Effect of Occupational Stress Management Practices on Employee Engagement amongst Law Enforcement Officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Understanding the nexus between occupational stress management practices and employee engagement remains quintessential in enhancing their levels of engagement. In this regard law enforcement remains a psychologically stressful occupation characterized by danger, high expectations and ambiguity in work encounters. This therefore invokes the need for law enforcement agencies to adopt the most salient occupational stress management practices to redeem the levels of employee engagement. Occupational stressors precipitates employee disengagement over the long term. Anchored on the social exchange theory, this study sought to determine the effect of occupational stress management practices on employee engagement among law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to; determine the effect of work life balance on employee engagement, examine the effect of employee counselling   on employee engagement among law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu, Kenya. In this regard the study adopted descriptive survey research design. The target population was 620 law enforcement officers from 34 police posts and stations in Uasin Gishu County with a sample size of 248 police officers calculated using Krejcie and Morgan Table 1970. The study adopted a  simple and stratified sampling techniques to identify the officers from top, middle and lower levels of management.  Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Reliability will be ensured through a Cronbach’s. Coefficient Alpha. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result of multiple regressions revealed that occupational stress management practices jointly and independently influenced employee engagement among law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Jointly the two constructs namely work life balance and employee counselling contributed 62.0% variation in employee engagement among law enforcement officers. The β value for work life balance (.446) and employee counselling (.291). In conclusion occupational stress management significantly affects employee engagement among law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu, Kenya. The synergistic effect of the occupational stress management practices under study cannot be gainsaid in achieving high employee engagement among law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu, Kenya. This implies national police service should give eminence to the strengthening of occupational stress management policies to effectively address the challenge of employee engagement amongst law enforcement officers.