Abstract

Stress as a possible source of tension and frustration can arise through a number of interrelated influences on behavior.  This  study  examined  the  effect  of  work  stress  on  employee  performance  of  staff  of  some  selected  banks  in Mararaba  town,  Nasarawa  State.  The  study  adopted  the  survey  research  design  method  and  used  a  sample  size  of  109 branch operations and marketing unit staff and managers drawn from a population of 150. Data for the study was obtained using structured  questionnaire  on 5 point likert scale. The study used the  ordinary least squared  (OLS) method with the aid  SPSS  26  to  analyze  the  data.  The  study  found  that  worksafety,  workload,  and  salary  and  rewards  which  served  as proxies for  work  stress  all have  significant effecton  work  stress.  The  study  concludes that work safety,  workload,  and  salary and rewards are key areas for banks to pay particular attention to in order to mitigate work stress which can adversely affect employee and ultimately organizational performance. Thisstudy recommends that banks should adopt measures to reduce uncertainty of tenure of staff members, reduce staff customer ratio and narrow the gap between the salary aid to regular and outsourced staff or eliminate the dichotomy outright