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

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

Lê Thị Đoan Hạnh

JOB STRESS IN SALES DEPARTMENT

AT SAIGON PLASTIC PACKAGING

JOINT STOCK COMPANY

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: Ph.D NGUYEN PHONG NGUYEN

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2018

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES 5

LIST OF FIGURES 6

CHAPTER 1 7

1 Company background 7

1.1 History of company 7

1.2 Mission and Vision 8

1.3 SAPLASTIC.JSC organization chart (Appendix 1) 8

1.4 SAPLASTIC.JSC Sales department chart (Appendix 2) 8

2 Symptom 8

2.1 Symptom description 8

2.1.1 High turnover rate 8

2.1.2 Low sales revenue 10

2.2 Symptom consequences 11

3 Initial cause effect map 13

3.1 High goal expectation 13

3.2 Job Stress 15

3.3 Low compensation and benefits 15

4 Updated cause effect map 16

5 Potential central problems 19

CHAPTER 2 22

1 Problem definition 22

2 Problem existence 23

2.1 Work pressure 25

2.2 Working environment 26

2.3 Career development opportunities 28

2.4 Personal relationship 29

2.5 Conflic between work – life roles 31

3 Problem importance 33

3.1 The studies relate to job stress consequences 33

3.2 The consequences of job stress affects to SAPLASTIC.JSC 35

3.2.1 Performance consequence 35

3.2.2 The increasing of customer complaint 36

3.2.3 Higher training and hiring cost 37

3.2.4 The employees go to work late and ask for day-off frequently 38

CHAPTER 3 40

1 Causes validation 40

1.1 Work pressure 40

1.2 Working environment 40

1.3 Career development opportunities 41

1.4 Personal relationship 41

1.5 Conflict between Work-Life roles 41

2 Solution 41

2.1 Work pressure 41

2.2 Working environment 43

2.3 Career development opportunities 44

2.4 Personal relationship 44

2.5 Conflict between Work-Life roles 46

APPENDIX 1 - SAPLASTIC.JSC ORGANIZATION CHART 47

APPENDIX 2 - SAPLASTIC.JSC’s SALES DEPARTMENT CHART 48

APPENDIX 3 – IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW – ROUND 1 49

APPENDIX 4 – IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW – ROUND 2 53

APPENDIX 5 – QUESTIONAIRE – ENGLISH VERSION 57

APPENDIX 6 – QUESTIONAIRE – VIETNAMESE VERSION 60

APPENDIX 7 – SURVEY RESULT COLLECTION 63

REFERENCES 65

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 1 - Statistics of changes in human resources in the Sales department of

SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017 8

Table 1 3 - Business plan of SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 – 2017 14

Table 2 1- External expressions of stress 23

Table 2 2 - Observation variables define Job stress causes at SAPLASTIC.JSC 24

Table 2 3– Summary of complaint cases from customers 36

Table 2 4 - Training and hiring cost of salesman in SAPLASTIC.JSC in 2015 – 2017 37

Table 2 5 - Statistics of hours that staff go to work late and the number of vacations of sales department in SAPLASTIC.JSC 38

LIST OF FIGURES

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

SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017 9

Figure 1 2 - Revenue Results at SAPLASTIC.JSC for the period of 2015 - 2017 10

Figure 2 1 - Measurement of work pressure factors 25

Figure 2 2 - Evaluation of working environment factors 26

Figure 2 3 - Evaluating opportunities for career development 28

Figure 2 4 - Evaluating personal relationship factors 29

Figure 2 5 - Evaluating the conflicting factors between work and life 31

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

• Trading name: SAPLASTIC.JSC

• Phone number: 028 3815 5263 Fax: 028 3815 5262

• General Director: Dương Quốc Thái

• Email: info@saplastic.com.vn

1.2 Mission and Vision

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)

2 Symptom

2.1 Symptom description

2.1.1 High turnover rate

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

period of 2015 - 2017

Targets 2015 2016 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

2.1.2 Low sales revenue

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

(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:

125,555

79,192

Revenue Cost Profit before tax

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

2.2 Symptom consequences

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

3 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

3.1 High goal expectation

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 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

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

3.3 Low compensation and benefits

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

4 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:

5 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

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

CHAPTER 2

1 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

- Being Lonely and Isolated

- Pressure and Unhappiness

- Pain

- Diarrhea or Constipation

- Nausea, Dizziness

- Chest Pain, Palpitation

- Poor Sexual Ability

- Cold

- Eating more or less than usual

- Sleeping more or less than usual

- Isolating from everyone

- Delaying Tasks

- Drinking or Using Drugs

- Bad Habits (nail biting, pounding …)

