Study goals
The present research had the general objective of investigating the costs of work and the risks of illness caused by it, specifically, in terms of representations related to the Physical, Cognitive and Affective Cost at work, as well as the consequences in terms of Physical, Psychological and Social workers present in the daily work of public servants who are part of the career of TAE employees, filled and / or working in the Personnel Administration Coordination (CAP) of a Federal University of the Midwest of Brazil. As specific objectives, it was intended to outline a profile of some factors that may interfere in the illness process of these professionals and, consequently, provide information related to the health of the civil servant to the body, aiming to subsidize more assertive people management policies.
Relevance / originality
It was intended to contribute to the diffusion of the permanent study of the Mental Health & Work (SM&T) area in public organizations, consolidating the interdisciplinary thinking in the elaboration and execution of people management practices in this sector. The research was motivated, finally, by the expressive number of Technical-Administrative Servants in Education (TAE) who fall ill due to the alienation of their jobs and who remain in the invisibility of research in social sciences and health.
Methodology / approach
This is an applied research, with a quantitative approach, with descriptive objectives to outline a profile of some factors that may interfere in the process of illness in the work of Technical-Administrative Servants in Education (TAE) of a Federal University of the Midwest of Brazil. As for technical procedures, it is characterized as a survey by non-probabilistic sampling (of convenience) for evaluating some dimensions of the interrelationship between work and subjectivation process, through the application of scales, on active servers - full / or in exercise - in the Coordination of Personnel Administration (CAP) of the agency. The Human Cost of Work Scales (ECHT) and the Work-Related Damage Assessment (EADRT) scales were used, included in the Inventory on Work and Illness Risks (ITRA), created and validated initially by Ferreira and Mendes (2003), adapted and revalidated in 2004, published by Mendes and Col. (2005), and, again validated in 2006 due to small adjustments (Mendes, 2007).
Main results
In a global analysis of the results presented, it was found that the factors Cognitive Cost and Affective Cost were the ones that measured the highest general averages in the researched period, representing the axes that can most influence the illness process of CAP TAE servers. The most serious items were “having to solve problems” for Cognitive Cost and “having to deal with emotions” for Affective Cost, the first located in the most negative / producing range of human cost and suffering at work, and the second interpreted as a median result that indicates a “limit situation”, enhancing the negative cost.
Theoretical / methodological contributions
The continuation of the investigation is motivated by carrying out an analysis of variance between the sociodemographic data and the frequencies found for component items of each factor, aiming at the identification of more consistent relationships between variables.
The result of this first assessment, however, already allows a more careful look at the workers surveyed, as well as at the practices already in force in the sector in question, since it reflects points that can be worked on since then and aspects to be maintained by organization of work.
Social / management contributions
The study contributed both to the reflection about the work activities performed by the TAE career professionals, who are often ventilated as being of low complexity, as well as it enabled the agency's administration to identify the centers that demand greater attention in terms of people management policies aimed at for worker health in this sector specifically; being the representations related to Cognitive and Affective Cost at work, translated into the items “having to solve problems” and “having to deal with emotions”, respectively.