“Too much to do, too little time” — a refrain many HR professionals hear frequently in the workplace (and maybe have even said themselves).
Workload stressors are real. Having a “lean-and-mean” organization comes with a workload cost.
Technology creates workload issues by streamlining processes. Compressing production has caused an increase in the pace of work, with less downtime. Improved communications create workload problems by making employees constantly available. And the way you manage can also create workload stressors (for example, just-in-time delivery makes deadlines more imminent and more frequent). There are strong economic values associated with implementing these workload practices, so the issue of workload stressors will not easily vanish.
The harsh reality is that work often has to be completed under time and resource restrictions, making workload a fairly intractable problem, at least for the foreseeable future.
In other words, there is no “magic bullet” to make workload issues go away. This does not mean that nothing can be done about workload, but it does mean that it might not be the first, or easiest, place for managers and supervisors to start to help employees with stress.
Some employers are trying to resolve the problem of excessive stress and helping employees balance work with their lives away from the office — some go as far as to put it right into mission statements.
But the reality is that many more man
Workload stressors are real. Having a “lean-and-mean” organization comes with a workload cost.
Technology creates workload issues by streamlining processes. Compressing production has caused an increase in the pace of work, with less downtime. Improved communications create workload problems by making employees constantly available. And the way you manage can also create workload stressors (for example, just-in-time delivery makes deadlines more imminent and more frequent). There are strong economic values associated with implementing these workload practices, so the issue of workload stressors will not easily vanish.
The harsh reality is that work often has to be completed under time and resource restrictions, making workload a fairly intractable problem, at least for the foreseeable future.
In other words, there is no “magic bullet” to make workload issues go away. This does not mean that nothing can be done about workload, but it does mean that it might not be the first, or easiest, place for managers and supervisors to start to help employees with stress.
Some employers are trying to resolve the problem of excessive stress and helping employees balance work with their lives away from the office — some go as far as to put it right into mission statements.
But the reality is that many more man
