Employees’ Perceptions of the Effects of Retrenchment on Job Stress and Organisational Commitment in a Mining Company

Abstract

Over the past decade, South African organisations have had to cope with an ever-increasing rate of local and global changes. There have been considerable and ongoing socio-political changes, resulting from new government regulations. Most organisations have experienced some type of downturn, whether due to external business factors or poor internal performance. A typical response to organisational decline is retrenchment. This study seeks to outline employees’ perceptions of the effects of retrenchment on job stress and organisational commitment in a mining company. The study is located within a quantitative research paradigm. Four research hypotheses are posited and data collected from a sample of 400 surface mining employees, including management, administrators, engineers and artisans, in one region. The results indicated that the effects of retrenchment did not have a negative impact on job stress (time stress and anxiety). This may be owing to the fact that the mining company in question had a planning and consultation process in place for the employees prior to the retrenchment process. The results also indicated that job stress (time stress and anxiety) is negatively associated with organisational commitment. Implications of the findings are discussed, limitations of the study are mentioned, and future research directions are given.