns the experienced staff to train new employees with the needed knowledge The arrangement of 1:2 means that one former employees along with two new employees will form a team to support each other in the case of reaching customer or searching market Thus, currently, the sales staffs feel satisfied with the support they receive from direct managers For the support from higher level of management (the board of directors), interviewed personnel feel it is not important to them, as they do not work directly with the board of directors As a sales director, Mr Tran Phu Vinh confirmed his direct boss - the CEO is very interested in the work of the department, and always willing to receive opinions from him and support under the condition of the company

Basing on literature review and interview data, the author updated cause effect map as below:

Potential central problems

Updated cause effect map shows 04 main problems that leads to high turnover rate in Sales department in recently:

A: High goal expectations B: Job stress

C: Low compensation and benefits D: Over workload

Based on the data and interview results, high goal expectation from the board of director and Job stress are two significant issues However, based on the current status of the company, the investor and the bank require the company to commit the expected sales for long-team investment agreements, so the sales pressure is inevitable Morever, with the scope of the industry and the brand of Saplastic, the expected sales can be reached As a result, the broad of directors shall commit sales to the investor, and a great pressure will be applied to the sales department This makes salers become stress and boring, and even make them decide to quite their job

Most of the causes given and approved by interviewees relate to job stress Even problems such as over goal expectation, low compensation and benefit and over workload are also one of the causes of stress, which makes staffs feel depressed and tending to leave job, transfer to another company with a better environment or change to another profession

Stress is not only the main reason for the high turnover rate at the sales department, but also the cause of the decrease in work efficiency, unstable emotion that leads to hot temper and the tension between the sales department and other departments

The vicious circle between the causes of stress and stress causes negative consequences for the staff to feel more impassable and more stressful So the author supposed that "Job stress" is a problem and should be resolved immediately

The final cause-effect map identifying the cause of stress in the sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC is the following:

Work pressure : The requirements of the job exceed the ability of the sales person, such too high and irrational KPIs base on the human resources and factory capacity; the clients complain frequently; the manager is too strict… The pressure of work causes the stress in the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC The more of workload, the more stressful of the job

Working environment : Poor working conditions (eg: hot, noisy, too light or too weak, radiation, air pollution, etc.), much work travel, many working hours, highly technical work can cause stress No support from management can also be a cause of stress

Career development opportunities : Stabile (or unstable) work, promotion

(promotion or downgrade), job rotation, and career development opportunities are stress-inducing factors

Personal relationship in the company : It may be both the source of the stress, and the social support that can affect a person's response to stress Workplace aggression such as bullying, violence, unsupported staffs… are the causes of stress

Conflicts of work – life roles: It may be the cause of stress A typical job only fulfills a part of purpose and personal need, so when these jobs are in conflict with one another or simply do not have enough time for both, they can lead to stress

Problem definition

Job stress is a common condition in almost companies all over the world Many researches and definitions of job stress have been raised According to a study by Lazarus in 1993 (7), stress can be defined as "a process of interaction between people and the environment in which the person identifies the event from the environment as threaten or hazards, and it requires the person to try to use the adaptive potential of himself " Sager’s study (8) also argued that job stress is an individual's psychological statement when people face up to difficulty, opportunity, and significant but uncertain outcomes

According to DeFrank R S et al (9), stress in the workplace belongs to personal reaction; it is different from general stress because it is related to organization and work Job stress refers to a situation in which factors related to interactions with worker alter (disrupt or enhance) the psychological or physiological state that the person is forced to take and deviate from normal activity

The study by Kahn et al in 1964 (10) said that stress is a process depending on many factors and affecting people too much Mostly stress is generated by individual employees who cannot solve the problem between personal ability and the demands of the job Stress can be caused by many factors: work pressure, personal relationships, inefficient resources, low salaries and unsafe work environment,

William C Moncrief et al (11) also found that banal job, bad manager, unsatisfied working conditions contribute to stress Banal jobs, organizational role, unsatisfied working conditions, working environment lacking co-workers, career development, uncontrollable roles and responsibilities, personal relationship, information exchange, conflicts between work and personal life, changes in the organization make workers feel stressful

In 2009, Jaffe-Gill et al (12) presented a table of the exposures of stress to employees:

Table 2 1 - External expressions of stress

Symptoms of Neuropathy Emotional Expression

- Short-term Temper or Anger

Body Expression Out-body expression

- Eating more or less than usual

- Sleeping more or less than usual

- Bad Habits (nail biting, pounding …)

