Civil servants are happier in retirement, according to a study – 05/05/2023 – Market

Physical education teacher Mario Moraes Júnior, 63, worked more than half of his life teaching in the municipal teaching network of São Paulo, until, in 2020, he retired and the search for more satisfaction and the possibility of improving quality of life.

“Have no doubt [na melhor qualidade de vida]. Just not having that daily commitment, especially in the area of ​​education, which is very exhausting. It doesn’t have an adequate structure, it doesn’t have adequate support, the families don’t cooperate either. So when you retire, it really slows you down a lot. You end up having a much better quality of life”, says Moraes, who worked in the public service for 35 years and now teaches twice a week in the private sector.

Moraes corroborates a study carried out in a doctoral program at UFMG (University of Minas Gerais), which pointed out that public servants feel greater satisfaction with life when they retire.

The doctoral thesis was presented by researcher Jôsi Fernandes, 38. It involves data from a study that takes place in the country with servers that make up Elsa Brasil (Longitudinal Study of Adult Health), a program composed of 15,000 employees from six educational institutions higher in the South, Southeast and Northeast regions.

The thesis involved 13,000 civil servants, active and retired, who were evaluated by Elsa from 2012 to 2014, through interviews. Response options ranged from “totally disagree” to “totally agree”. The total score on the life satisfaction scale ranged from 5 to 35—the higher the score, the greater the satisfaction with life.

Overall, according to the study, average life satisfaction was higher for those civil servants who had retired compared to those who remained on active duty.

What drew attention in the research was the fact that there was a gap during retirement. In the first three years, there is a “honeymoon”, when the satisfaction of having left work is greater. After that time, there is a decline in this aspect, which rises again in the eighth year.

“This decrease may be related to social exchange factors and also the decrease in income that happens with retirement”, says Fernandes.

For Luana Giatti, professor at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and one of the thesis advisors, this gap is a phenomenon that may be associated with the process of adapting to retirement, when people feel a momentary lack after a phase of greater enthusiasm.

“In a retirement under favorable conditions, with the maintenance of earnings, like the retirees we studied, people will have other gains, they will be able to seek other achievements and show other stages of life.”

With regard to retirement in the public service, the maintenance of earnings mentioned by the professor depends on the civil servant sector and the states. But, in general, losses are lower than those of private service workers.

Maria Adelaide de Magalhães Camargo, 76, retired in December 2021, after 27 years in the São Paulo state education network. Today she is in that honeymoon phase with the moment.

“I feel satisfied doing things I didn’t do before, like physical activity. I do lian gong [prática corporal oriental], fitness. I am also taking courses and participating in a book club. These are things that give me great pleasure”, says Adelaide.

Psychologist Carla Sabrina Antloga, associate professor at the department of clinical psychology at UNB (University of Brasilia), has been working with research on quality of life and mental health in the public service for 20 years. For her, the satisfaction found by the server when retiring is the relief for the end of overload in a scenario of precarious work.

“The evidence in the research that we have carried out in recent years points to a scenario of a lot of precariousness at work, especially with regard to the way it is organized, deadlines, goals, flows, expected results, if you work under pressure, if you there is a rest break, as is the intensity of the mental load and the affective load in this work.”

According to surveys by public management bodies, there is a great demand for civil servants. The lack of professionals overwhelms those who are active, according to the psychologist.

“People do experience a sense of relief due to the work overload they experienced while working. There are people working much harder and with more complex activities, especially after the pandemic. The sectors have been taken over by new information and communication technologies. people weren’t prepared”, says Antloga.

“There is a lot of pressure for results, there is a lot of demand from society, there is the stereotype that public servants do nothing and live on the government’s tits. I am a public servant and I hear this often. This does not reflect reality, because we work for damn.”