The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship1Introduction
The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by a significant
political, economic, and social crisis, strongly impacting the reality of the everyday
worker and their relationship with their work. The Brazilian Association of Work andOrganizational Psychology (SBPOT) developed the three-volume collection Work and
COVID-19 containment measures: contributions of Work and Organizational Psychology
in the pandemic context to support acting and reflecting upon this tragically challenging
scenario.
In its first volume, the focus was in guidelines for home office experience - remote work
mandatorily done at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this second volume, wemove towards other topics that affect workers, also including work experiences beyond
organizations and an attentive look at workers with diversified vulnerabilities.
This perspective is especially important at a time in which the majority of workers are
exposed to so many frailties, both old and new, in their relationship with work. With thisvolume, we intend to inspire individual and collective actions and reflections that help
us better comprehend and prepare for this novel world of work. For that purpose,nineteen experienced researchers developed seven topics, for which objectives arepresented as follows.
Workers in the Pandemic: multiple realities, multiple bonds. Introducing multiple links- commitment, entrenchment, consent and rooting - established by workers in different
contexts discussing how a pandemic affects these links and, consequently, workers.
Workers in Alternative Work Arrangements Before COVID-19. Discusses the
pandemic’s impacts in autonomous and informal workers placed in alternative work
relationships, providing background of recent changes in the world of work andexploring the deepening of ongoing trends.
Work in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, and quality of work life:
Essential guidelines. Analyzes the pandemic’s repercussions in the work-healthrelationship and provides essential guidelines to face them, considering its risks andimpacts to workers, especially on the field of mental health and quality of work life.
Workers in the informal economy: possible interventions. Debates measures related
to informality that can be taken by the state, the field of psychology, and informal
workers themselves, taking into account the origin and effects of informality and thesignifying process upon which these workers operate.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship2Workers’ new learning demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflects uponlearning demands related to remote work brought about by the pandemic, considering
pre-existing learning demands and changes in the landscape of work, with the intent ofproviding recommendations for workers and managers.
Creating New Solutions for Work and for Workers in Response to the Pandemic.
Examines how creativity may favor work and workers affected by the pandemic, andidentifies social, contextual, and individual factors associated with its expression and its
role in promoting workers’ well-being and mental health.
The impacts of COVID-19 on Workers' Careers. Explores implications of the pandemic on

workers' careers and alerts to the effects of social differences and consequent injustices
on career development, and also includes suggestions to professionals on how to act tomitigate the effects of this crisis.

SBPOT Board Directors - 2018-2020
Fabiana Queiroga – president
Thaís Zerbini – vice-president
Lara Martins – first secretary
Raphael Di Lascio – second secretary
Melissa Moraes – first finance manager
Daiane Bentivi – second finance manager

Vitoria Ferreira – intern trainee

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

3

Themes and authors

1. Workers in the Pandemic: multiple realities, multiple bonds
Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues, Daniela C. Bahia Moscon, Giselle Cavalcante Queiroz& Juliana Correia da Silva
2. Workers in Alternative Work Arrangements Before COVID-19
Daiane Rose Cunha Bentivi, Laila Leite Carneiro & Adriano de Lemos Alves Peixoto
3. Work in the context of pandemic, mental health and quality of life in work:
essential guidelines
Mário César Ferreira & Jorge Tarcísio da Rocha Falcão
4. Workers in the informal economy: possible interventions
Fellipe Coelho-Lima & Pedro Fernando Bendassolli
5. Workers’ new learning demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Gardenia da Silva Abbad & Juliana Legentil
6. Creating New Solutions for Work and for Workers in Response to the Pandemic
Maria de Fátima Bruno-Faria, Tatiana de Cassia Nakano & Heila Magali da Silva Veiga
7. The impacts of COVID-19 on Workers' Careers
Juliana Seidl, Alexsandro Luiz De Andrade & Filip De Fruyt

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship4

We authorize the reproduction and partial publication of this text, by any conventional orelectronic forms, for the purposes of study and research, provided the source.

Moraes, Melissa Machado (Editor). The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work
relationship [electronic form]. Brasília: SBPOT Publications, 2020 (Collection: Work andcontainment measures for COVID-19: contributions from Work and Organizational Psychology
in the pandemic context).

1. Workers in the Pandemic: multiple realities, multiple bonds; 2. Workers in Alternative Work
Arrangements Before COVID-19; 3. Work in the context of pandemic, mental health and qualityof life in work: essential guidelines; 4. Workers in the informal economy: possible interventions;
5. Workers’ new learning demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic; 6. Creating New Solutions
for Work and for Workers in Response to the Pandemic; 7. The impacts of COVID-19 on Workers'
Careers

Educational material prepared by Brazilian Association of Organizational and Work Psychology– SBPOT.

Special thanks: Renato Rojas for his collaboration in the final formatting of the document andcover book. We are also grateful for the efforts of all authors who readily accepted our invitationand committed themselves to writing high quality texts.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship5Workers in the Pandemic: multiple realities, multiple bonds
Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues
Daniela Campos Bahia Moscon
Giselle Cavalcante Queiroz
Juliana Correia da Silva

March 11, 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19
pandemic, initiating what may come to be considered a new period in history. Isolation
guidelines, border shutdowns, and disruption of transportation services greatly reduce
people's mobility. Social behaviors in different spheres of life, such as family, friendships,
community, religion, and especially work, are now much more mediated by digitaltechnology. Here is a scenario with consequences for the bonds of individuals andgroups.
The literature on commitment had already been predicting changes in the models ofwork associated with technological development and the gig economy, but theconditions of the pandemic exacerbate differences in class, gender, race, and put on theessential agenda some debates previously lacking in the area's literature. In less than
one quarter, many arrangements that would take years in transformation, needed to bequickly adapted to meet the challenges imposed by the ramifications of the pandemic.
In this text, we describe central elements of the work context in Brazil during the
pandemic and analyze how they can have an impact on people's bonds. We map
variables from different work realities and present examples that illustrate their impact
on bonds. Finally, we comment on possible perspectives for bonds in the post-pandemic
future.

Elements of the context that affect bonds
The data on the economy and the labor market are already announcing the specificity
and gravity of the moment: in the first months of the pandemic in Brazil, between Marchand April 2020, the country lost more than one million formal jobs. Unemployment
insurance claims increased 39% in April compared to March (Ministry of the Economy ofBrazil, 2020). In addition, by May 2020, more than 7 million people had their wages
reduced or their employment contract suspended, contingencies covered by Provisional
Measure No. 936/2020 that instituted the Emergency Program for Maintaining
Employment and Income (Alvarenga, 2020).
These data indicate that less than half of the individuals capable of working today havethe right to some type of social coverage associated with work: unemployment
insurance, guarantee fund reserve in case of dismissal, or being able to leave workwithout losing pay, if one gets sick (with COVID-19 or with all the other risks of illness

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship6that do not cease because we are in a pandemic). It is worth noting that thecompensation for informal jobs is also lower and this group is composed mainly ofyouth, Black, and peripheral occupations (Abílio, 2019), which reflects the inequalities
historically experienced in this country.
Even for those who maintained their employment ties, suddenly, a huge portion had
their routines substantially changed. Remote work, which was already showing strong
growth, needed to be adopted quickly and without the ideal preparation and resources
for its effectiveness. Working from home, especially in a pandemic context, can mean
dealing with structural and psychological issues. Among workers who set up a homeoffice, there are those whose homes do not meet their organizations' requirements andwhose families have been demanding more of their time, especially in the case of
women and mothers. This change required configuring the domestic space as a working
space and made the limits between the time for work and for personal life less clear.
In addition, working hours, when they take place at home, demand adaptation by
workers, either in relation to their time, or in terms of the new way of carrying out theirtasks. Since before the pandemic, it was noted that job flexibility was responsible for theillness of professionals, among other reasons, by drastically reducing the boundaries
between work and private life (Antunes, 2018). Now, when work and home overlap andthere is no space for leisure, these negative perspectives of flexible work are highlighted.
The differences experienced between genders were also evident during the pandemic.
Partial results of a home office survey of 30,000 workers from more than 100 companies,
such as Totvs, Sodexo, Natura, Pearson, and Alelo in Brazil and other Latin Americancountries, show that the experience of remote work has been more difficult for womenthan for men (Muniz, 2020).
Finally, there are still workers in activities considered essential, such as health, security,delivery services, cleaning, or industry workers, who go on with their routines despite
the pandemic and the decreed social distancing. These workers suffer the psychologicaleffects of fear of contagion, often having to work without individual and collective
protective equipment. Some work for organizations that offer certain conditions forprotection and health. Many of these created protection committees that dialogue withall internal sectors and strive to keep the recommendations of the competent bodies
related to prevention up-to-date, which, despite their importance, are not effective inensuring the total safety of workers, nor do all organizations guarantee theirimplementation. In the specific case of health professionals, by May 13, 2020, Brazil
counted 31,790 of them contaminated with COVID-19. Among doctors, nurses, nursing
technicians, community health agents and those combating endemic diseases,
receptionists, pharmacists, biomedical scientists, health unit managers and others,
health professionals represent 15.9% of the country's total cases of contamination.
(Ministry of Health - Brazil, 2020).
In the face of such contexts, workers are expected to transform the meaning and role ofwork in their lives, with repercussions on the bonds they establish with the work itself,
the organization, and even the family, especially at this point in time in which theboundaries between such dimensions are so weakly defined.
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

7

Analysis of bonds during the pandemic
We intend to speak here about four types of bonds: commitment (which can be directed
towards the work; the employing organization, if any; the community; the family; andothers), entrenchment (analyzed here in relation to the work and the organization),consent to the organization's norms, and embeddedness in the community.
Figure 1 presents the definition of each one, the criteria that help us to identify whether
people manifest them or not, and fundamental questions for us to reflect on how
pandemic variables can affect their levels.
Commitment, for example, is a psychological bond that denotes affect on a voluntarybasis, which means there is no external element that compels a person to feel
committed. Being a bond that develops based on how the individual perceives others(be it work, family, community, etc.), the levels of commitment at this moment dependon how people assess their work, their family relationships, the actions of organizations
and the community during the pandemic. In a moment of restricted freedom, how much
can they still make small choices in this adaptation process?

Figure 1 - Bonds and reflections on the pandemic

The impossibility of choosing is connected to a second bond, entrenchment. The healthand economic context in the pandemic reduces the alternatives for paid work and, forformal employees, the chances for job mobility are undone by the simple interruptionof regular recruitment and selection processes, and more broadly, by reduced economic
activity. As a general rule, the more individuals depend on their job for their immediate
livelihood, the greater their chances of staying, continuing the activity possible at the
moment, even if it is not their actual choice. In the pandemic, this condition is amplified,aggravated by uncertainty and by the increase in unemployment rates.
It appears that the greater dependence on organizations, whether formal employers or
not, plus the strict public policies aimed at job security, can intensify consent. In otherwords, under these conditions, workers can assimilate new rules from organizations and
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship8

accept the working conditions (remote or not), even if they disagree with them. The
consent bond can precede, for example, the emptying of the meaning of work andengaging in unethical or more controversial behaviors with regard to socially acceptedmorals.
In the case of embeddedness, social acceptance is often felt in living with thecommunity, and contributes to a feeling of adjustment. This type of bond with the place
where we live and with the people who make it up (neighborhood, co-workers, friends,etc.) also affects our work relationships and even the decision to remain or not in certain
jobs (Mitchel et al., 2001). In many cases, individuals have been increasing theirinteractions with virtual communities during the pandemic, and reducing the contacts
that worked by engaging in activities in the geographic spaces in their surroundings(such as commercial, religious, leisure establishments, and fitness centers, for example).
On the other hand, many vulnerable groups in Brazil still depend on engagement and/or
community action (including face-to-face) for access to health and survival conditions(distribution of consumer staples and resources such as masks, cleaning materials, etc.).
This reflection on possible directions for bonds given the variables of the pandemic
reinforces the fact that a more comprehensive analysis requires a mapping of thedifferent working conditions and elements of context that cannot be generalized for allgroups. For this, we set out to talk with workers in formal and informal work situations,
within a three-point scale: impossibility to continue working, possibility of working
conditional on being outside the home, and the option to continue working at home.
Figure 2 illustrates ten examples of workers, comparing their working conditions, thechanges imposed by the pandemic, the role of work in their emotional regulation and,
finally, the main bonds presented. These examples are not intended to exhaust thepossible cases, or to generalize the specificities observed, but to assist our analysis of
this ongoing scenario.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

9

Work
arrangement
Work location

With an employment contract
Works at home

Work structure

Works away from home

Works away fromhome

Cannot work

Laura

MarcosZen aide

Fictitious name

FláviaLucas

MicheleSociodemographic
characteristics

Woman, 45 years
old, White, married,
1 child,
postgraduate,
resident of upper
middle classneighborhood.

Man, 31 years old,White, single, no
children,postgraduate,
resident of upper
middle classneighborhood.

Woman, 23 years
old, Black, single,
no children,
postgraduate,
resident of a popularneighborhood.

Woman, 36 years
old, White, married,
no children,
postgraduate,
resident of middle
class neighborhood.

Man, 42 years old,
Black, married, 3children, completed
high school,
resident of a popularneighborhood.

Woman, 56 years
old, Black, divorced,
1 child, technicallevel, resident of a
popularneighborhood.

