Job Demands
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A central construct of the Job Demands-Resources model, introduced by Evangelia Demerouti and colleagues. Job demands are aspects of work that require sustained physical or psychological effort. They divide into challenge demands, such as workload and time pressure, which can promote mastery, and hindrance demands, such as role conflict and ambiguity, which obstruct goal attainment. Demands are primary predictors of burnout, and how damaging they prove depends heavily on the resources available to meet them.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Sort the load: split your task list into challenge and hindrance demands before deciding what to cut - Match resources: attach support and recovery to each challenge demand instead of simply absorbing strain - Redesign work: remove role conflict and ambiguity first, since they predict burnout most strongly
Anchor fast decisions
Sustained effort draws down finite energetic and physiological reserves. Hindrance demands offer no route to mastery, so the depletion is pure cost and produces exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced efficacy. Challenge demands carry a promise of growth, so the same effort is framed as investment; where resources are sufficient, the strain is recovered and converted into learning and motivation.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_demands-resources_modelverified
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