Problem existence

To assess the stress scales of the Sales Department at SAPLASTIC.JSC, The author created questions about the causes of stress in the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC and then conducted a survey of 25 employees working in sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC The expected number of questionnaires delivering was

25, and the number of collected was 22, through the screening process, only 20 valid questionnaires were used by the authors for processing and analyzing survey results

The tool for conducting data collection was questionnaire survey The author developed a scale in the questionnaire based on the results of the study including 5 independent variables that caused stress in the Sales Department at SAPLASTIC.JSC The questions to measure the factors that influence on stress of Sale Department in SAPLASTIC.JSC used the 5-point Likert Scale (With 1 = Absolute disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree and 5 = Strongly Agree) The degree of agreement was increased by 1 to 5 points The questionnaire was directly sent to the employees working in the Sales Department of SAPLASTIC.JSC and the staff were instructed how to respond Employees were provided with a questionnaire and filled in their survey responses on their own With wrong scales or incorrect answers’ cases, the author had to explain to the respondent to understand and respond in the right direction Invalid response such as blank, multiple answers for the same statement or same level for all observation variables would be refined and removed

Table 2 2 - Observation variables define Job stress causes at SAPLASTIC.JSC

WP1 You find your work very stressful 1 2 3 4 5

WP2 Your work is overloaded 1 2 3 4 5

WP3 You do not have enough time to finish the tasks 1 2 3 4 5 WP4 The superiors always set out of ability tasks to you 1 2 3 4 5

WP5 You often think about leaving the current job at

The atmosphere in the workplace which is near Factory is hot and often exposed to the smell of solvent, glue, ink, affecting your health and working spirit

EC2 Inadequate infrastructure, old equipment which is often ruined, affecting the speed of working settlement 1 2 3 4 5 EC3 Workplace’s noise makes you feel stressed and tired 1 2 3 4 5

CDO1 There are not much opportunities to develop your career at the company 1 2 3 4 5

CDO2 Lack of training programs for promotion 1 2 3 4 5

CDO3 The promotion and nomination policies at the company are unfair and not transparent 1 2 3 4 5

CDO4 You do not have many opportunities to show your personal ability in the company 1 2 3 4 5

PR1 You often conflict with colleagues 1 2 3 4 5

PR2 You are not able to maintain a good relationship with your superiors 1 2 3 4 5

PR3 You do not receive support from your colleagues and superiors 1 2 3 4 5

PR4 You have no belief in working with colleagues 1 2 3 4 5

PR5 Customers often complain and give negative feedback about you 1 2 3 4 5

5 Conflict between work-life roles

WL1 You are unable to balance work and life 1 2 3 4 5

Your work takes too much time and effort, so you do not have time for personal life 1 2 3 4 5

Working makes you unable to maintain relationships or other roles in a best way 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 2 1 - Measurement of work pressure factors

(Source: Appendix 7 – The survey result collection)

The assessment of the job stress’s factors of the Sales Department at SAPLASTIC.JSC indicated that the rate of Sales Department was relatively high With the answer for question “You find your work very stressful”, the author records 100% respondents agree working in packaging industry is very stressful This job needs all employees using many skills from human communication, problem solving, planning…

The statement “The superiors always set out of ability tasks to you” was evaluated with the high score of 4.70 points show that many sales staffs do not agree with the goal they are carrying on The company in particular has set sales targets without concerning about the capacity of the factory Many times in history were recorded that when the sales orders reached 60% of goals (40 billion), the factory would be chaotic and goods were delay The target for each sale’s employee of the company in 2015 was VND 23,529 million, in 2016 the number increased to VND 26,667 million corresponding to the increase of VND 3,137 million and 13.33% rate when compared to 2015 By 2017, the sales target increased to VND 27,778 million, corresponding to an increase of VND 1,111 million and a growth rate of 4.17% over 2016 The business goals and overloaded tasks made the employees to spend too much time on working

The statement “You do not have enough time to finish the tasks” was highly agreed by the staff with an average score of 4.55 Therefore, leaders of SAPLASTIC.JSC in general and Sales Department in particular should consider assigning norms to subordinates and avoid overload in work In addition, frequent meetings and sales reports to the leaders at the end of each week also took up time and put tremendous pressure on sales staff at SAPLASTIC.JSC

“You often think about leaving the current job” was rated with 4.75 points showed that the sales staff of the company planned to quit job because of the pressure of work and overload business goals of the company

