Abstract:

Stress that people experience in everyday life may be a motivating factor as well as bring out the feeling of paralysis. Nowadays, the ability to manage stress represents one of the key professional competencies valued by employers. The aim of this paper was to conduct a comparative analysis of the opinions expressed by professionally active representatives of Generations Y and Z on the level of stress generated by eight potential work-related stressors. A questionnaire survey was conducted before the pandemic on a purpose sample in two provinces in Poland: the Małopolskie Province and Pomorskie Province. The analysis involved two aspects: belonging to a specific generation and the respondents’ gender. The comparison of the distribution of the answers revealed that a statistically significant difference between Generations Y and Z occurs only in the case of the reaction to strong workplace competition. Separate analyses for each generation under the study showed that men and women from Generation Y perceive differently the aspects such as bad relations among employees, improper treatment by superiors and strong workplace competition. As far as Generation Z is concerned, significant differences between responses delivered by men and women regarded only one stressor – work overload. No differences were detected between women representing different generations. Men from Generations Y and Z take the stress associated with the improper treatment by superiors, strong workplace competition and an employee evaluation system in a distinct manner. Based on the results obtained in this study, we can deduce that a special attention should be paid to develop stress management skills in men from Generation Z and younger generation as well as women in general.