Man, 34 years old,
Black, divorced, 2children,postgraduate,
resident of a popularneighborhood.

Woman, 30 years
old, White, married,
1 child,
postgraduate,
resident of a middle
class neighborhood.

Man, 34 years old,
Black, married, 1 child,completed highschool, resident of a
popular neighborhood.

Woman, 64, Black,
single, 1 child,completed highschool, living in a
popular neighborhood.

Public Relations andCommunication
Manager at a
private University

Manager,
Postgraduate inMarketingImportation
Assistant

Psychologist at SUS
reference center

Waste collection
truck driver

Nursing Technician

Bookseller, writer,
editorResearcher(doctoral student)

Delivery - by app or
privateHousekeeper

Profession /functionManages a team of
5 people in an
organization thatoffers her support
and working
conditions. Her
working hours havesome flexibility but
her workload isregularly 40 hours
during businesshours

Manages a team of
15 people in a
multinationalorganization.

Work structure
Fictitious namePrincipal
changes due tothe pandemic

FláviaLucas

There was no drop
in income due to thepandemic. She
started to do
basically the "same"
work as before, onlyin the Home Office,with the necessary
adaptations andrestrictions imposedby this model. She
lives in a large
apartment and has
her own computer,which makes it
possible to adapt
the space withoutmajor
inconvenience. The
housework
intensified but she
managed to divide
tasks with her
husband and herson, without
accumulating agreat overload. She
would like, after the
pandemic, for somemeetings to remain
virtual, avoiding
excessive traveling.

He started working
from home, withless flexible hours.
Had a reduced
workload andwages. He reported
that the ergonomics
of working at home
is a concern to besolved individually,
without support fromthe organization.
Work hours andwages werereduced to face theeconomic andhealth crisis.

Works at home

Work structureWith structure
FláviaLucas

She believes thatwork is essential to
not be "thinking
about the virus all
the time" andmaintain her mental
health. She thinksthat work gives her
a "social function"and makes her feel
useful.

The work has
served as anescape valve to deal
with the social
isolation scenario.

Workarrangement
Work location

Works at home

Work structure
Fictitious nameWork andemotional
regulation

Work
arrangement
Work location
Work structure
Fictitious nameBond elements

Bond elements

Works at home

With structureWork
arrangement
Work location

Fictitious nameWithout structure

Works at home

Relative
unhealthinessPaula

Description ofworking
conditions
Work
arrangement
Work location

With structure

Without an employment contract

With structure
FláviaLucas

She presents
He demonstrates
importantcommitment,characteristics of
because he iscommitment to the concerned with theorganization, even economic crisis that
excessively, since
the company faces
she feels "guilty" forand with the jobs
not managing tothat maybeWorks
at homeproduce enoughaffected. He shows
because of Withher structurethat his dedication"anxiety disorder".
to the company
FláviaLucas
She demonstrates
a increased
during the
lot of adherence topandemic.
presents
He demonstrates
demonstrates
theSheorganization'sHe
importantcommitment,
valuesand affective
entrenchment
characteristics
ofbecauseisbondwith it and withbecausehe heintends
commitment
toitthe concernedthethe activities
to look forwith
otherorganization,
develops.
She evensees economic
jobs, incrisis
otherthat
excessively,
since
the company
faces
the
organizationas companies,
after
the
she
feels "guilty"
forandendwithofthe
an importantspace
thejobs
managing
tothat
may befornotsocialexchange.
pandemic.
produce enoughaffected. He shows
because of herthat his dedication"anxiety disorder".
to the company
She demonstrates a increased during the
lot of adherence topandemic.
the organization's
He demonstrates
values and affective
entrenchmentbond with it and with because he intends
the activities it
to look for otherdevelops. She seesjobs, in otherthe organization as companies, after thean important space
end of thefor social exchange.
pandemic.

High unhealthiness
José

Rosa

J.H.

She works 44 hours She works 30 hours He works as a driver
She works as aa week in aa week at a SUS*
for waste collection. nursing technician in
multinational
Health Center.
two hospitals, with aorganization in the
During the
12/36 workday. One
central region ofpandemic, workersof the hospitals
São Paulo (about 1
were required toreceives patientshour and 30 min
concentrate thewith Covid-19. At
away from her
work shifts due tothe beginning of thehome). She
the pandemic, topandemic, there
performs a function
reduce the number
was little protective
With an employment contract
distinct from herof days out of home.
equipment forhigher education.
professionals.
Works away from home
The organization*Unified Health
had support
andSystemin Brazil
Without
structure
Relative
High unhealthinessworking conditions.
(public
system)unhealthiness

Writer, works withTakes turns with her
He works from 4 to 8
She worked every day
edition/publishing of
husband using thehours as a deliveryof the week, each day
books byhome office (4 to 5
man, with his own
in one house: some inindependent
hours a day) andmotorcycle, and
ABC Paulista andauthors, workshops,
taking care of theirreconciles that with aothers in the Sãolectures, andchild. At night, they
formal job ofPaulo capital. Gets
performances inboth compensate by restocking minibars inaround by publicsoirees, schools,
working late (as far
a hotel.
transport to the work
cultural centers, etc.
as they need to or
location.
Now he works at
can).
Without an employment contract
home, goes out at
most 1x a week to
go to the post office.
Works away fromWorks at home
Cannot workhome

She started doing
Home-Office, with achange of schedule.
She has worked
approximately 55
overtime hours
since the pandemic
began. The remote
work model was
problematic since itdoes not haveadequate
infrastructure tocarry out the work
(adequate table andchair, sufficientinternet). The
organization alsodecided that all
overtime, including
those before thepandemic, would
not be paid, only
counted as an hourbank. The company
is also considering
adopting the HomeOffice model evenafter the pandemic.

The work shifts
Reduction of
There were no
were condensed
working hours.
changes in routine,
because, although
Increased control ofbut the work
the appointments
hygiene in handlingbecame moreare being done
waste and control
intense given the
online, you still need so that there are no
number of visits.
to go to the unit ingatherings among
The instructions on
person. In theworkers.
hygiene and correct
beginning thisuse of PPE wereextension of thelargely reinforced.
workday was
proposed to save onmasks, since they
were used all day.
For online
appointments(individual or group)
it was necessary tocreate alternative
forms (internet or
telephone). She
reports not trusting
the cleaning of theunit, but even so her
work routine isdisturbed byrepetitive cleaning
actions in the area.
Going to thebathroom, drinking
water, and having
lunch became
moments of tension,planning, andhygiene procedures.
With an employment
contract
Conflicts
in theservices wereintensified and Works away from home
unethical behaviors
Without structure
Relative
High unhealthinessbecameevident.
unhealthiness
Michele
Paula
José
Rosa

80% of his routine
She used to work at
There were no
She stopped working
was changed. His
home, but now the changes in his working
and, with that, she iswork used to take3-year-old son is out
hours but he noticed
receiving payment
place in directof school. In
an increase infrom only threeinteractions, now he addition to previous
competition (manyemployers, and onlyuses the online
projects, she started delivery people on the
two are paying fullenvironment. Someworking on covidstreets). In addition,
price. As a result, she
are not possible,
related projects,
there were changes inalso stopped
such asincreasing her
the delivery profile,accumulating work
presentations with a workload. She usedsince now there is awith the domestic
spontaneous
to order food, now
lot of demand forservices of her own
audience fromshe is ordering less.
supermarket
home. Personaloutside spaces. He
Her husband has 2purchases. He started cleaning routines haverelies on thejobs and started
using alcohol gel,been intensified
network he alreadyworking on hismasks, and reduced
because the worker
had, and thedoctorate. She took
direct contact withbelongs to the risk
exhibitions of workover the domestic
customers. At home,group, and only rarely
on social networks
duties (theyhe started to adopt thegoes out for
do not significantly
regularly shared thehygienepurchases in local
expand his network
chores at home).
recommendations thatmarkets.K9
as they usually do.
She reports a more are being propagated.
The source ofintense and tiring
He said that theincome androutine. She would
platform offers masks
accesses is
not like toand alcohol and sends
basically from thatincorporate any
messages asking
audience thatchanges after theabout the healthalready knew his
pandemic.
conditions of thework. After the
couriers and offering
pandemic, he plans
information. In
to maintain online
addition, the company
workshops, as wellcreated a financial aid
as expand online
fund for delivery
sales (which hepeople who become
already did). Time
contaminated bymanagement has
COVID. He would like
Without
an employment
contract
also changed, athiscare to be
more disciplined
maintained postlook at it.
pandemic.
Works away fromWorks at home
Cannot workhome

She feels that theShe reports an
Greatly worried
Attention, caution,
work is relevant toexperience of wellabout exposure to
and apprehension
the economic
being whenthe virus,
increasedsector. But whencollaborating withdemonstration of
considerably. There
she talks about
the well-being of
being infected andis a lot of fear of
herself, she does
others. "Sense ofcontaminating thebeing contaminatednot mention thebelonging, of being
family.
and contaminatingsocial functions oftogether, collective.
other people,
the work, because if
Something thatneighbors. She no
she had a choice,touches on
longer receives
she would not work
humanitarian
visits from her onlyin thatposition.
values.
And often,
son and is afraid ofWithan employment
contract
Despite this, shehelping others tocontaminating her
sees herself as
survive, to stay Works away from home father who receives
privileged to be able more in balance, toher care.
to work during
thisbecomemore
Without
structure
Relative
High unhealthinessperiod.
resilient,to get inunhealthinesstouch withvitality. ...
Michele
Paula
José
Rosa
is also doing thisShe demonstrates
Shedemonstrates
He demonstrates
She demonstrates
myselfin some aentrenchment indrop inentrenchment
entrenchment indimension".
the organization,commitment to the when he entered the the job by reflecting
since she would like
unit, although she
current job, by
that, on the one
to change areas and remains committed
reporting that that
hand, she would
is havingto hercontract
work and tojob was his second
prefer not to be
Withdifficulties
an employment
with adaptations to
her patients (itoption. However,working in this or
the Home-Officedoes not want to Works
commitmentaway from ishome any other job, shemodel. She
ask for leave
presented when he would prefer to be in
Without
structure
RelativeHighdemonstrates
becauseof thereports thatheunhealthinessisolation.
unhealthiness
commitment to thepatients).
As forstarted to like theShe demonstrates
MichelePaula
Rosa to thecustomer,becauseconsent
with thejob of aJosédriver andcommitment
her dedication andorganization, sheperceived thework when talking
She demonstrates
demonstrates
He demonstrates
She aboutdemonstrates
responsibility
are in She
carriesout activitiesa
importanceof thistheentrenchment
in
drop
in
entrenchment
entrenchmentinfavorof this focus.
without
agreeing,
work
for society.
importanceof herthe organization,commitment
to the when he entered the thejobinby
She also
but she also reports
work
thereflecting
face ofsince
she would likeunit,
althoughsuch
shecurrent job, by
that,healthon thecrisis
onedemonstrates
dissidences,thetochange areascommitted
reporting that that
hand, sheandwouldcommitment
to andthe remains
as havingleft early
scenarioheris havingdifficulties toherthere
workwasandno
tojob was his second
prefernot totobefamily,represented
when
dedication
withher patients(itoption. However,workingin thisby adaptations
her mother, towater,and having
perform
her orthe Home-Officedoes notwanttocommitment isanyother job,
she
which
is why she
lunch
in herroom
activities
well.
model.
She
ask forofleave
presented when he would prefer to be in
keeps
her
job.
insteadhavingdemonstrates
becausethereports that heisolation.
lunch inofthecommitment to thepatients).As
Assuch,forstarted to like theShe demonstrates
cafeteria.
customer, because sheconsentwiththejob of a driver andcommitment to thepresents
neitherher dedication andorganization,
perceived thework when talking
blindobedienceshe
norresponsibility are in carries
out activities
importance of thisabout theinner acceptance,
favor of this focus.
without
work for society.
importance of her
althoughagreeing,
there isShe also
but
she also
reports
work in the face ofrelative
compliancedemonstrates
dissidences,suchthe health crisis
with the rules
commitment to the asimposed
having left
early
scenario and herby thefamily, represented
when
there was no
dedication toorganization.
by her mother,water, and having
perform her
which is why she
lunch in her room
activities well.
keeps her job.
instead of having
lunch in thecafeteria. As such,she presents neither
blind obedience nor
inner acceptance,
although there isrelative compliancewith the rules
imposed by theorganization.