“Your work is overloaded” with 4.50 points and the WP1 with 4.65 points indicated that all sales staff of the company noticed the workload of the office, job stress and overloaded tasks

Figure 2 2 - Evaluation of working environment factors

(Source: Appendix 7 – The survey result collection)

The factor of working environment also has a direct impact on the sales department's stress at SAPLASTIC.JSC The most stressful and most selected factor is

"Inadequate infrastructure, old and broken office equipment affect the speed of work settlement", at 4.45 points Sales staffs often encounter broken air conditioners, especially basic office equipment such as printers, faxes, and photocopiers, which result in the futile wait of the sales staff Employees are not promptly transferred necessary documents for customers and are complaining In addition, in order to save costs, SAPLASTIC.JSC also cut the cost of stationery According to the survey, employees say that office equipment and stationery are the means to support work, so do not save so much that hinder the business On the contrary, the company should have a guide on how to use the equipment and stationery reasonably At present, office equipment has not been interested and invested by the company It is easy to create stress and pressure in the workplace

The factor "Environmental air in the workplace near the factory, hot, often exposed to the smell of solvent, colloids, ink, affect your health and work spirit" rated at the second highest point with 4.15 points shows that the current location of business offices near the workshop has a great impact on the quality of work performance of employees in the sales department Due to close to the workshop and the requirements of the workplace, employees are frequently exposed to chemicals, colloids, ink, etc., which affect the health of their employees… Therefore, the company needs to invest in the design of working offices and factory, arrange the area of checking samples, testing the samples separately from the factory to avoid the sales staff contacting with the main production area If in the process of working, the sales staffs have to go to the production area, they should be equipped with protective clothing to prevent the impact on health and to reduce the stress on employees in the working at the company

The factor: "Noise at work makes you feel stressed and tired" with 2.25 point is low The office is locating at the same area with factory will be affected by the noise from plant However, the sales staffs did not agree that the noise from the factory was loud enough to affect the working space

Figure 2 3 - Evaluating opportunities for career development

(Source: Appendix 7 – The survey result collection)

Career opportunities are something that every employee is interested in and sales staffs at SAPLASTIC.JSC are no exception The factor "You do not have many opportunities to develop your career at the company," causes the highest stress with 3.90 points It shows that the opportunity of professional development of the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC has not really attracted the company's employees This will directly affect the performance of the employee when working

The factor "The promotion and nomination policies at the company are unfair and not transparent” causes stress in work with 4.05 points which is most rated Thus, SAPLASTIC.JSC has unclear procedure in promotion and motivation staffs

The factor: "You do not have the training programs for promotion" was highly rated with 4.2 points, which shows that SAPLASTIC.JSC has not built the training programs and the clear promotion procedures and this is not the company's attention, so the staff s think that the opportunity to develop career at SAPLASTIC.JSC is quite low The factor: "You do not have many opportunities to express your personal ability in the company" of the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC was also evaluated with only 2.50 points, clearly showing that in the company, the sales staff has many opportunities to demonstrate his or her ability to work in the company because they have to engage in most of the company's activities, including marketing, production planning, resolving customer complaints, etc Therefore, the sales staff have a practical friction environment, and are involved in many large projects of the company, so they easily show the ability to solve work as well as their capacity However, because of having to deal with many problems in the company, the sales staff plays a big role and puts a lot of pressure on them

Figure 2 4 - Evaluating personal relationship factors

(Source: Appendix 7 – The survey result collection)

The relationship between the individuals in the company or the co-worker relationship directly affects the stress in the work of the sales department SAPLASTIC.JSC In fact, conflicting personal relationships increase job stress and vice versa

The factor "You often contradict your colleagues" is rated at 4.45 points, showing the contradiction between sales colleagues at SAPLASTIC.JSC tends to increase and affects the quality of work This contradiction arises mainly between the sales department and other related departments such as:

Problem importance

3.1 The studies relate to job stress consequences

There are many studies on the effects of stress on human, organizational and social factors According to S Kyle Hight and Jeong-Yeol Park (13), the effects of stress affect two main issues: (i) Human consequences facet; and (ii) Organizational consequences facet

Human consequences facet includes the impact on human health and it is more important to the individual than the company Stress affects human physical strength, psychology and human behavior

- Physical : There are studies showing that stress is the main cause of health problems For example, the study of Cobb & Kasl, 1972 (14) highlighted the relationship between stress and high blood pressure; the study of Shirom et al., 1973 (15) found that high blood cholesterol levels were associated with stress Also, in 1973, Reeder et al

