Are Bank Employees Stressed? Job Perception and Positivity in the Banking Sector: An Italian Observational Study

Background: The epidemiology of stress on bank workers in Europe is only at the introductory stages. This study investigated for the first time the association between occupational stress level in bank-employees using the BEST8, Karasek-Model and socio-demographic and working factors in Italy. Methods: The observational pilot study involved 384 employees. Three questionnaires were adopted to collect data: Karasek-Model, BEST8 (p < 0.001) and Positivity-Scale. Results: 25% of the sample belonged to high stress group. The workers more stressed were older with a commercial role and consumer of antidepressants/sedatives. Women were much more likely to agree with the perception of feeling unsafe in a possible robbery (OR = 2.42; 95% CI: 1.50-3.91) and with that sales requests were in conflict with one's own personal moral code (OR = 2.31; 95% CI: 1.38-3.87). Older employees declared feeling inadequate in the workplace (OR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.07-3.65) and younger employees referred to be anxious about meeting financial budget goals. Workers who had a low positivity had a lower probability of adaptation (OR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.83-0.93). Conclusions: The occupational stress level in the banking sector involves many aspects: gender, type of bank, role, personal morals, high job-demands, low level of decision-making. This study recommended that banks should implement strategic interventions for well-being of employees, and consequently for their productivity.