He sees his work as
Work represents
Despite the fear of
She says she is sad,a channel ofnormality. The
contagion, he
she is missing work,communication with
moment you enter
considers that work
because of her roleother realities, other the office and focus
serves as "therapy"
and the social aspect.
experiences, andon work, you feel as
and helps him "work
She mentions that she
through this artisticif you are in prethe mind", avoiding
misses "serving" thepedagogical nature, pandemic normality. depression and otherowners of the houses
proposes thatWork is calming.
psychologicalwhere she works.
people express
problems. Despite
themselves. One
this, he feels that work
creates a network ofleaves him insecurepeople andabout
own health contract
Without
anhis
employment
solidarity, not only
and puts his family atthe one who
risk.
produces the item
Works away from
Cannot work
artistically, butWorks
those at homehome
who buy it and offer
it to otherpeople as
J.H.
Laura
MarcosZen aidewell. Work in itself
He demonstrates
She demonstrates
He demonstrates
She demonstrates
represents
a verycommitment
to thecharacteristics ofconsent in relation tolargepart of what
he commitment to thework,
he wouldfamily and to theentrenchment, since
her employers,
does,asmakesit
not like toto think
dowork. She likes
he sees noreiterates several
possibleanother
activityatwhat she does and alternatives and stays,
times that she
about
what
I havethe moment
considers the work
despitethe feeling ofcontract"serves" them. She
already
doneandandWithout
an employment
intends
continue
relevant. She
insecurity. He says
demonstrates
what to
one
can
doing
theatsame
presents
that if he couldcommitment to the
proposethat
Works he
away
from
work
after thecommitment to the choose,
wouldlike family, to whom she ismoment.
Works at home
Cannot workhomepandemic.
community,
to remain
not working
dedicated andCommitment to thecoordinating
for at least 3 months
responsible in the
J.H. forLaura toMarcosZen aidecommunity,
campaigns
and travel
to have
pandemicand nonthinking of ways to
distribute toys /more contact withpandemic period.
He demonstrates
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He nature.
demonstrates
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help
it process theactivities
to lowHe
commitment
to the commitment
to thecharacteristics
consent in relation to
pandemic moment,
income families
demonstratesof
work,andas offer
he wouldfamily and to theentrenchment,
her employers,
commitment tosincethenot like to doto
work. She likes
sees
reiterates several
scholarships
familyhebothin noterms ofanother
activityatwhat she does and alternatives
and stays,
times that she
those
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cannottheir livelihoodandthe moment
andconsiders the work
despitethe infeelingof"serves" them. She
accesshis courses.
theirsafetyrelation
intends to continue
relevant. She
insecurity.
He saysdemonstrates
to contagion.
doing the same
presents
that if he couldcommitment to thework after thecommitment to the choose, he would like family, to whom she ispandemic.
community,
to remain not working
dedicated andCommitment to thecoordinating
for at least 3 months
responsible in thecommunity, for
campaigns toand travel to havepandemic and nonthinking of ways to
distribute toys /more contact withpandemic period.
help it process theactivities to lownature. He
pandemic moment,
income families
demonstrates
and offer
commitment to thescholarships tofamily both in terms of
those who cannot
their livelihood andaccess his courses.
their safety in relation
to contagion.

Michele

Paula

José

Rosa

J.H.

J.H.

Laura

Laura

MarcosMarcosZen aide

Zen aideFigure 2 Examples of workers, comparing their working conditions, the changes imposed by the pandemic, the role of work in their emotional
regulation and the main bonds presented.

For informal workers, the main feature of their working conditions is the lack of support
that guarantees everything from a minimum income to personal protective equipment(PPE) in the case of working outside, or guidelines and technological resources in thecase of working at home. In this scenario of doubts, there is an exacerbation of
uncertainty and greater dependence on daily work activity to maintain income. There isa tendency, therefore, toward entrenchment and consent bonds, in this case not to anorganization, but to the conditions imposed (assimilation and adaptation to reality).
In the case of formal workers, inappropriate working conditions can trigger a set ofcomplaints (explicit or not) directed at the employer or the leadership. Thisdissatisfaction can lead more to a drop in organizational commitment rather than togreater consent (when the organization reduces workloads and salary, or decreases theflexibility of schedules in remote work, for example). Even so, the need to comply withdecisions and protocols with which they disagree shows how consent can lead toquestionable responses from a moral point of view (like continuing to leave the house
because the organization wants this, even when the social norm requires social
distancing). On the other hand, there are also organizations concerned with offeringresources and guidance for remote work, or the PPE necessary for working outside thehome, in addition to maintaining benefits and programs for well-being at work. Suchperception of support tends to favor a greater organizational commitment.
For all the workers, the social function of work is affected during the pandemic: those
who are in isolation (working or not), have partial contact with co-workers or withpeople with whom they interacted to carry out their activities; those who go out to work
experience the tension of not being able to get close to their colleagues, while theexposure caused by work also adversely affects their contact with family members.
Bonds are, in themselves, phenomena that are built in relationships, and such a direct
impact on their levels and forms of manifestation causes, to a certain extent, mental
suffering. This is possibly why the reference to work as escape, belonging, normality was
so recurrent in the interviews carried out (Figure 2), especially for those in isolation. For
those who go out, the references insecurity, tension, and caution also arise through arelational dimension (fear of contagion, not only of themselves, but of others).
In the case of workers who can stay at home (with or without a formal employment
contract), the massive use of information technology has also been generating social
training for other forms of relationship, for life and for virtual work. The pressure forbetter time management also seems to grow, with or without the intermediary oforganizational processes. The failure to carry out such self-management, within such acomplex web of variables, can also be associated with a feeling of guilt when there iscommitment to work. Whoever, moreover, cannot work during the pandemic (because
they are merchants, because their contractors dismissed them, because they were
fired…) still deals with the frustration of broken bonds.
There is, in general, an experience of cognitive dissonance for those who need to work
away from home, with or without a formal employment contract. They oscillate
between the need (and/or desire) to continue working and the fear of contagion. In
some cases, workers are forced to put other people at risk, and they do so, even if they
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship11

do not agree. This can occur, for example, among taxi or ride-share drivers, as notproviding the service means not making money, at the same time that it represents achance of contagion to every passenger who enters the car.
The same goes for other essential service workers. In this case, there is a conflict
between entrenchment at work and commitment to one's own health, that of the family
and the community. On the other hand, there is also the case of professionals on thefront line, such as nurses and hospital secretaries, who need public transport to getaround and can carry the virus with them by bus and subway, as well as take it back tofamily members. However, they understand their work as fundamental during the
pandemic, which constitutes a conflict between commitments to work, the family, andthe community.
In the case of formal workers with the option to stay at home, the process of learning
virtual behaviors still confronts work models from prior to the pandemic. The mental
representation of the organization was mostly constructed based on a dynamic of faceto-face exchanges. The determination of work schedules, intersections with people fromother sectors, interactions in common spaces, inside or outside times for rest (such as
the "coffee break") also contribute to the sense of belonging, to the notion of collective,
and to organization schemes until then shared. As contacts are restricted to the people
with whom they work directly, exclusively virtual work can also reduce their systemic
view of the organization and, in the medium term, lead to stronger bonds with the teams
than with the organization as a whole.
Figure 3 presents the summary of analyses and reflections for the multiplicity of factors
present in the context of the pandemic.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

12

Work
Arrangement
Work Location

With an employment contract
Works at home

Without an employment contract

Works away from home
Relative
unhealthinessHigh unhealthiness

ExamplesEmployees of organizations whose work canbe done remotely. The arrangements arecoordinated by the organization to make awork at home routine feasible.

Workers in essential
services, industry,banking.

Health professionals
and morticians(frontline).

Working
conditions

With structure,adaptation to remote
work is facilitated andtends to be moresatisfactory.

The demands ofremote work areconfronted withphysical and family
structure, genderroles (possible
unequal divisions ofdomestic chores).

Assessment of theorganizational
support received.
Perception of
insecurity;questioning thepsychologicalcontract.

Greater intensity ofwork, increased
attention to the use of
PPE, and concern
about being
contaminated andcontaminating otherpeople.

Elements thathave impact
on bonds

Significant changes in the way of working.
Loss of social contact that the face-to-facejob offered. Risk of less systemic view of theorganization.
In some cases,
Need for important
higher reported
adjustments in family
performance, andarrangements tofeeling of guilt when
adapt to the work
they do not rate theirroutine.
own work highly.

Reflections on
bonds

Commitment as an
Commitment conflicts
antecedent forwhen there arewillingness to adjust
tensions between
as requested by thefamily and work.
organization. In some
Consent with thecases, consent withorganization.
the organization.

Structure

With structure

Without structure

Possibility ofcontagion.

Works at home

Cannot work

Couriers, taxi and
Liberal professionals,
Day laborers, owners
ride-share drivers,
artists, researchersof shops, restaurants,
doctors and dentists
without formal tiesetc.
as legal entities (non(grants).
frontline).

No support foradjustments toworking at home.

Uncertainty andPossibility ofsignificant changes incontagion.
the way of working.
Increasing tension ofLoss of social contact
personalthat the face-to-facerelationships at work.
job offered.

Compatibility
Negative impact on
between commitmentcommitment to theto the work and to theorganization and tocommunity, but even
the work. Consent inso, associated withrelation to theemotionalorganization.
fluctuations.

Works away fromhome

Commitment to thework, which can be
maintained evenwhen there is nofinancial reward.

Little or no support
for PPE or guidelines;
Little chance ofgetting away in caseof illness.

Little or no financial
support to face theperiod withoutworking.

Greater uncertainty.
Possibility ofcontagion.

Temporaryinterruption of work.
Loss of social contactthat the face-to-facejob offered.

While committed,
frustration with theGreater tendency
impacts / impossibility
toward entrenchment.
of continuing thework.

Figure–3 - Mapping of the context of the pandemic and repercussions on bonds

It is worth mentioning that all these conditions can be crossed by specific characteristicsof the reality of each worker, especially with regard to race, gender, and social class. We
can imagine, for example, that for an upper-middle-class worker in Brazil, living in a large
apartment (where each family member can transform a room into their own “office”),
transposing the work space into the domestic space may take place in a less complex
way than for a worker for whom this is a distant reality, living in a smaller place sharedwith more people. Being less complex, we imagine that changes in the quality andintensity of their bonds may happen in a more subtle way. In the same way, womenexperience more conflicts between commitment to work and to their own family, asituation that tends to intensify in these conditions of less defined borders. In addition,
the more unfavorable the workers' living conditions, the greater their chances ofadapting to unfavorable work situations, leading them to consent or become
entrenched in the work or in the organization more easily. This is, as discussed in theprevious section, a typical characteristic of the young, Black, and peripheral populationin Brazil.

Post-pandemic perspectives
The studies and debates on bonds and commitment literature still deal with the work
model in force until the 1990s, when the rule, or at least the expectation, was thepermanence of workers in the organization from the beginning to the end of theircareers. In fact, this literature is still largely constructed with an emphasis on formal
work in traditional organizations. In the last decades, these premises started to be
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship13

questioned, to the point that staying in the organization and continuing in the same job
ceased to be criteria for considering that a worker is committed (Klein Cooper & Molloy,
2014; Rodrigues & Bastos, 2011).
Even after these reviews and after the first essays on working outside the organizations,the premise in the literature is still one of physical presence of workers. Faced with somany oscillating variables at the moment this text is being written, perhaps the most
predictable assertion in this field is to say that the work models will continue to change,
coupled with digital transformation. There is a learning process underway in society, inthe global context, for greater adherence, testing, and validation of the available
information technology tools. Virtual behavior protocols begin a process of maturation.
In addition, the simultaneous use of technology for work and leisure, and even forinteractions with family and friends, also leads to greater sharing and understanding of
gaps not yet filled to improve the possibilities of online communication. The fact is that
we will certainly see a greater number of workers hired from different cities, states, oreven countries, who will never live personally with their teams. At the same time,
informal workers will continue to be subjected to an exploitative model, mediated byapplications.
Bonds, as psychological processes, will continue to be present, even if in formats andexpressions not experienced until now. They are likely to receive new criteria. In thecase of commitment, whose determinant was already not permanence, may cease to be(only) voluntariness, dedication, active contribution. In the case of entrenchment and ofconsent, the type of need that underlies them, or the type of sacrifice that restrains aperson from leaving their organization or their work, goes beyond the financial issue andalso covers the need for access to this virtual world. If, on the one hand, an online reality
can favor the establishment of so many virtual communities to the point of making us
question the role of places in our lives, on the other hand certainly mobility will no longer
be a requirement for globalized work, since we will possibly have more restrictions on
travel.
Not that all of these changes are coming exclusively from the context generated by the
pandemic. However, if we need a temporal reference to demarcate the redirections infuture studies of bonds and the world of work in general, it will possibly be this: March
11, 2020.
Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues:
PhD in Psychology from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Graduated in
Administration from the State University of Bahia (UNEB). She is a PhD professor at the
School of Economics, Administration, and Accounting, University of São Paulo. She
coordinates the People and Work in Different Contexts (GEPeT) research group. She wasa visiting researcher at Sabanci University (Turkey), at Ohio State University (USA), andUniversité Paris 8 (France). She is currently the president of the International
Cooperation Coordination of FEA-USP.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

14Daniela Campos Bahia Moscon:
PhD and Master's in Administration from UFBA (Federal University of Bahia), graduatedin Psychology from the same institution, where she works as an Adjunct Professor at the
School of Administration (EAUFBA). Currently, she is an associate editor of thePsychology of Organizations and Work Journal (RPot - Revista Psicologia Organizações e
Trabalho) and theme leader at ENANPAD (GPR Division).
Giselle Cavalcate Queiroz:
PhD student in Administration at the University of São Paulo (USP). Master's in
Administration and Controllership from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC).
Graduated in Administration at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC).
Juliana Correia da Silva:
Master's student (CAPES grant) in People Management at the FEA/USP. She did here
undergraduate studies in administration at EPPEN-UNIFESP (São Paulo School of Politics,
Economics, and Business at the Federal University of São Paulo), where she was also a
CNPq grant researcher, and a CNPq grant monitor.

