The impact of job demands and workload on stress and fatigue

Abstract

“Workload” is a hypothetical construct which has been developed and is widely applied within the domain of human factors (HF) psychology, and various workload measurement techniques are typically used to evaluate equipment or work systems in terms of the workload experienced by people using them. This workload construct emerged from extensive, task-specific research on the capacities and limitations of the human information processing system; it reflects the perceived margin between task demands and an individual's motivated coping capacity. In the domain of occupational stress, however, workload is equated with job demand, which is simply one of a hetereogeneous set of “psychosocial hazards” which may contribute to the development of stress, related illness or injury. In a recent empirical study, workload in the HF psychology sense was demonstrated to be a key determinant of stress and fatigue levels among employees performing repetitive, manufacturing work tasks. It is argued that application of this conceptual framework to the measurement and management of job demands would serve to delineate more clearly the separate effects of employee capacity-limited and motivation-limited factors on their work performance and associated affective states such as stress. This approach would enhance the ability of managers to monitor and manage workload levels as part of a proactive approach to stress management within the broader context of occupational health and safety.