Fatores que levam ao prazer e ao sofrimento no trabalho: a visão dos contadores públicos federais.

Abstract

This research objective is to investigate the main factors that lead federal public accountants of the executive power to conditions of pleasure and suffering resulting from the contemporary professional context in which these workers are inserted, based on the theoretical approach of the psychodynamics of work. To this end was applied descriptive qualitative research to thirteen federal public accountants working in different public bodies, eleven of which are accountants and managers. Each accountant attended a semi-structured interview, and their speeches were recorded and transcribed to investigate the information within a content analysis technique. In the data analysis was verified that, among the situations shared by federal public accountants that caused suffering, the following stand out: the negative impacts of management on public accountants, issues of human resources and the accountants' career, work overload work, the lack of cooperation between professionals, the lack of participation of accountants in decision-making processes, the questions about the roles of accountants in public organizations, dissatisfaction with the workday, mainly aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the difficulty of reconciliation between work and family. On the other hand, among the positive factors that evoked pleasure at work, the highlight factors stand out: good relationships with work; positive interpersonal relationships with peers; the organization's incentive for accountants to learn; recognition at work; the benefits provided by technology advances - mainly leveraged during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic; and the accountants' satisfaction by multiplying their knowledge with their peers. The results indicate that although the surveyed accountants live with experiences of pleasure and suffering at work, the experiences of suffering were greater than pleasure ones, showing that federal public accountants face huge limitations and challenges during their daily activities within the scope of their responsibilities at their jobs. In the opinion of the interviewees, the managers do not understand well the responsibilities and functions of the federal public accountants, and with that, they underestimate that professional category that feels uncomfortable at the organizations where they work. Finally, is concluded that the unfavorable political condition faced by federal public accountants is one of the main constraints to attracting new talent in the profession, aggravated by the low salaries paid in the executive branch, which, consequently, has been a factor of the exodus of younger accountants in this career.