ABSTRACT
Purpose: The paper focuses on examining the relationship between challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic and employees' stress through the mediating role of family-life disturbance and work-life imbalance. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 1,556 respondents from 45 countries across all continents were included in this survey. Statistical techniques such as exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), correlations, multiple regression and bootstrapping were used to analyse the data. Findings: The results depicted that COVID-19 challenges induced stress among employees. In combination with this, family-life disturbance and work-life imbalance mediated the relationship between COVID-19 challenges and employees' stress individually as well as serially. The paper further suggests some recommendations to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 challenges on employees' stress. Research limitations/implications: The major limitation of the study was in the data collection process. As the data were collected during the time period of pandemic, so, limited respondents were approached. Also, the international and cross-sectional design of the study can limit the applicability of the results. Practical implications: The study suggests organizations and HR managers to help in balancing family and work-life of employees, so that their mind can be kept stress free. Originality/value: The study has added knowledge to the existing literature of stress created due to the COVID-19 pandemic by explaining the serial mediation of family-life disturbance and work-life imbalance between the relationship of COVID-19 challenges and employees' stress. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.