An Exploratory Study of Time Stress and Its Causes among Government Employees

This article elucidates the temporal dimension of time stress among employees in public organizations. Employees working at five agencies in Indiana were surveyed. Job characteristics and personal variables such as overtime, repetitiveness, gender, family obligation, and age group were found to be insignificant as time stressors. However, political factors such as level of government, goal awareness, political sensitivity, and time allotted for meetings were significant independent variables affecting time stress. To enhance performance in the public sector, especially when a merit pay system is not fully instituted, more attention needs to be paid to the time dimension.