Workload and Stress Interaction

How do workload and stress interact? How do high workload situations lead to more operator stress, and vice versa?

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This is the peer discussion,

Workload is the amount of work that is given to one individual that is usually needed to be completed in a given timeframe. The workload can either be a simple or complex task that determines the overall performance outcome. There are life, phycological, and environmental stressors. Depending on the type of stress someone is enduring, the performance of the workload will begin to decline. An example would be someone who might be going through a divorce. This stressor can psychologically affect the individuals’ performance by interrupting how information is processed while experiencing frustration, anxiety, and anger. Being relieved of any stress will ensure maximum focus and attention to assignments.

High workload situations can lead to more operator stress because of the number of assignments that need to be organized and completed. For example, if someone was given one task, all of their focus and effort can be put into completing those tasks. Whereas being given several assignments will divide the time and resources that would otherwise make one task excel in its performance.

More operator stress can lead to high workload situations because of factors like being fatigued, which can cause operators to fall behind on work. For tasks that require speed and accuracy, stress may interfere with those two attributing requirements. For example, a job is completed on time and accurately, no matter the complexity of the assignment. Stress will degrade the average amount of time worked on the task and will result in workload building up over time.