This Bachelor Thesis aims to identify how UBS staff perceived the communication received in relation to UBS acquiring Credit Suisse as well as how the level of stress developed during the first year after the takeover announcement. In addition, the study would like to identify any potential impact that the communication had on employees’ stress level. In particular, the aim is to observe the relationship between stress and communication quality as well as to assess whether a correlation between them does exist.

The paper is based on primary (surveys) and secondary sources (literature). Some literature review about communication during mergers was evaluated and some background in relation to the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS provided. Afterwards, some quantitative research was conducted. The primary data was collected via surveys to evaluate the stress level and the quality of the communication. The framework of the analysis was formed by some descriptive statistics, some comparative analysis and a correlation analysis.

The thesis contributed to raise awareness about the evolution of employee’s stress level during 2023 and looked for any potential correlation between the internal communication perception and the stress level development. Due to the small size of the sample and to the limitations of the research, it has not been possible to discover substantial outcomes. However, the statistics revealed some interesting patterns that could contribute to further research development in the field and provided some useful insights for the client. In general, the two divisions experienced a similar stress development and the communication quality was perceived to be sufficient. No significant result was identified in relation to the dependency between internal communication and the change in stress. UBS might benefit from this research because the perceived stress is an important component of each employee’s working experience. Thus, assessing if and how this could be influenced by the way in which the firm communicates internally is a significant topic. In addition to that, this work is a starting point to develop future research that might be useful for following phases of the integration.