This paper explores the common work stress in a sample of Taiwanese managers and employees. It investigates the differences and frequency of work stress by individual characteristics such as job level, gender and marital status. The researcher distributed a self-administered questionnaire to a sample of N = 140 managers and N = 400 front-line employees at 20 Taiwanese five-star hotels. The results revealed that role conflict, role ambiguity and workload were the most common stressors for managers and employees. In addition, hotel managers experienced significantly more stress than front-line employees did. Female employees indicated significantly more stress than did their male counterparts. Some implications for practice are discussed such as recruiting employees who can function optimally even in stressful situations, which would help lower costs.