(16) reported the relationship between stress and electrocardiogram abnormalities In

1975, Hennigan and Wortham (17) also mentioned in their report on pulse rate All these serious illnesses are the main causes of heart attacks and strokes that any worker may have And the most heartbreaking result is death

- Psychology : The simplest and most obvious effects of stress on employees’ psychology are the depressing, dissatisfaction with the job In Beehr's study in 1976

(18), Caplan et al in 1975 (19) or Ivancevich in 1974 (20), etc found that job stressors are positively related to dissatisfaction with the job Stress will make employees feel everyday work boring and no longer want to try best and be creative, so they are easily stuck and made mistakes when making important decisions Over time, stress develops negative thoughts and often results in leaving the current job to find a less stressful environment

- Human behavior : The effects of human behavior are closely linked to the physical and psychological consequences of stress The easiest and most common behaviors are smoking, drinking alcohol that has a serious impact on human health Cigarette smoking is thought to be the most severe cause of cancer and cardiovascular disease Schar et al (21) found that occupational status is negatively related to smoking, while Margolis et al (22) found a relationship between stressful aspects and drunkenness in 1974 However, a study by Selzer and Vinokur (23) found that the relationship between stress and the rate of road traffic accidents is not clear However, despite the research results, stress is one of the main factors leading to employees’ depression, which makes it easy for them to let go and find stimulants such as cigarettes and beer, alcohol, drugs, etc Especially in Vietnam, the problem of drinking is very common and leads to many implications for themselves, their families and society

Employees experiencing severe stress will lead to many negative consequences for the company's business The most common effects will be seen in the following aspects:

- Job performance : There are many studies that analyze the relationship between stress and employee performance Jamal M (24) stated in his 1984 study that stress effects on job performance were assessed through: Employees’ effectiveness, employees' commitment and anticipated turnover According to Jamal, stress reduces the productivity of employees, makes employees often neglect the work, not creative and easily make wrong decisions The study also showed the relationship between stress and sick leave, job leave Employees tend to take longer and more often breaks to find work and life balance They do not pay attention to work when they feel stressed and beyond their tolerance And finally, they cannot stay in business for long and choose to leave

- Employee suggestions : Caplan R.D (25) mentions that staff will regularly make recommendations, to ensure and improve their working environment This factor is also considered as a consequence of the stress on the business, because when it comes to employee requirements, the company will also incur costs and time The study by Margolis et al in 1974 (26) indicated a positive correlation between employee's frequent recommendation of inadequate work environment and overload of work At the same time, the statement points to the opposite of factors; for example, work does not allow employees to express themselves; the environment is not safe, or they are not involved in making decisions This means that employees do not usually recommend when encountering these three issues

- Employee withdrawal : Employee leave is one of the most common effects of stress and the cause of this report Types of employee withdrawal include absenteeism, turnover and psychological withdrawal (e.g., lower job involvement, less identification with the organization) Chapter 1 of this report shows the negative impact of employee absenteeism on the company's business operations, declined revenue while the cost of recruiting and training increased several times but it is not guaranteed to retain talents

In addition, many staff after leaving have bad behaviors, comments, which affects the recruitment of employees in the future

3.2 The consequences of job stress affects to SAPLASTIC.JSC

Salesman is an important and special workforce They are the one that bring benefit and income to company Therefore, the active and effective salesman workforce is the major factor for the success of company

About SAPLASTIC.JSC, through survey, we can see that the business department is facing with big problem is stress The consequence of stress is researched by author based on the reference documents which show the reality in company:

The first consequence for SAPLASTIC.JSC is reducing revenue and income from 2015 – 2017 The table 1.2 and figure 1.2 show that the most serious year is 2017 with revenue and income fall down compared with 2015 and 2016.The revenue in 2016 increase 28.54% compared with 2015 and 2017, reduce 18.11% compared with 2016

Revenue before tax in 2016 increase 34.09% compared with 2015 and 2017, reduce 36.93% compared with 2016

With the fall of revenue and income, not only affect the business situation of company, but also lead to other consequences such as:

- Firstly, the company does not meet the requirement of investor can make them underestimate the company and withdraw capital or new investor has no trust in company

- Secondly, the fall down of revenue will affect to ability assessment from bank that lend capital That make the documents approval become more difficult

