Gwenaëlle Renwart

Modernisation Gwenaëlle Renwart

For several years now, we have been hearing more and more that in the public services, the absenteeism rate is increasing and that there is a growth in suicides among this category of workers. The most common causes of illness are: stress, burnout, depression, work overload, etc. But can we still be surprised by this consequence in the current working conditions of civil servants? For the causes of this stress are abundant. We therefore decided to carry out a sociological analysis of the meaning that civil servants give to their work. Because work that has no meaning, that is to say: the nonsense of work, corresponds to what is absurd. When an individual considers his work to be meaningless, his psychological well-being is threatened. This leads to a feeling of alienation characterized by a state of emptiness, disinterestedness and boredom, as well as a sense of inauthenticity, emotional dissonance and powerlessness. In order to maintain good mental health in workers, it is important that work and its setting have meaning for workers. Let's check the meaning that Belgian civil servants give to work.