2 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

No Category Agreement

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

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

3 Career development opportunities

CDO1 There are not much opportunities to develop your

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

4 Personal relationship

2.1 Work pressure

Figure 2 1 - Measurement of work pressure factors

(Source: Appendix 7 – The survey result collection)

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

PR5 Customers often complain and give negative feedback

5 Conflict between work-life roles

WL2

Your work takes too much time and effort, so you do

WL3

Working makes you unable to maintain relationships

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

2.2 Working environment

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

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

4.15 4.45

2.25

WORKING INVIRONMENT

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

2.3 Career development opportunities

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

3.90 4.20 4.05

2.50

CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

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

(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:

- Accounting department: contradictions about debt recovery The accountant is

responsible for and is charged with the KPI for debt collection on time However, between the sales department and the accountant there is a constant conflict on the rotation of documents between the accounting department and the client, sometimes the invoicing process or the debt payment of the client is not timely

- Production department: contradictions of product quality and delivery time

Production with frequent failures is often complained of quality and delivery progress by clients In fact, this contradiction also arises from the backward machinery and the capacity of the factory which is not enough to meet the orders from the sales department

- Planning and purchasing department: Contradictions in material preparation

and material planning report in the month, quarter which sometimes is not enough

to meet the production need The main reasons are: (a) customers do not send orders forecast or actual order is not in line with the forecast, so there is the material backlog but there is not enough supply; and (b) the company's financial resources are limited to material imports, so the planning department must balance the supplies

It is the contradiction between co-workers that makes it uncomfortable for employees to work together

The factor "Customers often complain and have bad feedback about you" which

is rated on a scale of 4.30 points shows that stress in work more or less discomfort for customers and customers are not satisfied with the quality of service of the sales

department at SAPLASTIC.JSC In the packaging industry, keeping a good relationship with customers is also a prerequisite for a smooth and successful work However, salespeople are taking on a huge role in resolving customer complaints, filing complaints with related departments and tracking, receiving customer feedback to respond to customers In addition, packaging is also a key input material of the production process The fact that the product quality is not guaranteed, and the delayed delivery are the two

of the reasons why customers often complain about sales employees and create difficulties and stress for the employees

The factor: "You cannot maintain good relationship with your boss" with 2.50 points shows that the relationship between staff and the leader at the sales department

of the company is still neutral, with temporary acceptance The factor: "You do not receive support from colleagues and other departments" with 3.85 points is highly rated, which shows that most of sales staff at SAPLASTIC.JSC do not have support among colleagues and departments in the company Usually each department only knows the work of itself without mutual assistance among departments Specially, when there are conflicts in the work or customers’ complaints, the departments often tend to push each other responsible for fear of being blamed and fined

The factor: "You do not have confidence in working with colleagues" with 3.40 points indicates that this is a serious problem in the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC, especially when the employees of the department do not trust each other and do not support each other in the work, which greatly affects and also causes stress in the work of the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC

2.5 Conflic between work – life roles

Figure 2 5 - Evaluating the conflicting factors between work and life

(Source: Appendix 7 – The survey result collection)

Conflicts between work and life directly affect the efficiency and quality of work that the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC undertakes In fact, the sales department

at SAPLASTIC.JSC cannot balance between work and life with a high proportion of employees agreeing on an average scale of 3.64 points and the factor "You find that your work takes too much time and effort, leaving you with no time for other personal tasks" has the employee's high agreement with 3.90 points This shows that the work of the company takes up too much of the salesman's time, so the balance between work and life is very difficult "Because of the work, you cannot maintain good relationships

or other roles" also creates tension for the company's sales staff with 2.90 Sales staff often have to go with customers after work or stay behind the print template when the customer requests, so the role in the family will be difficult to complete well Therefore,

in addition to the pressure of work, sales staff will also be under pressure from family members when they are not able to spend a lot of time for them If these factors are not improved, it will put pressure on sales staffs at SAPLASTIC.JSC in the future and may cause employee's job change to raise soon

The relationship between work and life is directly related to the performance of the company Therefore, for the sales department at SAPLASTIC.JSC, it is necessary to manage the family work to complete the work of the company For the company, it is important to support staff when their family has problems, so employees can focus well

on the work of the company When losing the balance between life and work, the company's employees will easily fall into the stressful state of work Labor productivity will decrease

3 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

(i) Human 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

(ii) Organizational consequences facet

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