Work demands, prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and stress symptoms on trainees of the collect section of an international bank

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: to understand work demands, prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and stress symptoms on trainees of the collect section of an international bank, located in São Paulo. METHODS: Ergonomic work analysis, global and systematic observations, interviews with supervisors, manager and trainees, questionnaires answered voluntarily by the trainees. RESULTS: The objective of the collect section was to avoid that clients with high risk became debtors, as well as to collect from clients who owe the bank money. The aim was 11000 clients attended monthly. The section worked with receptive and active telemarketing. There were 67 trainees and 5 supervisors. Almost all the trainees worked in fixed shifts of 6 hours daily, with one break of 30 minutes and they did overtime. 85% were female, 83,7% had ages ranging from 18 and 23 years. All of them were at least college students. 98,6% were single, without children. 68,8% had less than one year on the job. 97 % of the trainees showed stress symptoms. The most frequent symptoms were: inability to relax or detach from work (63,0%), fatigue (50,7%), sleep disorders (41,8%), irritability (36,9%), strain (35,4%), cry easily (29,2%), hopelessness (23,9%), imnsonia (21,5%), to sweat without making physical efforts or when it was not hot (21,5%), sadness (20,0%). Concerning the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain 50,7% reported not having and 49,3% reported having. The location of the pain was: back pain 30,3%, shoulders 45,5%, neck 66,7%, elbows 12,1% and wrist/hands 30,3%. The relationship between the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and stress symptoms was: trainees who had stress symptoms but not musculoskeletal pain 50,7%, trainees who had musculoskeletal pain but not stress symptoms 3,0%, trainees who had both stress symptoms and musculoskeletal pain 46,3%.