- Thirdly, the fall down of revenue and income from sales activity will make company cutting down the cost, especially for human resource (promotion, training, company trips…) With the amount of works assigned, salesman is too busy to handle

If company decides to cut down human resource but don’t have any plan for renovating company or find other solution to replace human, the problem will become worse and this loop is difficult to solve

The fall down of revenue and income of the company: When a salesman is stressed due to the workload is too much, he/she cannot focus on his/her job, the quality and efficiency are down up, often occur conflicts with colleagues and leaders As the result, the KPI of the salesman is not reached and affect the sales of the company, making the revenue of the company will be affected

3.2.2 The increasing of customer complaint

Table 2 3 – Summary of complaint cases from customers

Official complaint by documents (time) 26 35 52 9 34,61 17 48,57

Unofficial complaint through emails/calls (time) 28 42 61 14 50,00 19 45,23

(Source: Sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC)

According to statistic, the complaints for service customer quality of sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC in 2015 – 2017 is increasing, through year, the complaints is increasing in 3 aspects: complain form, email, direct call In 2017, the total complains are 113, increase 36 cases compared with 2016 and 59 cases (increase 109.26%) compared with 2015 These figures are worrisome in competitive plastic packaging industry

Causes validation

According to Orly Michael (27), job stress is measured through factors of unclear job responsibilities and job performance in the role conflict and overload of work Work overload is defined in Nor Farah Hanis in 2015 (28) as "the level of awareness of work needs, roles and perceptions of work as it has too much work to do and not enough time to do it" Besides, the report by Garima Mathur et al in 2007 (29), the work overload and time limitation put workers under pressure leading to stress For example, I do not have enough time to complete my work Peterson et al (30) defined the work overload occurs when an individual takes on a lot of work, is under pressure of time, does not have the resources needed to complete the task, the commitment and job-related responsibilities

Herzberg (31) (1968) and Spector et al (32) (200) stated that working environment is an important factor to reduce stress in the work of employees” In addition, Ellickson et al (33) said: “Working in a comfortable environment helps employees increase work efficiency and reduce stress in the workplace” Report of Ceylan et al (34) stated that "Favorable working conditions include the convenience, dryness, light, and temperature assurance, greater work space, better and cleaner These scales have a direct impact and when they are met, they increase job satisfaction of employees and reduce stress in the workplace” Pellens (35) mentioned some studies in his report which indicated that low levels of job satisfaction may be due primarily to physical work conditions that affect the performance of their daily tasks in the work environment Reducing noise, fresh air will help employees feel more comfortable promoting employees to work better” Mohyin et al (36) supposed: “The conditions or working environment is very important The professional working environment, the available equipment for work, the comfortable atmosphere, no pressure for the employees are factors to increase productivity and work efficiency and reduce job stress

According to Maslow's theory of motivation (37), man based on the assumption that: “Demand of dissatisfaction will motivate or influence behavior” Maslow's theory states that people have their own desires, wants and needs that are arranged in a hierarchy beginning with the most basic to the highest McGregor (38) supposed: “The use of demand hierarchy is a driving force for employee engagement and job satisfaction” The need for training, development (skills, expertise, promotion ) is one of the basic needs of workers to achieve higher levels of income and better engagement of work commitments” Nyakundi (39) stated that promotion opportunity is the motivation to stimulate the creativity and effort of each individual to contribute to the success of the organization”

In a study of Mehta S et al in 2010 (40), she reported personal relationships are the relations of the peer coworkers, superior and subordinates, salespeople and customers, all of which have an impact on the stress of the employee's work in general and the loyalty to the organization in particular Akman et al (41) supposed some studies have addressed the stress of employees being influenced by their relationships with colleagues Although there is not much research on the impact of peer coworker relationships on job stress in Vietnam, when employees have a good personal relationship they will reduce the stress in their work It means that good relationships among colleagues will help to reduce stress in work

1.5 Conflict between Work-Life roles

In Greenhaus's (42) study, he pointed out that the role conflict between work and life is the cause of stress in the work According to Kahn, when many tasks take up too much time and effort, it will make the workers do not have enough time for family life leading to stressful situation that cannot solve the job well as family life.

