Reconfiguring Workplace Well-Being in India’s IT Sector: A Systems-Based Examination of Job Demands, Employee Profiles, and Strain Dynamics

The acceleration of digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped work structures within the Information Technology (IT) sector, particularly in emerging economies such as India. While this transformation has enhanced productivity and global competitiveness, it has simultaneously intensified workplace demands, resulting in growing concerns about employee well-being. This study reconceptualizes occupational stress as a systemic outcome arising from the interaction between job demands, workforce attributes, and organizational conditions. Using a descriptive and analytical research design, data were collected from 655 IT professionals employed in two major Hyderabad-based organizations. Statistical techniques including Chi-square tests, Z-tests, correlation analysis, and multiple regression were employed to examine relationships between occupational stress and personal strain.The findings indicate that workforce attributes such as age, income, educational qualification, work experience, marital status, and organizational role significantly influence stress perception, whereas gender does not. A strong positive relationship between occupational stress and personal strain (r = 0.733) was observed, with stress variables explaining 74.1% of the variance in strain outcomes. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between organizations, suggesting that stress is driven by broader industry-level dynamics rather than firm-specific factors. The study contributes to existing literature by shifting the focus from individual coping mechanisms to systemic organizational design, emphasizing the need for strategic interventions aimed at sustainable workforce management.