Working conditions and meanings of working experience: The case of the justice workers

Abstract

Introduction: The optimal functioning of organizations requires that workers are satisfied with their working conditions and assign positive meanings to their work activity. The reforms of the Brazilian judicial system created opportunities to improve services and customer service. The objective of this investigation was to analyze the relationship that justice workers establish between the evaluation of their working conditions and the subjectivation of their own professional experience, understood as the set of meanings they give to this work. Method: A sample of 1,537 workers in the sector answered the Questionnaire on Working Conditions (qCT) and a question about the meaning of their own work experience. A correspondence analysis made it possible to represent in contingency tables the relationships between the categories of quantitative assessment of working conditions and the qualitative meanings attributed to work experience. Results: Those who scored negatively on working conditions evaluated their work experience in terms of discomfort, fatigue, injustice and little commitment. Those who rated them positively judged their experience in terms of opportunities, relationships, and commitment. Conclusions: The study provides empirical foundations and theoretical criteria for a redesign of the working conditions of the justice system that minimize psychosocial risks for civil servants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)