References

1. Abílio, L. C. (2019). Uberização: Do empreendedorismo para o autogerenciamento
subordinado. Psicoperspectivas, 18(3), 1-11.
2. Alvarenga, D. (2020). 1 em cada 5 trabalhadores formais já teve redução de salário
ou contrato suspenso. G1 - Economia. Recuperado em 29 de maio, 2020 dehttps://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2020/05/12/1-em-cada-5-trabalhadoresformais-ja-teve-reducao-de-salario-ou-contrato-suspenso.ghtml
3. Antunes, R. (2018). O privilégio da Servidão: um novo proletariado de serviços na era
digital. Boitempo.
4. Klein, H. J., Cooper, J. T., Molloy, J. C. & Swanson, J. A. (2014). The Assessment ofCommitment: Advantages of a Unidimensional, Target-Free Approach. Journal ofApplied Psychology, 99 (2), 222–238.
5. Ministério da Economia do Brasil. (2020). Estatísticas mensais do emprego formal Novo
Caged.
Recuperadoem27
demaior,
2020dehttp://trabalho.gov.br/images/Documentos/CAGED/2020/Apresentacao_Coletiva_
Caged_27_05.pdf.
6. Ministério da Saúde do Brasil. (2020, 18 maio). Boletim Epidemiológico Especial COE-COVID
19.
Recuperado
em
18
de
maio,
2020
de
https://portalarquivos.saude.gov.br/images/pdf/2020/May/21/2020-05-19--BEE16---Boletim-do-COE-13h.pdf
7. Mitchell, T. R., Holtom, B. C., Lee, T. W., Sablynski, C. J. & Erez, M. (2001). Why People
Stay: Using Job Embeddedness to predict Voluntary Turnover. Academy ofManagement Journal, 44(6).
8. Muniz, M. (2020). Home office é mais difícil para mulheres e mães, diz pesquisa.
Revista Veja - Saúde. Recuperado em 27 de maio, 2020 dehttps://veja.abril.com.br/blog/radar/home-office-e-mais-dificil-para-mulheres-eThe impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship15

maes-diz-pesquisa/
9. Rodrigues, A. C. A., & Bastos, A. V. B. (2011). Conceptual and Empirical Problems in
Organizational Commitment Research: a Critical Analysis of J. Meyer and N. Allen
Three-Component Model, Revista Psicologia: Organizações e Trabalho, 10(2), 129144.
10. Silva, E. E. C. & Bastos, A. V. B. (2010). A Escala de Consentimento Organizacional:
Construção e Evidências de sua validade. Revista Psicologia: Organizações e Trabalho,
10(11), jan-jun 2010, 7-22.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship16Workers in Alternative Work Arrangements Before COVID-19
Daiane Rose Cunha Bentivi
Laila Carneiro Leite
Adriano de Lemos Alves Peixoto

The repercussions of COVID-19 have impacted all segments of society. The economy andthe world of work were particularly affected due to the social isolation actions
recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to contain the disease. Despite
attempts to adapt to this new context, a global loss of 10.5% in terms of hours worked
is estimated in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to around 330 million full-timejobs. The impact is even greater for self-employed and informal workers, with estimatesof 1.6 billion people globally affected (International Labour Organization, 2020a).
Faced with this reality, we propose to discuss the possible impacts of the pandemic on
informal and self-employed workers in alternative work arrangements. First, we a briefbackground on recent changes in the world of work, based on the assumption that oneof the main consequences of the pandemic is the deepening of certain ongoing trends.
We then describe how such workers are being impacted by the pandemic, and finally,
we reflect on future post-pandemic needs to mitigate the inevitable impacts. Rather
than indicating directions, this chapter seeks to characterize certain aspects of thecurrent reality, and reflect upon them in order to glimpse possible actions for the future.

Contextualization

The world of work is in constant transformation, due in part to technological advances,economic conditions, and social changes. It is in this process of metamorphosis that newwork configurations emerge. Since the productive restructuring in the 1980s, society has
undergone profound changes, marked by the fugacity and instability of the labormarket, which persist even today. Organizations have become leaner and more capableof responding quickly to a complex, turbulent and changing environment; in otherwords, they are more flexible, which is a sought after characteristic in the workforce.
Furthermore, the undesired consequence of this has been a weakening of therelationship between employees and employers, increasing the precariousness of work.
There is a new process of technological transformation today, aggravating these
conditions. There is an emergence of less defined work models, which are more fluid
and poorly structured with respect to time and place of work, as well as more ephemeraland autonomous from the point of view of production and financial return. An
increasing number of workers are working on demand (Hook, 2015; Sundararajan, 2015;
Rashid, 2016; Tran & Sokas, 2017), calling themselves entrepreneurs (Barbosa, 2011). In
this new reality, the formal employment model (long-term, stable, structured activities
and guaranteed remuneration and benefits) is no longer the primary form of work
arrangement.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship1

17

There is no consensus in the literature about the term that defines these new work
configurations. Various researchers have presented various expressions and concepts,
including new forms of work (Steenbergen, Ven, Peeters & Taris, 2018); contingent work
(Tran & Sokas, 2017); contemporary configurations of employment (Moortel,
Vandenheede & Vanroelen, 2014); as well as specific terms of organization and laborties, such as crowdsourcing (Howe, 2006; 2008) or uberization (Hill, 2015), for example.
We will use the term ‘alternative work arrangements’, proposed by Spreitzer, Cameron& Garrett (2017), as it is the most appropriate in broadly defining the multiplicity ofconfigurations presented today, as well as their impact.
Despite the of terminologies, there is agreement that the new models of workorganization are characterized mainly by individualization, weakening of contractual
relations, time flexibility, and relocation of work, i.e. work is not tied to a specificlocation and can be performed virtually from anywhere, as long as one has access to acommunication device with an Internet connection.

What´s going on

Data on the formal labor market points to an exponential rise in unemployment andeconomic recession in virtually all sectors of the economy. It must be noted however,that it is easier to estimate the impact of the pandemic on formal sectors of theeconomy, due to the availability of data and economic activity records. This was madeclear, for example, by the Brazilian government's difficulties in paying emergency aid toa significant number of informal and self-employed workers. Nevertheless, it is possible
to identify some trends and impacts of the current pandemic on workers working inthese alternative arrangements, which we present below.
Decrease in demand for work, and consequently, income. The containment actions for
COVID-19 brought a deep shock to economic, simultaneously affecting the supply anddemand of products and services. The stagnation of the economy and the increase in
unemployment resulted in a decrease in peoples’ consumption power, which, added to
the lack of mobility, led to a decrease in demand for informal, self-employed andindividual micro-entrepreneurs. This crisis is estimated to have resulted in a 60% loss of
income for women workers and informal workers worldwide, while the loss reached
80% in Latin America and the Caribbean (ILO, 2020b). This vulnerability has revived longstanding debates on macroeconomic actions for economic regulation and social
support, particularly bringing force to discussions on minimum income. The United
Nations report on the economic impacts of COVID-19 points out that one of thealternatives could be providing universal transfers to all families in the informal sector
and/or self-employed workers, obviously depending on the economic conditions of eachcountry (Hevia & Neumeyer, 2020). In Brazil, the Federal Government has instituted asocial benefit for informal workers (who constitute 45% of the country’s labor force) of
R$ 600 per month, for a period of three months.
Transfer of costs to the employee. One of the main characteristics of weakening
contractual labor relations in alternative work arrangements is the transfer of
responsibility from the organization to the worker. In this sense, a significant part of the
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship218

costs involved in the work process (traditionally related to training and development,
but now expanding towards ownership of equipment, inputs, and maintenance) fall on
the individual.
Increase exposure to the risk of contamination, aggravated by barriers to social
security access. Economic insecurity puts these workers in a situation of greater
exposure to contamination risks. Unlike formal workers who are also involved in
activities with a risk of contamination, informal and self-employed workers usually havea lower level of social security protection and benefits. There are a number of barriers
that make it difficult for such workers to access social security, such as: lack ofknowledge about how to contribute; lack of financial education and long-term thinking;and even the objective difficulty of being able to save certain amount of money once
their income barely rise above what is needed to pay for basic living costs.
Key examples on this issue are the iFood and Rappi delivery apps, which, in April 2020,
lost a lawsuit requiring them to adopt sanitary, protective, and social measures toprotect workers who provide services in the context of a pandemic (COVID-19).1
However, these decisions were later reformed, based on the premise that there is noemployment link between professionals and companies, which are described as
mediators between clients/consumers and service providers. In this way, suchorganizations continue without any obligation to take responsibility for any healthdamage suffered by workers.

Future prospects

Although recent times have seen other pandemics, such as SARS and Influenza, theirimpacts have been more diluted in time or localized; therefore, literature on theireconomic consequences, specifically on the world of work, is quite limited (e.g.,
Schoenbaum, 1987; Meltzer et al., 1999; Lee & McKibbin, 2004). The current reality
presented in the previous section indicates the seriousness of the current situation,
raising an important question: what is the future for these workers? While we do nothave an answer to this, we present certain reflections.
The pandemic has resulted in an economic recession and increased unemployment, and,very possibly, in an exponential increase of workers with alternative work contracts. At
the same time, the policy of making formal labor relations more flexible will result inincreased precariousness and informality. The current trend, therefore, is of more selfemployed workers, as well as those who work on demand, part-time and in temporary
arrangements. Faced with this increase, and combined with the various changes alreadytaking place in the world of work due to the pandemic, it is possible to identify twoneeds, one at the micro level and one at the macro level, to adapt to this new reality.
Need to develop skills related to the use of technological resources. The urgent andcompulsory confinement as a result of COVID-19 took everyone by surprise, generatinga chaotic process of adaptation of workers to deal with this new reality. However,1

Decisions available here: https://www.conjur.com.br/dl/liminar-ifood.pdf and https://www.conjur.com.br/dl/liminar-rappi.pdf .

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship3

19

forecasts indicate that waves of contagion and, consequently, of confinement, willcontinue for an unknown period of time. For workers and the economy to remain active
under these circumstances, technology will have to be frequently used for thedevelopment of work activities, so as to restrict physical interaction and reduce the rateof contact between infected and susceptible individuals. It is important to note,however, that this technological learning process has limited reach for a significant
proportion of informal workers which might aggravate their situation.
Regulation of new employment relationships. Even before the pandemic, the absenceof formalization of workers in these new work configurations was damaging at both theindividual and the macroeconomic levels, with similar implications for social security.
The pandemic has clearly revealed that health and social security guarantees are
essential to face such a crisis with social cohesion and organization. This being the case,Brazil, which has historically always had high numbers of informal workers, should
discuss the effectiveness of legislation guaranteeing these workers minimum conditionsof well-being, health, safety and social security.
We would like to emphasize that we are living in uncertain times, and the dynamics of
the world of work encompass countless variables, making it impossible to exactly predict
the world that awaits us in the future. On the other hand, the construction of the future
depends on each one of us.
Daiane Rose Cunha Bentivi
Organizational and Work Psychologist. Master of Social Psychology from the PontificalCatholic University of São Paulo (PUC SP) and PhD in Sociology from the University ofPorto, Portugal. She is currently doing post-doctoral training at the Federal University of
Bahia (UFBA). Director of the Brazilian Association of Organizational and Work
Psychology (SBPOT) in Management 2018-2020 and Vice-President in Management
2020-2022.
Laila Carneiro Leite
Psychologist, with Master and Doctorate in Organizational and Work Psychology fromthe Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Currently, she is an adjunct professor at theInstitute of Psychology of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).
Adriano de Lemos Alves Peixoto
Psychologist, Administrator. Master of Administration, Ph.D. in Psychology - Universityof Sheffield, England. Permanent Professor of the Graduate Program in Psychology at
the Federal University of Bahia.

References

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economic impact of COVID-19 and its policy implications. UNDP LAC COVID-19 Policy
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship420

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http://www.wired.com/wired/ archive/14.06/crowds_pr.html [accessed 18 May
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Medicine, 59(4), e63–e66. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000977

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship22Work in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, andQuality of Work Life: Essential Guidelines
Mário César Ferreira
Jorge Tarcísio da Rocha Falcão
The planet is plunged into a complex global turmoil triggered by COVID-19 pandemic [1].
It is a historically atypical event, even when considering the historical series that starts,
retrospectively, from the so-called Spanish flu and goes back to the plagues that affected
Europe during Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Given the quick
coronavirus pandemic's pace, it is quite likely that some information from this brief
introduction will be out of date by the time it reaches readers. Even so, it is worthwhile
to identify some of the characteristic traits that, until now, have marked this worldwide
health event, aiming at building the basic framework in which the central focus of thiscontribution is inscribed: the work-health relationship in the context of COVID-19
pandemic and the risks / impacts on Quality of Work Life (QWL).
Given the tsunami of news, articles, and publications about the outbreak of coronavirus
so far, assessing the current scenario is not a trivial task. However, the broad, objective,
and assertive assessment undertaken by Ramonet (2020) can substantially contributeto the synthesis of the background scenario proposed by this small chapter. In his article,
Ramonet highlights some of the peculiarities of the COVID-19 phenomenon manifested
at the threshold of the 21st century:•

The global pandemic crisis is not just a health crisis: it is a “total social fact” since
it has consequences in all spheres of social life, involves people in general,
institutions, puts values to test and has political, economic, cultural, and religious
repercussions, and, above all, affects the world of work.

•Sars-Cov-2 virus is super powerful: detected in December 2019 in Wuhan city,
China, in about three months the deadly novel coronavirus, due to economic
globalization, had already spread to the whole world, forcing millions of people tostay at home (that for those who have a homeplace) while social distancing revealed
to be the only effective way to slow the spread of COVID-19.

