Suffering at work is detrimental to an employee's well-being and joy of life. The notion of professional fulfilment loses all meaning and the employee exposed to this type of discomfort sees his health deteriorate over time. What are the real impacts of suffering at work on health?
Physical disorders
Suffering at work is the feeling of heavy load and pain that the employee has to bear in the performance of his work. The factors of hardship here are difficulties that affect the worker's physical well-being.
Specifically, the causes of suffering may be standing during working hours, carrying heavy loads all day long, performing certain mechanical movements, such as typing for hours. This physical suffering can lead to health problems such as exhaustion, muscle and joint pain, etc.
Experts in occupational health and safety speak of Musculoskeletal Disorders or MSDs to designate physical disorders due to arduous working conditions. Go to Id Prévention to better understand these notions of physical suffering in the workplace.
Health risks related to the work environment
Sometimes, health and safety at work are jeopardized by the poor quality of the working environment. The manager may respect the employees in their human relations and in the consideration of their motivation and professional development. It is rather the derisory work environment that will slowly degrade their health.
In concrete terms, the employee may have to work in a place where engines are constantly running and metals are intertwined all day long to produce loud noises. They may be exposed to chemicals and noxious fumes that damage their health, etc.
All these environmental imperfections lead to suffering at work and thus to health problems.
Psychological concerns
Psychosocial risks should not be overlooked when identifying the factors of hardship that can deteriorate the state of health of employees. Among the psychological problems that can progressively harm an employee are, for example, intimidation by certain colleagues or superiors, derogatory remarks and reflections, lack of recognition despite the sustained effort made by the employee, lack of promotion and skill enhancement even after several years of work, etc.
Psychological violence in the workplace leads to problems such as lack of self- confidence, depression, feelings of rejection, stress, etc. For all these psychological problems, it is important to know that the suffering at work felt by each employee concerned is very real.
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