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Nearly nine million people, or 37% of employees, do not feel able to hold on to their work until retirement, a feeling that diminishes when workers are given autonomy, according to a survey by the Dares released Thursday.
According to this study by the statistics service of the Ministry of Labor carried out in 2019 among 40,000 people, this feeling “unsustainability of work” is much stronger among those under 30 (59%) than among those over 50 (18%) who have often left the most exposed jobs and have a “closer horizon to retirement”. It is also very high among women with young children (57%).
Occupations involving unskilled workers (handling, production lines), in contact with the public (cashiers, bank and hotel and restaurant employees) or in care (nurses and nursing auxiliaries), are considered to be “less sustainable”, up to 66% for cashiers. On the other hand, the “most sustainable” professions are exercised more in offices (computer technicians, secretaries, etc.).
This feeling of unsustainability concerns 58% of employees exposed to psychosocial constraints (intense work, emotional demands, socio-economic insecurity, conflict of values, degraded social relations, etc.), 46% of those exposed to physical constraints (noise, heat, humidity, standing work, carrying heavy loads, etc.) and 61% of those exposed to both.
These employees have more choppy careers than others and retire earlier, with interruptions, in particular for health reasons, which increase at the end of their careers.
But a third of employees in very good health still consider their work unsustainable
Organizational changes in the company are generally detrimental to the sustainability of the work, unless the employees participate in the decision.
Reducing this feeling involves reducing the intensity of work (having to hurry, working under pressure, following a pace, etc.), increasing autonomy (choosing how to achieve objectives or doing things correctly work) and stronger social support (receiving help from colleagues, supervisor, etc.).
But it’s the mobility that makes the biggest improvement. “Leaving employment by becoming self-employed more than halves the probability of remaining in an unsustainable job three years apart“, emphasizes the study. The status of independent is “associated with better health and a more favorable balance between family life and working life, despite longer working hours“, according to the study.