•

Nature-destroying production model: the rampant exploitation of non-renewable
resources, over the past few decades, creates and recreates objective conditions
for the emergence of new coronaviruses and new diseases as human activities comeinto contact with wildlife and with unknown pathogens that end up contaminating
people and pets.

•

Massive health cyber surveillance: given the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus,
several countries have invested heavily in digital technologies (e.g. South Korea's
Self-Quarantine Safety Protection) focused on identifying people in areas ofcontagion and potential sources of contamination via social networks, introducing

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship123

a technological solution that presupposes sacrifice of individual privacy andreverberates through the inexorable ethical debate.
•

Apotheotic disinformation: the dispute, a real war of versions about the pandemic(e.g. if COVID-19 was deliberately created in a laboratory) by ideological groups andgovernments has provoked a real epidemic of fake news on social networks.
Exploring the need for people to obtain information in the face of the existing risks,these groups disseminate disinformation – usually boosted by automated profiles
called bots – with the same speed that the coronavirus spreads.

•

Digital Capitalism affirmation: since more than half of humanity is now on
lockdown, despite the difficulties of governments in enforcing social distancing
measures, the vertiginous digital growth consolidates a market for several
communication, entertainment, and commercial applications (Twitter, Mastodon,
Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Snapchat,Amino, Signal, Telegram, Wechat, WT:Social, among others), generating huge
profits for companies and big data to be exploited by new profit-focused algorithms.

•

Heroes and martyrs of our time: In the war against coronavirus, the frontline
warriors - nurses, nursing technicians, medical doctors, and other healthcare
workers, most of them from the public sector in the case of Brazil and many also
fatal victims of the pandemic – have taken the lead and are suddenly and finallygetting unprecedented recognition, receiving applause, and homage for the
strategic mission of taking care of health, not as a commodity, but as a human right.

It should be noted that much remains unknown about the new coronavirus itself andabout what it is capable of causing to the human body (e.g. why will some young people
without comorbidity only experience mild symptoms while others die?). In addition, theeffects of the pandemic have given new visibility to the scrapping of public healthservices (e.g. lack of personal protective equipment – PPEs), imposed by the economic
policy biased towards neoliberalism, and scandalous social inequalities, as the Brazilian
case illustrates. The hegemonic conception of an economic model anchored in theflexibilization of production, in the precariousness of labor relations and in the idea of aminimum state are heading downward. The drastic reductions in economic growth,
unemployment, the increase in poverty, and social exclusion have been panicking the“owners” of contemporary capitalism. Despite this finding, pointed out by several macroand microeconomic indicators around the world, since the beginning of the current
crisis, the socio-economically unfair structure of contemporary societies has caused thedamage of such a crisis to be distributed quite unevenly to social classes, genders (maleand female) and even across geographic regions. This imbalance is virtual in the Brazilian
case as illustrated by Graph 1, which shows that those who lost the most in terms ofincome in the first quarter of 2020 (when compared to the same period in 2019) wereprecisely the poorest, with the richest 10% of the population being the only segment toshow gains. Along the same line of observation, women lost much more than men. Still,
the south, central-west, northeast and north regions of Brazil, in that order, lost much
more than the southeast region.
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship224

poorest 50%-6,3

middle class-0,90,8 richest 10%
general

-1,2

men

-0,2
-2,8

women

-2,8

central-west
north

-1,6

south

-3,2

northeast

-1,7

-6,5

-4,5

-2,5

-0,1
-0,5

1,5

southeast

Graph 1: percentage of income decline among workers in Brazil in the first quarter of 2020,
when compared to the same period of 2019. Source: Fundação Getúlio Vargas – Social – PnadC
and IBRE data. Published in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, 06/07/2020 edition, section
Mercado – Coronavirus, page A18, title: Primeiro mês de isolamento destruiu 8,6 milhões deempregos.

It is based on this background scenario unfolded by the pandemic, in which structuralproblems worsen and new problems arise, that the work/health relationship takes on
new outlines and challenges. If, before the pandemic, the critical indicators of illness andaccidents in the world of work were already a source of growing concern, the risks to
Quality of Work Life are even more substantial.

Development
The COVID-19 pandemic clearly causes a wide crisis as it is a globally spreading disease
that affects various aspects of human experience, ranging from the microbiological andinfectious perspectives to the domains of economics, politics (and what some politicaloperators are already calling necropolitics), management of urban spaces, mental
health, and work-related health and illness. This last point leads us to the focus of ourreflections and contribution, notably in terms of the concepts of mental health, qualityof life and, finally, quality of work life. The complexity and severity of these points forthe contemporaneity caused by the outbreak of the aforementioned pandemic not only
amplifies the precarious conditions of work activities that preexisted the pandemic (ashas clearly been the case with many health workers, as well as those of informal sectors
and the broad domain of outsourcing), but also adds new stressors and pathogens (ashas been the case with the intensification of previously incipient work modalities teleworking in sectors such as education and the provision of public services, among
others). The pandemic – within the context of social isolation ranging from therecommendations of quarantines to drastic and stricter confinement measures, also

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship325

known as lockdown – also reveals problems in the management of urban spaces andpsychosocial functioning. This set of already existing aggravating factors and newsources of psychosocial risk has brought important impacts on the quality of work life incontemporary times.
The concept of mental health has been shown to be complex in its (not always
harmonious) management in the fields of biological sciences and health, human, andsocial sciences, such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. Healthand, by extension, mental health, are concepts that cannot do without due
consideration of the associated concepts of normal/normality and disease (Canguilhem,2006). Quality of life is a complex topic and requires an approach that goes beyond thehealth-illness dichotomy, a legacy left by the health sciences and adopted by medicine.
In this field of medicine, normality and health rest on three basic criteria, each of which
induces traditional definitions. Quality of life adopts, at first, the concept of health as“life lived in the silence of the organs”, or absence of symptoms. This is a circulardefinition since there would be health in the absence of disease, and there would be
disease in the absence of health. In the domain of mental health, there would be healthin the absence of complaints, or psychological distress in its various forms(anxiety/distress, panic, and/or impaired mood). However, it is worth mentioning that
this perspective would leave out what the French psychiatrist Louis Le Guillant called
psychopathology of work, already in the 1940s and 1950s, when referring to the casethat, in some professions, good performance seemed to be related to some type of
pathology-like syndrome that, nevertheless, still enabled the worker to perform labor
activities (Le Guillant, 1984; Zambroni-de-Souza, Athayde, Silva Araújo & Zambroni deSouza, 2009). The concept of mental health as the absence of complaints and/or clear
symptoms on the part of the individual is, therefore, a problematic perspective.
A second mental health perspective that also appropriates a medical perspective isbased on the idea of “standard functioning”, of “normal”, in the sense of close to or
coinciding with a “norm”: mentally healthy would be the one that fits the expectations,models, and socio-cultural standards, the one that was shown to be predictable andfaithful to different general standards. The literature records an important number ofcases of the "ordinary neighbor", with no stories or complaints about inappropriate
activities, in whose yard, one day, bones of all his victims are discovered and s/he isfound to be a serial killer. The health model as behavioral adherence to usual patterns
erodes, therefore, when behaviors that the social (possibly psychopathic) persona had
hidden up to that point are revealed.
Finally, a third strand of mental health perspectives “inherited” from the medical field
alludes to mental health as an "ideal", as a point of a continuum that would encompass
disease at one extreme and health at the other. From this perspective, health wouldrefer to an ideal to be reached in a gradient – ideal by definition, unattainable, but
subject to theoretical circumscription. This is, as we can see, a resumption andrefinement of the standard model, assuming, this time, that this standard would bebasically virtual. In this case, criticisms regarding the flaws of a "model" proposition towhich individuals would refer for the respective assessment of mental health would also
serve here.
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship426

What concept of mental health could be proposed in the field of psychology and, byextension, work psychology, other than the concepts derived from medicine? We
propose here, with Georges Canguilhem, the mental health model as normativity, in thesense of a condition that enables the individual to have the capacity to generate new
operating standards, to innovate in the face of life's challenges, to have a collection of
possibilities, of not being attached to ONE norm, of being equipped for diversity andnovelty (Canguilhem, 2006). It is a concept that should not be assimilated to the idea ofpure and simple adaptability; workers would have instead the power of not only
adhering to the norms, but contributing, as protagonists, for its alteration, eventuallycontributing with a personal style to the set of norms of a group.
The simultaneous and delicate dynamics of adapting to rules and adapting rules will havea crucial impact on one’s quality of life, and by extension, on their quality of work life. It
is necessary to consider here, concomitantly, that we are facing a necessarily social andcultural dynamic, in which the individual is included, but not submerged, or subjugated.
Feelings of loneliness among workers are a crucial aspect for the degradation of work
activity, as discussed by Da Rocha Falcão, Silva Messias and Mascarenhas de Andrade(2020). Quality of work life is necessarily a condition that is built in the interaction of theindividual with the collective. In the context of the current crisis triggered by COVID-19
pandemic, several jobs were considerably impacted, with consequences on the qualityof work life. The scope of this crisis to jobs and its effect on the physical and mental
health of individual workers gives way to a complex research program that has only justbegun. The pandemic represents a context of dramatic collision (Da Rocha Falcão, 2020;
Bonnefond & Scheller, 2015) that will lead to qualitative change in several professional
branches. Such changes will eventually cause suffering, pain, and, ultimately, personal
and professional development. Coping with these situations cannot be limited to theindividual worker, in a strategy to suppress symptoms and adapt (or scrap) affected
workers. The perversity of such an approach will betray a perspective of mental healthlimited to an “orthopedic” treatment of the psyche of each worker. This confrontation
cannot, at the other extreme, essentially target the organization that gathers workers,
as if the reengineering of that organization had the power to resolve everything. Such a
confrontation also could not be limited to an approach aimed at the professional gender,that is, for an abstract entity that, "(...) crossing the professional activity of each worker[referenced by this gender], puts this worker exactly in the intersection of past andpresent [in the field of professional activity] (see Clot, 2008, p. 149). Professional genres
have entered a crisis due to torsions triggered by the pandemic – as exemplified by thecase of teachers, forced to move from the classic classroom activity, in the classroom
space, to remote teaching contexts, or distance education.
The common point to allude in terms of the productive confrontation of such crises isthe consideration that work activity necessarily and simultaneously encompasses thedimension and dynamics of the workers’ individual experiences in their work collectives,
collectives that are referenced by professional genders (doctors, teachers, gravediggers,
policemen, etc.). Quality of work life is organized through the dynamic consideration of
ALL of these aspects, in a context that takes for granted that there will always necessarily
be a gap between the prescribed work and the work carried out by workers. This gap
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship527

must not be seen as a fissure to be welded, but as a constituent feature of human work
activity (Clot, 2008; Ferreira, 2011).

Conclusion
In this scenario of global crisis – which largely transcends the health dimension and has
a special impact on the territory of work and generates harmful consequences for its
protagonists – it is absolutely strategic to take into account some guidelines aimed at
mitigating or, at its limit, eliminating the negative effects that are being produced and,above all, to promote quality of work life with in the context of a sustainable bias. From
this perspective, it is necessary, without intending to dictate managerial “tutorials” oreven exhausting the diversity of applicable measures, to take into account that theimplementation of remote work (within an emergency, circumstantial, and compulsory
context) and teleworking (already adopted by many organizations before the pandemic)
should consider some guidelines:
The effective participation of workers in the decision-making processes related to thedesign and implementation of remote work and teleworking so that they are summoned
to the role that enables them to generate innovative solutions in this critical scenario.
The establishment of a collection of possibilities for regulation / management,
equipping workers for the challenges posed by the diversity and novelty introduced by
the pandemic.
The mapping of the different realities of work in which workers are immersed – this time
cohabiting with the home-family-neighborhood scenario – by carrying out anorganizational diagnosis with scientific rigor as an essential requirement for planning,
operationalizing, evaluating, and re-planning measures of a corporate nature focusedon the best possible harmony between quality of life and quality of work life and theeffective promotion of workers’ mental and physical health.
The adequacy of the management practices of performance evaluation, control of theexecution of tasks and the “delivery” of results / goals of the work to the effective
conditions of production placed in households, mostly characterized by improvisationand precariousness of the working conditions, especially in the area of compulsory
remote work – aiming to provide organizational support to mitigate or eliminate existingrisks, providing greater autonomy and room for maneuver for workers in carrying out
assigned tasks.
The participatory design and the implementation of customized programs to effectively
promote quality of work life that goes beyond the “corporate hot tub” assistance(Ferreira, 2017) – restricted to anti-stress and palliative practices – anchored on theassumption of that QWL – for it to be valid and lasting – is everyone's task and an
institutional responsibility.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

