Prazer e sofrimento no trabalho para os profissionais da geração X

Abstract

The current labour market has four generations living together in the workplace: Baby Boomers, X, Y and Z. The research presented here focuses on identifying and analysing the experiences of generation X professionals regarding the dialectic of pleasure and suffering in the workplace. It highlights the main characteristics of this generation, the meaning of work at this point in their lives, as well as the defence strategies they use to deal with possible experiences of suffering in the environment in which they work. To this end, a bibliographical study was carried out highlighting various authors who deal with the subject and complementing this with a bibliometric study carried out on the Web of Science article indexer, which made it possible to identify patterns in scientific production, such as: the evolution of publications over the years, the most cited authors, institutions and countries with the greatest prominence in the studies. Twelve professionals from this generation were interviewed during the fieldwork stage. It was found that, in general, the participants believe that both the challenges and the factors that generate pleasure and suffering are different between their generation and the others who are currently in the labour market, due to the different phases and needs that each requires. They consider it important to socialise with people from other generations because of the exchanges it provides. It was also possible to see that the same factors that provide pleasure can cause suffering, with human relations being the most important. It was also clear that the interviewees see work as something important that goes beyond remuneration and just sustenance, and that its meaning and pleasure is related to enjoying what you do and doing what you like. The study also showed that there is a broad field of study and new research, especially in Brazil, since it was not emphasised in the findings, with a significant number of publications specific to generation X. This generation is so present and active in organisations.