Stress at work is definitely not reserved for one category of workers. A survey by the newspaper Le Monde reveals that cases of suffering at work are increasing in universities. Not among students, but in the ranks of staff, technicians but also teacher-researchers. “In Strasbourg, where the three universities merged in 2009, and where these issues are obviously taken to heart, surveys and meetings have revealed very high stress among 10% of staff. At the University of Cergy-Pontoise (Val-d’Oise), of the 29% of agents who responded to a survey, a third complained of “malaise” and 12% of “very badly unwell”, particularly in departments that have been restructured,” reports journalist Isabelle Rey-Lefebvre.
If the university is affected like any private enterprise, it is because the same causes produce the same effects. In other words, the employees of institutions such as universities must also undergo repeated restructuring, work overload, pressure on budgets, but “also the lack of recognition of work which are psychosocial risk factors”, declares Marc Guyon, specialist in psychodynamics of work at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, in the columns of the evening newspaper.
No work organization would therefore be protected. Recently, a national survey carried out by the Confederation of Crafts and Small Businesses in the Building Industry (CAPEB) revealed that one out of two building craftsmen considers that they are regularly stressed in the context of their work. In education, the phenomenon is also massive: according to a recent Ipsos survey, 54% of secondary school teachers have experienced burnout at least once in their career. As for doctors, the same alarming observation: several surveys carried out by regional unions of doctors have highlighted a rate of 40 to 45% of practitioners in burn-out. The suicide rate is also 2.37 times higher among doctors than among other categories of workers.
Overall, nearly 13% of employees would be at the end of their tether because of their work. This is the estimate made by the firm Technologia. Should we continue to carry out studies to establish an observation known to all? Certain companies have of course set up plans to combat psychosocial risks, but the firm Technologia wants to take it to another stage. For these experts, this mental suffering must be recognized as an occupational disease. However, only a few dozen cases of work-related mental illnesses are recognized each year in France.
