16. The Relationship Between Stress and Organizational Dignity in a Financial Institution

This study aimed to identify the degree of association between the level of stress perceived by bank workers and their perception of organizational dignity practices. The survey was conducted at “Bank X.” It is one of the largest banks in Latin America. Bank X advocates social and environmental responsibility through business practices. The study is the result of a quantitative survey with 401 employees. Two measurement scales were applied—the work stress scale (Paschoal & Tamayo, 2004) and the organizational dignity practices (EPRA-DO) scale (Teixeira et al., 2004). The results suggest that Bank X implements practices that help bank workers deal with stress, despite perceiving it, such as organizational dignity practices. There is an association between organizational dignity and stress in the banking work setting, indicating that the more bank workers perceive that the company is acting in a dignified way through its practices in relation to stakeholders, the less they perceive a stress and suffer therefrom. The main lesson learned from the investigation is that in order to reduce workers’ stress, it seems to be important investing in dignified relationships with stakeholders emerges as one of the potential antidotes against bank workers’ stress.