Solution

Base on the tress causes that are the over workload, inappropriate sales target with the company situation (such as backward factory that does not meet the production requirements, the asynchronous quality of products), lots of skills demand in job requires, the pressure on time delivery to customers, etc., I would like to propose some solutions are as follow:

The Board of Directors at SAPLASTIC.JSC needs to reconsider the practicality of sales goals, meet all departments to listen their opinions as the difficulties encountered in the past to gradually overcome

The Board of Directors needs to discuss with the management of the Sales department to review and rebuild the KPI requirements in line with the company's current characteristics and individual capabilities in the Sale department Employees who have long-term, high income, more qualified clients will set higher sales targets than new recruits In addition, the company needs to have a specific training plan for new employees quickly adapt to work, confidently communicate with other departments within the company and with external clients

It is necessary to replace, repair and upgrade the production line system of the factory to ensure the production schedule and meet the production requirements of the current situation, contributing to improve the product quality and quantity of SAPLASTIC.JSC

Instead of recruiting more new sales people, the board of directors of SAPLASTIC.JSC should develop a training program for staff competence which provide the professional knowledge and a road map for promotion and rewarding to keep good employees and motivate them to stick with the company for a long time In the plastic packaging industry, expertise knowledge and experience are very important and it takes time for employees to acquire and build in the workplace The company needs to have more attractive incentives for sales staff to keep them attached to the company for a long time and ignore the other promises more attractive from the rival company

In addition, sales staffs of SAPLASTIC.JSC also need the support of the Sales Manager and the company leaders in handling the situation and problems arising in the process of solving the work of the company, which help sales staffs of SAPLASTIC.JSC reduce the stress in the work

+ The sale manager of the SAPLASTIC.JSC need to balance the personnel and workvolume of the department for proposing to the leaders of the SAPLASTIC.JSC recruit more employees and reduce the pressure of sales and KPI for sales staff of SAPLASTIC.JSC

+ The SAPLASTIC.JSC in general and the sales department of SAPLASTIC.JSC should regularly organize picnics and outside activities in order to the employees of the company and of the sales department have the opportunity to contact, share and understand each other, be ready to support, coordinate and help each other in handling work for improving the efficiency and quality of work

+ Shall regularly get opinions, feedbacks of employee on the policies of the SAPLASTIC.JSC to find out shortcomings and limitations for giving better solutions

The environmental conditions in the workplace are very hot, plus with the exposure of solvents, colloids, ink smell, etc., affecting the health and morale of the sales staff Therefore, the SAPLASTIC.JSC leader needs to separate the sampling area, the meeting area between the sales and the factory, set up the working room in the factory but isolate the odors from the toxic chemicals to facilitate the sample transfer, sample review and the limitation of health effects of staff at the sales department It is necessary to redesign the air conditioner and fan system to ensure that the sales department is cool, avoid overheating that create tension in the sales person's work

The company plans to maintain equipment in the office, invest properly the necessary equipment and ensure that it is in good condition At the same time the direction must also transmitted to employees on how to use the most durable

It is necessary to invest in building material facilities (offices, workshops), regularly maintain and maintain equipment and machines (printers, fax machines, scanners, Wi-Fi systems, etc.) to ensure the work processing speed of employees

+ Building and design the office for sales staff to reduce the noise (from the factory), creating a quiet space to solve and handle works

+ Put more trees in the office to create fresh environment, helping the staff feel comfortable and relax during working

+ The sales manager of the SAPLASTIC.JSC need to pay more attention to employees, handle conflicts during working in order to the employee of the SAPLASTIC.JSC understand and support each other

SAPLASTIC.JSC should facilitate and announce clear criteria for promotion or the procedure for the position transferring to the sales staff of the company

In addition, the human resources department should focus on providing sales staff with the right cost training A suitable approach is to open internal courses taught by the people in the organization, which can both save costs and create interpersonal relationships within the organization

The board of director at SAPLASTIC.JSC needs to pay more attention to staff and develop training programs for promotion They should give SAPLASTIC.JSC sales staffs many opportunities for promotion

Implement the promotion and nomination policies in the way of publicity, fairness and transparency to avoid bias, prioritize acquaintances

+ Making a standard on the functions, duties, and rights of each employee of the SAPLASTIC.JSC so that they understand their duties and rights when working at the SAPLASTIC.JSC

+ Holding contests regularly to improve the knowledge of the employee of the SAPLASTIC.JSC

+ Moving, arranging, and appointing the positions in the SAPLASTIC.JSC to match and suitable for the interests, strengths, requirements, and aspirations of employees of the company

The sales team leader must be the mediator and direct guide to resolving disputes among employees within the company, which must be dealt with when the conflict newly arises as a result of helping our staff understand each other better, working more efficiently and reducing stress in the workplace