| > If fatigue is a simple threshold (i.e. you "become fatigued" after a certain number of units of work done), then the obvious solution is to work the employees at 100% utilization for half as long (at which point they should be roughly as fatigued as the employees worked half as hard for twice as long) I am skeptical. Fatigue rate would be the delta between exertion and recovery rate. Recovery rate is far from negligible. Try running up several flights of stairs as fast as you can, vs taking them at a leisurely pace. Most people would be winded after the former, but not bothered after the latter. EDIT: It's made more complicated by the fact that we have many different "recovery rate"s.
When talking exercise, there's the obvious "V02 max", or the maximum rate at which we can absorb oxygen. So long as our muscles have sugar/fat, they should be able to work if we keep our exertion below this point. If we exceed this, our muscles begin working anaerobically; recovering energy there takes much longer. That's the difference between running and walking up the stairs. I imagine there are other types of fatigue, but I am not a medical/health/exercise professional. Mental fatigue is different again as well. But there are probably background "fatigue"ing rates that are important, like hours-since-you've-eaten. In that case, doing the same work in half the time may be better. It's easy to talk myself into realizing I know nothing. |