The reason workload vs. strain is smart
"Is the strain likely caused by the amount of work, or other complications?"
This chart answers that important leadership question.
It's important because when you see high strain in your team, your natural instinct might be to reduce tasks or extend deadlines. But what if the strain isn't actually about work volume? What if it's about the complexity of tasks, lack of results, unclear expectations, social conflicts, or personal issues?
The workload vs. strain chart helps you avoid the wrong solution. Instead of guessing, you get data-driven insights about where to focus.
The combinations and how to manage them
Here are some common examples of how strain and workload can differ:
See the values in raw text.
See the values in raw text.
Department | Strain | Workload |
Engineering | 36 (challenge) | 47 (concern) |
Operations | 21 (good) | 27 (okay) |
Creatives | 13 (great) | 50 (problem) |
Executive Management | 33 (challenge) | 20 (good) |
Business Development | 26 (okay) | 23 (okay) |
Product | 13 (great) | 11 (great) |
The engineering team, in the example above, have challenging strain and a concerning workload. In that scenario it's reasonable to assume lowering the workload could very well be a key to lowering the strain level.
However, looking the creatives, in the example above, they have a very high workload but are not strained by this. Sometimes a lot of work is hard but it doesn't have to be stressful.
In the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the executive management team that have challenging strain but are good with their workload. They might be primarily challenged by complexity, hard decisions or lack of results.
There are many nuances, but you could simplify things to four key combinations:
Strain level | Work-load level | What's happening | Suggested actions |
Low | Low | People are not strained and satisfied with their workload - don't mistake this for people not working hard. | Keep it going. This is ideal for innovation, long-term performance and employee well-being. |
Low | High | Low strain and high workload indicates that people are not having issues coping mentally, but are simply working (and being drained by work) more than they find enjoyable. | Is it a temporary peak (deadlines/projects)? Acknowledge it with your team and discuss how to manage through the busy period.
Are you permanently understaffed? Use this data to justify more resources and tell your team you're actively seeking help.
Does workload seems normal? Talk with your team about what's really affecting their life harmony. |
High | Low | High strain coupled with low strain typically means that people are strained without working too much, which points to hard-to-solve tasks, lack of results, social conflict or personal issues. | If contribution scores are low:
If contribution scores are high people feel they're doing good work, so strain is likely from personal issues. Have quality 1:1s where they feel safe to open up about what's really going on. |
High | High | People are generally strained and the workload is likely a big part of the explanation. | Address the workload, help people set priorities, ensure everyone is working on tasks they feel confident in and make sure to have regular check ins with the team to assess if the situation is getting better. |
Here is how we assess workload
Through analyzing thousands of comments, we've learned that life harmony struggles are predominantly tied to energy spent on work - both in physical hours of work but also mental energy (at or outside of work).
Through qualitative evaluations we've concluded that the inverse of life harmony seems to correlates very highly with experienced workload.
High workload scores in one workplace could be caused by 45-hour workweeks whereas it could be 60-hour workweeks in other workplaces. It depends on expectations and preferences. High workload scores indicate that people work more than they'd like, not whether they are working a lot or not.
What this captures
How much someone works relative to their preference
Time spent thinking about work (also outside office hours)
Impact of work intensity on personal life
Energy drain from their work tasks
What this doesn't capture
Pure task count or project volume
Objective hours logged in the period
Why This Approach Works
Our empirical experience shows that life harmony generally struggles when there's "too much going on" work-wise. When people report poor life harmony without feeling overworked, it usually means the work is draining their energy in ways beyond simple task volume.
This could be:
Tight deadlines creating pressure
Mentally demanding projects that follow them home
Unclear expectations causing worry and stress
Colleagues or clients adding social intensity
Using the data correctly
Use this chart to guide where you investigate further. If strain is high but workload is low, dig into team dynamics, role clarity, or personal situations.
Do not assume this measures actual hours worked or task volume. A person with fewer tasks but high mental demands might show high workload.
Remember that this is a starting point for better conversations, not a complete workplace diagnosis. The real insights come from bridging the data from the Well-being Pulse with your knowledge of what's actually happening.