Abstract
Fatigue is increasingly becoming a problem in modern working life. A large proportion of the work force is confronted with long working hours and overtime. In some areas such as police work, surgery rooms and shipping it is common that people work at night. When people have to work continuously for long hours, especially at night, performance can seriously be affected by fatigue. Studies carried out at our laboratory show that fatigue effects can be compensated by the manipulation of psycho-social factors in the work environment. A satisfactory performance level can be better maintained when people work in the presence of others, as opposed to working alone. Furthermore, group performance can be kept up to the mark by addressing the group members individually, either by giving them an incentive for individual performance, or by providing them with feedback on their individual results, instead of on the group result only.
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