Effects of acceleration of work pace in the health of public servants working at a federal special court

Abstract

The recent technological innovations introduced in federal courts have contributed for the improvement of the services rendered to the population; however, they have also brought on new organizational demands to the sector´s workers. Objective To understand the repercussions of the work organization in everyday´s labor and in occupational health of the public servants working at the Federal Special Court of Porto Alegre – RS.Methodological procedures A qualitative approach research was developed by means of semi-structured interviews with 17 employees of a federal special court, which were audio recorded, transcribed and submitted to content analysis. The theoretical referral of the work psychodynamics has founded data interpreting.Results Two categories of analysis have been identified: (1) Changes in the work organization: from manipulating physical judicial files to the virtual acceleration and, (2) The professionals adaptation process to these changes and its repercussions on their health. As to the first category, discussions were carried out about the changes experienced by the workers after the implantation of computerized systems for receipt and analysis of the judicial files. Regarding the second category, the workers revealed the psychic and physical requirements in connection to the labor context.Conclusion The conclusion drawn is that the workers perceive themselves facing an accelerated rhythm and high volume of work, and getting along with symptoms which suggest that they are becoming sick and feel unassisted as to the changes established in the working process.