The impact of an employee assistance programme on trainee accountant's perceived level of stress

Abstract

In today’s world, stress is a common and significant issue, especially in the workplace where it has reached endemic proportions. Stress is now one of the biggest challenges, affecting mental, physical and organisational health. Studies have shown a strong link between stress and its negative impact on mental wellbeing. Job stress has also been shown to negatively impact both the organisational environment and employee performance. This is particularly true for trainee accountants who are more susceptible to stress than other groups within the accounting profession. Implementing Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) for trainee accountants can offer them valuable coping skills to help them manage stress and enhance their mental wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to determine if participating in a customised, in-house Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) focussed on stress management reduced perceived levels of stress among trainee accountants. The study applied a quantitative, pre-experimental research design, specifically a single-group pre-test post-test design without using a control group. The study population included 350 trainee accountants in their 1st, 2nd and 3rd years, working in the auditing department of a medium-sized South African auditing firm that provides nationwide auditing services. For this study, 1st and 2nd year trainees were targeted, and a purposeful sample of 166 trainees who attended the in-house EAP was selected across the organisation. The perceived stress levels of the 166 trainee accountants were measured before and after attending the EAP, using the Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS-10). The internal consistency test results indicated that the PSS-10 had acceptable reliability among trainee accountants in a South African auditing firm (r = .83 for the pre-test and r = .84 for the post-test). A paired-samples t-test revealed that attending the in-house EAP significantly reduced the perceived stress levels of trainee accountants (t = -3.43; p ≤ .01; small effect size). Additionally, a Univariate Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine differences in scores across four biographical groups. The results indicated that the year of traineeship (F = 7.84; p = .006) and race (F = 4.82; p = 009) had significant effects on the scores, while gender (F = 0.23; p = .635) and age (F= 2.68, p = .104) did not. The findings of this study have significant practical implications, emphasising the need for organisations to recognise the value of EAPs in managing the stress of trainee accountants. This study is unique because no notable South African studies have previously investigated the impact of EAP on the perceived stress levels of trainee accountants. Further investigation into the effectiveness of EAP interventions on different dimensions of stress management across various professions, as well as the influence of different biographical groups on perceived stress scores, could yield valuable insights for both practitioners and organisations.