628

Here are some guidelines that can contribute to the effective promotion of workers’
mental and physical health in the current historical context of the pandemic in whichorganizations and the plethora of existing singular work contexts are immersed. The
current scenario calls on everyone to think and put into practice coping measures thatcan contribute decisively to the rescue of the ontological sense of work as a promoter /protector of health and, above all, to the way of constructing the personal, collective
and social history of humanity at the threshold of the 21st century.
Mário César Ferreira
Full Professor, Institute of Psychology, University of Brasília, Coordinator of the Study
Group on Ergonomics Applied to the Public Sector (ErgoPublic), author of the book
“Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho. Uma abordagem centrada no olhar dos trabalhadores”.
(Paralelo 15, 2017, 3rd edition). ferreiramariocesar@gmail.com
Jorge Tarcísio da Rocha Falcão
Full Professor, Department of Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte,
Coordinator of the Study and Research Group on Work (GEPET), research associate with
the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM)/Centre de Recherche sur leTravail et le Développement (CRTD), team “Psychologie du Travail et Clinmique del’Activité (https://tinyurl.com/yacf6z5u )falcao.jorge@gmail.com

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International Vygotski. Équipe CIRCEFT-ESCOL, Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis et CRTD
- CNAM Paris, pp. 285-296, 2015.
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3. Clot, Y. (2008) Travail et pouvoir d’agir. Paris, Le Travail Humain - Presses Universitaires
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4. Da Rocha Falcão, J.T., Silva Messias, J., Mascarenhas de Andrade, L.R. (2020) O
trabalho precário e o trabalho precarizado. IN: Intensificação, precarização,esvaziamento do trabalho e margens de enfrentamento. Ferreira, M.C., Da RochaFalcão, J.T. (Orgs). Livro no prelo. Natal, Editora da UFRN (prelo).
5. Da Rocha Falcão, J.T. (2020) As colisões dramáticas como operadores teóricos cruciais
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9. Zambroni-de-Souza, P.C., Athayde, M., Silva Araújo, A.J., Zambroni de Souza, A.M.R.
(2009) O pioneirismo de Louis Le Guillant na reforma psiquiátrica e psicoterapia
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hospícios. Estudos e Pesquisas em Psicologia, ANO 9, N.3, P. 612-631. Disponível
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Junho/2020)[1] When the first cases in Wuhan city, China, were disclosed by the Chinese government in late
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Workers in the informal economy: possible interventions
Fellipe Coelho-Lima
Pedro F. Bendassolli
In March 2020, more than 38 million of Brazilians were working in informality,
representing around 40% of active workers in this situation (IBGE 2020). Even though
this number represents a slightly decrease in comparison to the previous trimester,
informal work has been a growing tendency since 2015. (Lameira, Corseuil & Carvalho,2020). In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this type of work is expected toincrease, prolonging itself to subsequent moments. Upon this context, the objective of
this article is to debate a couple of measures the state, Psychology and workers in thissituation could take in regard to informality. For this purpose, we will consider both theorigin of informality in our context, and the impacts of such informality in the workers’
lives. In regard to this last point, we will give a special attention to the signifying process
upon which these workers operate, considering the role that the meaning and sense
making have both in the way subjects apprehend the world, and the way they transformit. (Vigotski, 2009).

The Informal work as a tendency in the work sphere

In Brazil, workers have long coexisted with informality, which may be dated back to thesubsequent moments of the end of slavery in the country. Even when the working
regulations were created in the 1940’s, less than half of those working at the time could
have access to these rights (Costa, 2010). Thus, informality is a mark of how workers
work in our country.
In general, informal work express itself both in the wage labor with no formal
registration, and self-employed workers. They both have in common the lack of accessto rights conquered by the working class, being associated with the struggle for survival,
the precariousness of life, the lack of qualification, and with the intensive use of
manpower. (Cacciamali, 2000; Tavares, 2010). In the concept adopted by this article,
neither liberal professionals nor businessmen who evade taxes or commit otherirregularities are included.
There are three central elements for understanding the origin and development of
informal work: unemployment, lack of politics to assist workers, and the deteriorationof work conditions. Brazil is an excellent example to understand the association between
these three determiners. Here, we noticed that as the unemployment increases, there
is a consequent growth of workers in informality. Due to the lack of politics aimed tomitigate the effects of the unemployment (by granting income or by ensuring basic
rights), the unemployed workers conduct several different small services - gigs - or evenstart their own business. Such reality cannot be verified in countries like France andJapan, which have better developed politics for assisting unemployed workers(Guimarães, Demazière, Sugita & Brito, 2009).
The quality of the offered jobs itself also determines the increase in informality. Low
wages, working conditions that risk the worker’s life, threats, humiliations and several
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship31

kinds of harassment also push the workers into informality. One cannot ignore thatwomen and black people are most of those in informal work, being also the same people
who have the worst kind of job as their only option. (Marques, Henrique, Teixeira, &Abílio, 2018).
If informality seems to be located outside of the scope of formal jobs, when we observe
what occurs in the productive process nowadays, we can verify an integration between
both of them. Therefore, informal work plays at least two roles in our current society.
The first one is to absorb an increasing contingent of workers who have lost their jobs,
considering that the current model of production is based on progressively closing job
openings. In this sense, informality alleviates the pressure over both the state and thecompanies by taking on effective measures for increasing the number of job openings.
The second role is related to the fact that the existence of an informal chain has become
useful to formal companies both in regard to the circulation of their goods - for instance,in the case of street sellers - and in regard to hiring services. In both cases, the result isthe production cost getting cheaper while the illegal aspects of the process areoutsourced (Tavares, 2010).
This dynamic becomes more intense when we look at how work happens in the so-called
gig economy or uberization of work. In either case, it concerns companies - mostly largecapital ones - taking advantage of hiring workers as freelancers. By using a discourse ofpartnership, what we notice is similar to an informal recruitment of workers: there is noacknowledgement of an employment relationship, hence workers cannot access theirrights, even if they are those who enable the main activity of the company which hired
them (Slee, 2017).
The increasing usefulness of the informal work for the current economy is also followedby discourses that encourage workers to adhere to these modalities. The state’s
institutions, employer’s associations and corporate media have been disseminating
discourses affirming the superiority of self-employment as a way out – throughentrepreneurship – to unemployment (Malaguti, 2001). Meanings related toindividualism, personal accountability and the intensification of the competition
between these workers are associated to it. The transformation of unemployed workers
into businesspeople (without capital) seeks to weaken the acknowledgment of workers
as part of the working class, while mystifies the possibility of them having the sameadvantages of the high-profile businessmen (Sousa, 2009).

Workers in the informal economy

These discourses are transmuted into socially shared meanings which aims to guide how
this group of workers acts before reality. However, far from a mechanical reproduction,
what we see is that by appropriating these meanings, which are configured into senses(Vigotski, 2009), such discourses are reshaped. From this aspect, we have compiled
some of the findings regarding how this part of the working class has been signifying
their work.
The first one concerns the diversity of meanings according to the activity performed in
informality. That is, alongside the multiplicity of forms of informal work, there is also
the meanings produced by workers. Therefore, it its both possible to identify sectors
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship32

such as the handicraft and food street marketers/producers, for whom the activity
performed is of central importance, acknowledging and valuing the product of theirwork, and others, for example, connected entirely to the trading of industrialized goods,
for whom the meaning of their work is just the income produced by it. Additionally, In
this case, getting into informality (and remaining on it) is something also determined by
the assessment that this activity provides a better income than a formal job - though
they would return to a formal job if offered a better salary. (e.g. Busso, 2007; Gómez,2011).
They both have in common the work as a crucial role in their lives. Thus, there is an
inclination for desiring to work indefinitely. Also, in some cases, even the access topensions would not be followed by the abandonment of informal work (e.g. Beloque,2007; Coelho-Lima & Bendassolli, 2019). If, on the one hand, retiring would mean acomplement for one’s income, on the other we must have in mind that even with thisextra sum, it concerns a population that is still far from getting a sufficient income totend to their necessities for survival.
Two aspects that are also usually valued in informal work are freedom and theimmediate access to the income associated to work. As for the first one, the prospectof organizing their own work (concerning daily worked hours, price, type of activity,
applied techniques, etc.) according to their own will in addition to the absence of amanager or direct boss are valued elements. If, on the one hand, such freedom is limited- once there is a more elaborated relation for determining work through the flow ofclients and suppliers, for example - on the other, there is more agency power for theworkers in this activity than in their old jobs. As for the second one, we have observed
the opposition between the salary - which takes waiting a month to have any income
and it runs out before the next payment - and the immediate gains of the informality.
Both meanings are connected to a third one, which is the criticism of formal work. For
these workers, aside from a way to access rights and some stability, jobs are a source of
humiliation both due to the constant harassments, and the offers of insufficient income(e.g. Beloque, 2007; Busso, 2007; Gómez, 2011).
The way they get involved with each other is also an important aspect to be considered.
Different from what some authors have presumed in the past decades (e.g. Toraine,
1987), we have observed a coexistence between competition and cooperation among
informal workers. If, on the one hand the neoliberal ideology, which encourages
individualism and competition, has an impact over them, on the other, we have noticed,in their everyday life, the creation of several collective spaces where they formulate
rules, aid or even share experiences (e.g., Coelho-Lima & Bendassolli, 2019; Sato,
Andrada, Évora, Neves & Oliveira, 2011).
Beyond the meanings produced by these workers, it is also relevant to consider theeffects that informality creates over their life conditions. Even if their assessment of thistype of work points to advantages over formal work, the income of this first group of
workers is lower, and most of them do not contribute to the social security and execute
greater working hours (IBGE, 2003). There are also researches demonstrating situationsof health vulnerability concerning these workers, once they have no resources to
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship33

mitigate work hazards, with accidents and illnesses derived from laboral activity being
common, and they hardly take time off work to take care of their own health (e.g. Dias
et al, 2011).

Interventions before informality

The thought about intervening before this context implies at least two crucial
considerations. The first one concerns the necessity of intervening in the informal
economy. In an individual fashion, as an immediate way for an unemployed worker or aworker in a precarious job survive or manage better life conditions, informality is agenuine alternative. However, considering informality as something socially accepted
would be reinforcing the tolerance towards the inequality and social injustice which
integrate our mode of production in general and specially in the Brazilian reality. As wehave described briefly in the previous section, informal workplaces workers in worse life
conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to transform this situation, be it by mitigating its
effects over the life of these people, or ultimately eliminating this form of precarious
work.
The second one concerns the people’s implication over these changes. If the origin of
informality is complex, overcoming this situation also involves several necessary actions
with the participation of different social actors. The state, the companies, the public
policies systems, the unions, the central unions and the academy, among others, havean important role in operating proposals and actions towards this end. This is a valid
endeavor even if we consider the limitations of the way we organize our society, which
presumes, as demonstrated, the existence of informality, precariousness andexploitation, ultimately.
Even if the active involvement of these individuals is of a central importance, thismovement will hardly occur in an autonomous and spontaneous fashion. On thecontrary, if we notice the project of society that has been defended, for example, by thelast federal governments and employer’s associations, what tends to happen is thedeepening of informality and the worsening of the workers’ life conditions as a whole.
Thus, it is crucial that a part of the working class acting in informality plays a leading rolein disputing measures and actions to improve their lives.
Hence, a pivotal intervention in this context is the strengthening of the collective
organization of informal workers. The existence of collaboration, solidarity andcooperation bonds is an element we can identify in several research, as mentioned in
the last section. There are also examples of associations and collectives of different
informal workers - food street sellers, product street sellers, gig economy apps workers,
among others - that take these bonds to a higher level. However, as it was alsoemphasized, meanings related to competition as well as to individualism are alsopresent in this context. Fighting the production of these meanings seems to be a fighting
front to be considered to encourage the collective organization of these workers.
Farina and Neves (2007) experience, or even the Martin-Baró’s (1985) “deideologization” proposals point to a direction in which its possible to help overcoming
this scenario. In general, interventions of this kind require that we concatenate at least
three aspects. The first one is understanding the anxiety, fear and suffering intrinsic to
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship34the unemployment and informality by which these workers have been subjected. Acting
upon these feelings is crucial both for improving their mental health and for creating aspace to attenuate the rivalry and suspicion between them. The second one is allowing
reflections over the current situation of these workers by reinforcing the social andcollective aspect of the problems faced by them - a way to fight the individual
understandings that may exist. At last, the collective construction of alternatives andways to overcome the problems intrinsic to informality is also an important step. About
this last point, it is precisely when these proposals come into practice that it is unveiled
to these subjects both the resistance of groups to whom informality and precariousness
are functional, and the collective strength of this fighting process. Therefore, theinterventions that strengthen the collective organization of these workers imply not only
moments of reflection, understanding and planning, but also concrete actions fortransforming one’s reality.
We cannot ignore that further understandings shared by this group are also confronted
by this process, for instance, the potentialities of the meaning of work other than a way
to earn money or even the overestimation of their own condition as informal workers
as the only possible way. That is, the collective confrontation with the current social
dynamic, even if in a first moment, leads the consciousness of these subjects to advancetowards distinct horizons where new possibilities are revealed.
Even during the context of the pandemic and the necessary measures for social isolation,
it is possible to implement interventions in this sense. The social networks, specially thegroups in applications such as WhatsApp or Facebook, can be important forums toanticipate discussions in this direction, and can be matured in person in subsequent
moments.
Interventions of this size require the involvement of workers in this situation, but theparticipation of allies is also important. Here, both the teams from institutions of social
policies (like Social, Health and Work Assistance) and other more organized sectors of
the workers’ class (for instance, unions, central unions, associations and political parties)
can drive such actions). This is an important exercise both of the state’s role and theclass solidarity of these other sectors, considering that the progress of those more
vulnerable people means a widespread gain for the workers’ class.
In the context of the greatest economic, social and political crisis we have ever lived,
only by the collective strengthening of those exploited, dominated and oppressed,
through both their own acknowledgment as a class and their collective action, we candraw more humanized horizons before this current dehumanizing project.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship35

