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Time and Work Pressure in Today’s Working World

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The Impact of ICT on Quality of Working Life

Abstract

Recent research suggests that more than three fifths of the workforce in Europe are affected by time and work pressure and that the numbers are rising. Although current theory includes time pressure as one of the variables contributing to work stress, little is known about how time and work pressure comes about. This chapter looks at possible origins of time and work pressure in a changing world of work. It identifies increased competition and subjectification of work as important background developments against which general trends of computerisation and acceleration can be discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of strategies for coping with time and work pressure and possibilities for work redesign.

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Acknowledgements

This research was conducted within the research cluster ‘Work Intensity/Time and Work Pressure in Qualified Service Work’ of the German Federal Institute for Occupational Health and Safety in Berlin, Germany. We would like to thank our expert interviewees for their contributions to our understanding of time and work pressure in today’s world of work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological Ergonomics, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Jörn Hurtienne

  2. Mental Workload, Occupational Health Management, Federal Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, Berlin, Germany

    Ulrike Stilijanow & Gisa Junghanns

Authors
  1. Jörn Hurtienne
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  2. Ulrike Stilijanow
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  3. Gisa Junghanns
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jörn Hurtienne .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Christian Korunka

  2. Ctr. for Quality and Prod. Improvement, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Peter Hoonakker

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Hurtienne, J., Stilijanow, U., Junghanns, G. (2014). Time and Work Pressure in Today’s Working World. In: Korunka, C., Hoonakker, P. (eds) The Impact of ICT on Quality of Working Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8854-0_5

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