ABSTRACT
Work demands often play a significant role in the generation of occupational stress. Demand levels are determined by the physical, cognitive, and emotional difficulty of specific work tasks, as well as by the total amount of work that must be performed within a given time period, and by broader job characteristics. This chapter focuses on the effects on employee stress levels of work demands related to work rates and performance pacing, as well as effects of specific task demands and perceived workload levels. It presents information from a research project that documented and evaluated the formal and informal methods used to determine standard work rates or production targets within a sample of Australian work organizations. It focuses particularly on employees performing repetitive work tasks, mostly in manufacturing industry. The project documented employees’ evaluations of their required work rates and their levels of affective well-being (stress, arousal), and related these to various characteristics of the work.