References

1. Beloque, L. D. (2007). A cor do "trabalho informal": uma perspectiva de análise das
atividades "informais". Doctoral thesis, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo,
Estudos Pós-Graduados em Ciências Sociais, São Paulo, SP.
2. Bussso, M. (2007). Informal workers in Argentina : from the construction of collective
identities to the constitution of organisations? Doctoral thesis, Universidad de
Buenos Aires e Université de Provence (Aix-Marselle I), Buenos Aires.
3. Cacciamali, M. C. (2000). Globalização e processo de informalidade. Economy andSociety, 14, 153-174.
4. Costa, M. S. (2010). Informal labor: a basic structural problem in the understandingof inequalities in Brazilian society. Caderno CRH, 23(58), 171-190.
5. Dias, E. C., Oliveira, R. P., Machado, J. H., Minayo-Gomez, C., Perez, M. A. G., Hoefel,
M. G. L., & Santana, V.S. (2011). Employment conditions and health inequities: a casestudy of Brazil. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 27(12), 2452-2460.
6. Farina, A. S., & das Neves, T. F. S. (2007). Ways to deal with unemployment:
possibilities and limits of an action project in social psychology of work. Journal ofSocial Psychology of Work, 10(1), 21-36.
7. Lameiras, M. A. P., Corseuil, C. H. L. & Carvalho, S. S. (2020). Carta de conjuntura 46:
mercado de trabalho. IPEA: Brasília.
8. Gómez, M. C. P. (2011). Significados asociados al futuro laboral: entre la formalidad
y la informalidad. Pensamiento Psicológico, 9(16), 107-124.
9. Guimarães, N. A., Demazière, D., Sugita, K., & Brito, M. M. A. D. (2009). Desemprego,uma construção social. São Paulo, Paris e Tóquio. São Paulo: Argvmentvm.
10. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatísticas – IBGE (2003). Economia informal
urbana. Distrito Federal: IBGE.
11. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE (2020). Pesquisa nacional por
amostra de domicílios contínua. Trimestre móvel jan-mar 2020. IBGE: Brasília.
12. Malaguti, M. L. (2001). Crítica à razão informal: a imaterialidade do salariado.
Boitempo Editorial.
13. Marques, L., Henrique, A., Teixeira, D., & Abílio, L. (2018). Informalidade: realidades
e possibilidades para o mercado de trabalho brasileiro. São Paulo: Fundação Perseu
Abramo.
14. Martín-Baró, I. (1985). A desideologização como contribuição da Psicologia Socialpara o desenvolvimento da democracia na América Latina. In F. Lacerda Jr (Org.)(2017) Crítica e libertação na Psicologia: estudos psicossociais (pp. 51-62). Petrópolis,
RJ: Vozes.
15. Sato, L., Andrada, C. F., Évora, I. M. A., Neves, T. F. S., & Oliveira, F. (2011). The
psychosocial meshes of cooperation and competition in different work contexts.
Arquivos Brasileiros de Psicologia, 63(spe), 2-14
16. Slee, T. (2017). Uberização: a nova onda do trabalho precarizado. São Paulo: Elefante.
17. Sousa, F. J. P. (2009). Setor informal: concepções teóricas e conveniências ideológicas.
In J. Macambira & L. M F. Carleial (Orgs.), Emprego, trabalho e políticas públicas (pp.
363-396). Fortaleza: Instituto de Desenvolvimento do Trablaho / Banco do Nordeste
do Brasil.
18. Tavares, M. A. (2010). O trabalho informal e suas funções sociais. Praia Vermelha, 20,
21-36.
19. Touraine, A. (1987). Actores sociales y sistemas políticos en América Latina. Sgo. deChile: PREALC.
20. Vigotski, L. S. (2009). A construção do pensamento e da linguagem. São Paulo:
Martins Fontes.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship36

Workers’ new learning demands due to the
COVID-19 pandemicGardênia da Silva Abbad
Juliana Legentil

The pandemic impacts on work

The COVID-19 pandemic posed on workers the need for quickly getting adapted to theremote work. Before the pandemic, some of the learning needs of workers andmanagers related to the requirements defined by the organization to justify the
adoption of remote work activities. In the public sector, for example, the establishmentof barriers and control mechanisms that reached only remote workers gave rise toimportant distress in organization that did not clearly understand the potential of thismodality. As a result of the resistance against the implementation or expansion of
remote work, most organizations experienced for the first time the remote work ofcompulsory nature, with no material or psychological groundwork to deal with thissudden transition.
The possibility of voluntary remote work was typically associated to healthy motivations,such as better quality of life and well-being, work-family balance, and reduced expenses(Barros & Silva, 2010; Gaspar, Bellini et al., 2014; Legentil, 2020; Pereira Junior &Caetano, 2009). However, studies point out that the intensity with which workers
perform remote work (number of days a week) affects their outcomes. For example,
remote work might move away from an enhancement of work-family balance andbecome a promoter of work-family conflict (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). This aspect
invites us to consider the characteristics of the work that could lead workers toexperience perceptions that are different from those working on-site in the sameorganization, even if the contents of their tasks have not changed (Abbad et al., 2019).
To think over the learning demands related to remote work, one must rule out the belief
that this modality is limited to the transition of the workspace. Such a restrictive thinking
tends to make the adaptation stage even more challenging, mainly in settings in which
the gaps of knowledge and the skills required by the migration from on-site work to
telework had not yet been filled before the pandemic.
Some of the learning demands had already been reported by full-time (every day of theweek) or half-time (once, twice, or three times a week) teleworkers. Among thesedemands, there is the need for developing affective skills to handle technologymediated communication; seek social help and support from coworkers and superiors;
control work and rest periods; and, find a balance between work tasks and housework.
In this sense, the pandemic is found to have maximized the effects of adopting remote
work, as it demands extreme efforts to mitigate the difficulties resulting from theadoption of multiple information and communication tools required to preserve
integration among workers, and keeping the organization activities accommodatingthem with the housework.
The most sensitive changes in these times can be attributed to the characteristics of thework context. In a pre-pandemic scenario, workers’ reports pointed out to higher
capacity of concentration, largely associated to reduced interruptions by coworkers in
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship37the organizational environment. Moreover, workers could typically experience
conditions more favorable to performing their tasks, such as their children’s school shift;extra-class activities; support by domestic workers; and/or spouse going to work
(Legentil, 2020)
As part of a more enabling setting, an isolate room at home, access to broad band
Internet, and having proper computer equipment used to be the prevailing conditions
among a set of remote workers surveyed in Brazil in 2019. However, what is perceived
in this time of fighting the COVID-19, mainly among those individuals systematicallyworking remotely for the first time, is the existence of important difficulties related tolack of proper furniture and computer equipment. Sometimes, there is even the needto relay mobile devices (smartphones, tablets and laptop) with family members whoneed to attend concurrent virtual classes.
Moreover, it should keep in mind that pandemic caused fear, worrying, feelings ofloneliness, uncertainty, anxiety, suffering, loss, grievance, and additional stress dues to
the global, national, and local health crisis. These affective states were added with thechallenges posed by the compulsory telework (half-time with rotation schedules, or fulltime with no face-to-face meeting) among remote managers and workers. This
generated learning demands to properly cope with the situation.
In this context of crisis and change to the work design, the human resources
professionals should seek strategies to prevent telework from becoming an additional
factor of stress, sickening, burnout, or anxiety. To mitigate the occurrence of undesirable
results, we should foster the work redesign so that home office keeps its positive
characteristics such as autonomy, variety and identity of tasks, social support,
constructive feedback from the others, and comfortable work environment, providing
satisfactory ergonomic conditions to its accomplishment (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006;
Parker, Morgeson & Johns, 2017).
Another factor that deserves attention is the adjustment of individual performancegoals, mainly for those who are accumulating caregiver tasks, housework, and homeoffice. It is worth mentioning that these proposals consider a work context moresensitive to family demands and, in some circumstances, with limited technology
resources and skills, which tends to compromise the workers’ working capacity partiallyand temporarily.
Even before the pandemic, managers’ emotional and affective support to theirsubordinates, in an effort to balance family and work demands, is considered a key
element to prevent work-family conflicts. Several times the demands in the family
context are incompatible with labor tasks performance. That should be added with thelack of emotional support towards reaching a family-work balance, and can reduce
workers’ commitment, increase their dissatisfaction and intention of leaving theorganization (Hammer et al, 2007).
Thus, in the context of compulsory telework, human resources managers should
develop behaviors of affective support to their subordinates. Overcoming the homeoffice-related challenges in this context of pandemic comprises adopting organizational
measures to foster the learning of skills which are crucial for telework, as well as the
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship38

activities redesign. Following are presented the work design challenges and the learning
demands of workers and team managers.

Aspects to be considered in work (re)design

In order to guide potential initiatives on home office work redesign, we will approachsome activities that, according to studies developed prior to the pandemic, cansignificantly affect the individuals’ and organizations’ outcomes (Morgeson &Humphrey, 2006; Parker, Morgeson, & Johns, 2017; Windeler, Chudoba, & Sundrup,2017), and people’s motivation towards learning the new required skills for coping withthe challenges posed by the pandemic.
The unexpected migration from on-site work to home office for those organizations ororganizational units that did not work remotely prior to the pandemic hindered thechange in the nature of tasks performed by employees, and the gradual work transition
to the new modality. However, it was observed an enhancement in the autonomy of theplanning and selection of working methods and tasks identity.
Autonomy is pointed out as a variable associated with positive results of remote work
(productivity and well-being), mainly in organizations that adopted flexible working
hours for their remote teams. However, the adoption of telework with strict working
hours to complete tasks, or even demanding “full remote time” can damage thepotential benefits of implementing remote work, as extensively depicted in studies
carried out before the pandemic.
Another possible change that took place during the transition from on-site work toremote work consists in the narrower range of tasks assigned to the teleworker byvirtue of the managers’ difficulty in sharing and making accessible to workers thematerials, documents and information required to complete the tasks. Manyorganizations have no automated systems to access, share, move and follow-up thework delivery.
Full-time home office is likely to have sustained the identity of tasks if this attribute wasalready present at work before the pandemic. Identity refers to the possibility forworkers to fully perform a task. It means to say that workers do not depend on third
parties to start and complete the tasks assigned to them. In the telework context(before, during and after the pandemic) this characteristic fosters the worker’s sense of
responsibility. Tasks with this characteristic typically increase autonomy in workorganization, preventing distresses resulting from dependence on others to start orcomplete a work. (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1980). However, if independent andautonomous work is sustained for a long period of time (months or years) as the only
telework design, there is a risk of expanding the social and professional isolation of
teleworkers. That is why workers and human resources managers should be attentive
to the maintenance of social links among the members of remote teams.
Moreover, the interdependency of tasks should be carefully and properly managed, as
many activities are characterized by consistent and continuous flows of communication
among individuals in and out of the team. This attribute of work in the remote work
context is very sensitive, even in the so-called normal conditions, as people do not
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship39

necessarily work on the same work intervals, and maybe some of them do not event
perceive the actual impact of given tasks on other organizational levels.
Social support is another key factor for well-being, and alleviation of feelings of socialand professional isolation. Enabling sustainable links of friendship and fellowship amongcoworkers during the period of social distancing is an important measure. The
constructive feedback from coworkers and supervisors about the worker’s performanceis another factor that promotes positive work outcomes.
In addition to the characteristics of the tasks and the social interactions, the home office(re)design should also consider the work context in terms of environmental comfort,
ergonomic and technological suitability. These are quite sensitive aspects that deserve
attention from senior management to provide workers, as far as possible, withconditions to keep on performing their activities remotely. This way, the leadership
could provide to workers the equipment and stranded furniture at the organization’s
facilities.
The offer of computer support, for example, is a key measure to make workers feel safer
and more confident in the context of hard remote access to the systems maintained by
the organization, notably those systems recently assigned, with no previous training.
The different levels of familiarity with technology resources found in the organization’s
staff should be considered (Golden & Raghuram, 2010).
As can be observed, as a general rule the telework also more flexible working times andhigher autonomy. On the other hand, it demands additional efforts from workers tofocus on the tasks, because of the housework that, at many times, in conflict with thevolume of professional tasks to be performed. In telework, tasks that demand asynchronous collaboration and interaction with another person can increase the risk of
exhaustion, due to the additional efforts required to ensure synergy between individuals
working at different times. Figure 1 shows how some costs associated to social
interaction that can be maximized by telework when tasks demand high independence,
frequent contacts with other team members or individuals external to the team, highfocus and conflicting demands of work and housework.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship40

Figure 1
Additional efforts of teleworkers in home office and possible effects
Workplace subject to interruptions,noise and several stimuli
Lack of isolated place to perform tasks
Presence of family (adults andchildren) members at home
Conflict between work demands andhousework demands
Difficulty in matching flexible working
hours to arrange meetings with theteam or coworkers
Unsuitable equipment and furniture

Intensive effort to keep focus
on the tasks
Emotional and cognitiveefforts for self-regulation andcontrol of emotions
Conflict between the need ofstaying alone to work andthe need of interacting withother people

High and consistentenergyconsumption
Distress
Exhaustion
Burnout

Limited or no access to large band
Internet

Before the pandemic, the teleworkers succeeded in overcoming these difficulties
through strategies to manage interruptions, and improvements on the workplace, as
well as insertion of moments of leisure, rest and recovery in their routine. The loss ofcognitive and emotional resources happens when the cycles of gaining and recovering
energy are interrupted, or become insufficient, thus leading to distress and exhaustion.
To avoid the excessive consumption of cognitive, affective and emotional resources inthe everyday life, the worker should alternate periods of rest and leisure with periodsof work.
For telework in pandemic times, the emotional and affective factors linked to social
isolation, and to efforts to match professional and personal demands, increase the lossof energy and may increase diseasing changes. Due to that, teleworkers must develop awide range of social, affective, and instrumental skills, capable of protecting themagainst the risks of diseasing, while keeping them productive.
The demands for learning in a context of compulsory telework can be organized in termsof skills acquisition, improvement of social skills and social support, care with the context
of home office, in addition to the use of additional resources to support the consistentredesign of work. Short training programs can support the development of teleworkrelated coping skills in this time of fight against the pandemic.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship41Workers’ and managers’ learning demands

By incorporating the compulsory remote work as a protective measure to workers, anda measure to keep everyday activities in times of social isolation, the measures forcoping with the COVID-19 resulted in changes to the work design, and brought about
learning demands crucial to perform telework. Table 1 summarizes some of these needs.
Table 1
Workers’ learning demands
Time management•

Work panning focusing on goals achievement.

