The efficacy of stress coping strategies in Taiwan's public utilities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Covid-19 posed stress to the employees in the Public Utility Sector (PUS). Although employees adopted various stress-coping strategies, the actual coping-efficacy remained unclear and hence the current research followed. Research data were gathered from 678 employees of the four PUS companies, including Power, Water, Railways, and Petroleum in TAIWAN (anonymous surveys with ethical-guideline applied). The research revealed three findings: i). the coping-efficacy was affected by gender and education; ii). the nature of strategies mattered, either increasing or decreasing the stress reduction; and, iii). using two strategies does not reduce stress necessarily. Implications for stress-coping management in PUS are discussed. •This study discovered that avoidance strategy aggravates stress.•Seeking assistance strategy is positively correlated with self-assistance strategy.•Using two strategies may not be beneficial, as picking the wrong strategy might be harmful and exacerbate strain.•Whether dual strategies support or work against stress alleviation is subject to the nature of strategies.•Findings have brought new insights to the stress-coping literature, particularly from the context of public utilities.