An efficiency-based workload manager samples multiple actual resource use characteristics while a process executes, where the actual resource use characteristics designate a portion of a total amount of system resources available to the process that are utilized by the process at multiple times over a sampling period. Next, responsive to detecting the conclusion of the sampling period, the efficiency-based workload manager determines an operation based resource utilization threshold for the process based on a maximum resource use within the multiple samplings of actual resource use characteristics. Then, the efficiency-based workload manager stores the operation based resource utilization threshold for access by a workload manager, where the workload manager uses the operation based resource utilization threshold to restrict the process to resource use up to the operation based resource utilization threshold within an execution environment managed by the workload manager.