Toxic Workloads and Chronic Understaffing

Author of the Month

October 19, 2026

Dr. Michael M. Newman, Author and PhD, DNM, HHP, FAIS

Tom O'Connor, Publisher 

KEY POINTS

Michael Newman argues that chronic understaffing can push workloads beyond employees’ capacity to recover.

The article describes expanded roles, reduced teams, reassigned duties, overtime pressure, and demands for faster output.

Newman links sustained overload to difficulties with attention, decision-making, sleep, and workplace relationships.

He calls for adequate staffing, realistic workloads, and recovery time as organizational responsibilities.

Toxic workloads and chronic understaffing are no longer isolated issues; they now define contemporary work culture.

"Lean Efficiency" vs Sustained Physiological Overload

Toxic workloads and chronic understaffing are no longer isolated issues; they now define contemporary work culture.

Across industries, employees increasingly voice concerns about a troubling workplace trend. This unsettling pattern can be identified through several critical observations:

1. Multiplicity of Roles: Employees frequently find themselves taking on the responsibilities of two or even three distinct roles within the organization. This often stems from budget constraints and workforce reductions, leading to job descriptions that stretch well beyond initial expectations and burden individual employees.

2. Lean Teams Post-Layoffs: Following layoffs or voluntary resignations, teams are operating with significantly reduced headcounts. This lack of redundancy overwhelms current team members, who must manage an increasing workload without additional colleagues. This shift can lead to burnout and decreased overall productivity.

3. Reassignment of Key Responsibilities: Critical responsibilities are often reassigned to existing staff members without the accompanying resources or support needed to fulfill these new duties effectively. Employees may have to take on new tasks without adequate training or time to adjust, which can compromise work quality and increase stress.

4. Unpaid Overtime Expectations: Many employees are facing an unspoken expectation to work unpaid overtime, especially during notice periods. This culture of accommodation can lead to resentment and dissatisfaction among employees who feel obligated to go above and beyond without recognition or compensation for their extra effort.

5. Pressure for Speed and Output: There is a growing demand for rapid results and high levels of output that often overlooks the limits of human capacity. Employees may feel pressured to prioritize speed over quality, creating an unsustainable work environment that can ultimately jeopardize employee well-being and organizational effectiveness.

Organizations often call this phenomenon "lean efficiency." However, employees perceive it differently: as sustained physiological overload.

The Brain and Body Under Pressure

From a neurobiological perspective, chronic workplace overload extends beyond stress tolerance or attitude; it significantly affects how the brain and body function under pressure.

When workloads consistently exceed an individual's recovery capacity for prolonged periods, the nervous system enters a state of persistent threat response. As a result, stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline remain elevated far longer than their intended short-term roles allow.

In acute circumstances, this response can be adaptive, enhancing focus and mobilizing energy. However, prolonged activation results in measurable cognitive and emotional detriments, including:

a. Diminished executive functioning

b. Impaired decision-making

c. Declining working memory

d. Emotional dysregulation

e. Disrupted sleep patterns

f.  Increased error rates

g. Reduced resilience to ambiguity and conflict

The prefrontal cortex, responsible for reasoning, prioritization, and emotional regulation, becomes less effective with sustained exposure to stress. In contrast, survival-oriented neural circuits become more prominent.

How Chronic Understaffing Can Strain Teams and Recovery

This chronic overload is why teams consistently exhibit:

a. Heightened interpersonal friction

b. Defensive communication styles

c. Diminished creativity

d. Shortened attention spans

e. Compromised collaboration quality

f.  Increasing disengagement, despite expectations of high performance

Organizations often interpret what they see as waning motivation as, in fact, neurological exhaustion.

Moreover, a profound organizational contradiction exists. Companies increasingly demand innovation, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking—skills that rely on cognitive flexibility and psychological safety. However,

It is unsustainable to expect peak cognitive performance, creativity, and engagement while continuously operating individuals in survival mode. Ultimately, physiological responses manifest as absenteeism, declining retention, accelerating burnout, compounded knowledge loss, and eroded trust. High-performing employees increasingly see overextension not as commitment but as exploitation, damaging organizational culture.

Sustainable performance comes not from chronic overload; it comes from recovery capacity, operational realism, adequate staffing, and leadership models that acknowledge human physiology alongside traditional productivity metrics. The future of effective leadership may require greater emphasis on understanding the workforce's biological limits rather than merely extracting more labor.

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