•

Establishment of priorities, methods, and sequence tasks accomplishment.

•

Select the most suitable time to perform the housework.

•

Estimate time to perform tasks, mainly the most complex ones that demand more concentration.

•

Identification of situations in which tasks accomplishment depends on the synchronous interaction
with the boss, coworkers and other persons.
Inclusion of synchronous work meetings in the tasks planning.

••

Adoption of strategies and tools for asynchronous tasks performance to minimize the lack of face-toface meetings or technology-mediated synchronous interactions.
Care with environmental comfort and well-being••

Care with comfort and ergonomic suitability of the work environment (home office), identifying andminimizing the risks of diseasing.
Identification and removal of environmental risks of stress, such as interruptions, noise, distractions
that may rise exhaustion and the risk of burnout.
Identification of signs of fatigue, and seek breaks to recover energy.

•

Planning of resting and leisure periods during working hours, to try to recover energy.

•

Use of communication tools••

Use of different media to communication with supervisors, coworkers and other people (internal orexternal to the organization) with whom one must interact to perform the work.
Seek for synergy of efforts to perform tasks that demand interdependent work.
Seek for social support•••

Active seeking for social support from coworkers and supervisor to minimize the negative effects
ensuing from social isolation to the fight of the pandemic.
Adoption of strategies to deal with social isolation through information actions to interact withother members of the remote team.
Show care and concern about the health and well-being of the remote team members.
Conciliation work-family-work•

Establishing boundaries between working hours and housework hours.

•

Seeking for balance between family caregiving, work, and resting periods.

•

Manage and overcome the work-family-work conflict.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship42

Managers lacking previous experience with telework management report demands forlearning technical, social and affective managerial skills. Some public and privateorganizations reported shortage of telework management tools or systems that led
managers to seek for different solutions to maintain communication with and manage
their teams’ remote tasks.
Some of the technical skills reported were the need for managing the work flow,
productivity, goals, and remote team coordination. Compulsory remote work
demanded managers to learn instrumental skills to use a wide range of communication
tools and tools to manage tasks delivery and goals achievement.
The social and affective skills of managers in times of compulsory telework are key
factors of support to overcome challenges posed by home office and the work-family
conflicts (Hammer et al, 2007, Hammer et al, 2009). Table 2 shows these learning
demands of managers.
Table 2
Demands of learning and managerial development
Technical and Instrumental Skills•

Productivity measurement, establishing and monitoring the goals achievement by remote teams.

•

Management of the work flow and deadlines.

•

Coordination of interdependent activities that demand collaborative work and coordination of efforts tofulfill the work goals.
Hold productive meeting mediated by synchronous work technology••

Management of remote work to share information, assign tasks, plan activities, monitor and assess
productivity.
Social and affective skills••

Skills to handle people in situation of crisis in home office, understanding emotions, feelings, andpsychological states that generate stress.
Seek and offer constructive feedback in telework situations.

•

Adoption of practices of encouragement, motivation, seek for engagement of the remote team.

••Identification of verbal and non-verbal signs of anxiety and of suffering from coworkers in theirtechnology-mediated communications.
Negotiation of goals, considering the home office conditions and family environment.

•

Adopt fair procedures to assign tasks among the remote team members.

•

Be willing to rethink the work goals, making them more feasible in the home office context in times ofpandemic.
Show empathy and understanding about the challenges faced by teleworkers to accommodate work andfamily.
Foster non-exhaustive work shifts that include resting periods.

••

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

43

Recommendations

Compulsory home office in social isolation times brought a wide range of challenges andsudden changes in work design, mainly on social characteristics and place to performtasks. Workers and human resources managers are advised to invest in the developmentof knowledge and skills that allow them to (re)design telework, specially to:1) negotiate achievable goals and monitor them through indicators; 2) dialog about theergonomic and technology conditions of home office, preventing additional stress andconflicts; 3) provide multi-functionality tools (synchronous and asynchronous
collaborative work, video calls, repository of documents). The use of asynchronous work
tools (wikis, database shared on the cloud, messaging tools, work management) andsynchronous work tools (technology-mediate virtual meetings) are crucial to coordinate
the interdependence of tasks with demands, goals, and work schedules and conditions
in home office; 4) schedule virtual meetings to times suitable to workers engaged in theactivities; 5) learn new ways to manage time, and to balance work-family; 6) develop
new skills to provide affective and emotional support to coworkers. For example, one
can encourage virtual meetings that promote affections, where people can talk about
amenities, preferably through video conferences; 7) develop new skills of social support.
Express concern about the health and well-being of coworkers and managers. The
materialization of this feeling through the verbalizations of the team members may be
comforting, mainly for those who are alone during the pandemic; and, 8) provide
constructive feedback. Empathy and the ability of talking in private with the worker, on
the right time and in a constructive way, are supportive conditions to this practice.
The learning and development of such social, affective, managerial and instrumental
skills is taking place informally, by trial and error, seeking tutorials and observing otherpeople. This learning, however, can be expanded by the offering of integrative programsof training and promotion of well-being and quality of life at work. These programs
could be structured and delivered as mini courses, live speeches, virtual chats withteleworkers, improvement of systems of information, document processing, anddelivery management, as well as the dissemination of guidance on the proper use of
media to facilitate the remote work.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship44

Gardênia da Silva Abbad
Doctor, Master and undergraduate in Psychology from the University of Brasilia (UnB).
Associate Professor of the UnB Institute of Psychology. Member of the academic facultyof the Graduation Programs on Social Psychology, Work, and Organizations, andGraduation in Administration of the University of Brasilia. Holder of productivity-based
scholarship level 1B at CNPq. Vice-president of ANPEPP for 2021-2022.
Juliana Legentil
Doctoral student in Business Administration from the University of Brasilia (UnB),
research line in People Management and Organizational Studies. Master’s
degree in Business Administration form the Estácio de Sá University (UNESARJ). Member of the E-work Group , certified by the CNPq, developing researchon perceptions and practices of civil servants and managers in the context oftelework.

References

1. Abbad, G., Freitas I. A., & Pilati, R. (2009). Contexto de trabalho, desempenho
competente e necessidades em TD&E. In Borges-Andrade, J. E., da Silva Abbad, G., &Mourão, L. (Orgs.), Treinamento, desenvolvimento e educação em organizações etrabalho (pp. 231-254). Porto Alegre: Artmed Editora.
2. Abbad, G. S., Legentil, J., Damascena, M., Miranda, L., Feital, C., & Neiva, E. R. (2019).
Percepções de teletrabalhadores e trabalhadores presenciais sobre desenho do
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The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship46Creating New Solutions for Work and for Workers in Response to
the Pandemic
Maria de Fátima Bruno-Faria
Tatiana de Cassia Nakano
Heila Magali da Silva Veiga
The creativity of workers has been highly sought in different types of organizations
because it is a driving force for innovation, especially in organizations that are locatedin highly competitive environments and need to identify a differentiation in order tohold a prominent place in the market in which they operate. Cantwell (2006) says that
innovation creates capacities for organizations to sustain growth in a competitiveenvironment.
The pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the consequent crash in the world economy has
created a unique situation, which has forced companies to respond to the crisis, trying
to survive this period (Kuckertz et al., 2020). Social isolation, imposed as a measure tocontain the pandemic, threatens the existence of many companies, forcing
entrepreneurs to deal with the effects of the crisis and the adoption of measures toguarantee the future of their organizations and the maintenance of jobs.
Public institutions, in turn, are faced with the need to innovate in order to respond more
effectively to the needs of society. Cavalcante and Cunha (2017, p. 15) highlight that thisconcern has been increasingly frequent "in response to the constant economic, political,
social, and technological changes in a more globalized and networked world". They also
add that the expectations of citizens, as well as the typical problems of the public sector,
especially “tight budgets”, lead to the need to create innovations.
Even with the recognition of its importance, expressing creativity at work is not a simple
thing. Creativity, by itself, has been conceived by different authors (Bruno-Faria, 2007;
Mitjans Martinez, 1997; Stacey, 1996) as a complex phenomenon, given the conjunctionof multiple aspects that characterize it. More than ever, the definition of creativity as aphenomenon that generally implies producing something new, including discovering
new ways of doing things or solving problems, seeing old problems in new ways, or
becoming aware of new problems (Unsworth, 2001), proves to be current. This
characteristic has been seen as an important resource for coping with the current risks
and challenges and also as a way to overcome the difficulties imposed by theenvironment (Oliveira & Nakano, 2011).

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship47

Factors associated with the expression of creativity

Alencar (1999) identified a set of factors at the individual level that can act as barriers
to the expression of one's creativity, such as inhibition / shyness; lack of time /opportunity; social repression; lack of motivation. Bruno-Faria and Veiga (2015) also lista set of factors in the work environment that can favor the expression of creativity, andother aspects that can be unfavorable to it. The factors favorable to creativity were:characteristics of the physical environment, climate among co-workers, freedom ofaction, challenging activities, support from the immediate manager, and organizational
strategies and actions in support of new ideas. As to unfavorable factors, we have an
excess of duties and a shortage of time; inadequate managerial performance;
communication difficulties between areas and levels of the organization, and lack offlexibility in the organization's rules and norms.
On the one hand, individual factors, on the other, work environment factors, as well as
the interrelationship between these factors. From a more macro point of view,
strategically planning organizational actions in order to create a culture of innovation
that, in turn, depends on an environment conducive to creativity, has been emphasized
by Bruno-Faria and Fonseca (2015).
But, how does one plan in the current situation, when the intervening factors go beyond
the regional or national context and affect everyone? What about the work environment
in a pandemic context? Any strategic planning, however flexible, in which different
scenarios were considered, did not foresee a pandemic that would send people from allover the world back to their homes, in order to protect themselves and those nearby.
How can one be creative in this new reality? What factors can favor creativity or act asbarriers? In principle, it seems that there are only barriers.
Remote work emerges as an alternative for organizations to continue their activities,
many lives are made for leisure and with a huge supply of information about COVID-19
and how to deal with it, especially at work, in the country's current scenario. Various
technological tools are offered for virtual meetings. There is so much information that aworker encounters and, at the same time, such a lack of information, in the sense of arepertoire of possibilities extracted from previous experiences, to turn to and face thecurrent difficulties, since this reality is unusual for all workers. In addition, insecurities
arise in terms of payment at work and workers' rights. Every day the unpredictable
knocks at the door. How can the worker deal with this situation, since it is not just a
matter of learning how to deal with remote work, but of reconciling household activities
with work, with no possibility of prior planning for this?
Let's reflect on a more optimistic approach. Initially, we would like to highlight theconcept of the individual that underlies the idea of creativity that we are considering.
Starting from the principles of Gonzalez Rey's (1999) theory of subjectivity, and ofcreativity as configuration, defended by Martinez (1997), human individuals are active,
intentional, singular beings capable of transforming a reality based on their creativity,
while they also transform in the interactions they carry out throughout life. Reflection
at this point becomes essential, in the sense of seeking alternatives to face these newchallenges. A challenge, as stated earlier, that is considered as favoring creativity, even
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship48

though we are aware of countless barriers such as an excess of activities (domestic andorganizational) and the manager who also was not prepared to engage in remote work.
Added to the belief that it is possible to prevail, is the idea of strategies for creativity inthe work environment, suggested by Moraes and Lima (2010, p.138), as “efforts
undertaken by the individual to favor the creation of new and useful ideas in the
resolution of work problems”, in order to believe that workers are able to jointly seek
strategies to deal with the new reality, even if devastating, and find fulfillment. What
are the repercussions for well-being and mental health?

The role of creativity in promoting well-being and mental health in times ofpandemic

Periods like this, which require quick and precise responses to unforeseen situations,can benefit from the use of creativity (Pearson & Sommer, 2010). This is because such a
construct has increasingly shown itself to be an essential characteristic in this momentof transformation that we are going through. It allows the daily and constantconfrontation of the new, the adaptation to the accelerated pace of changes, the searchfor solutions to challenges, also allowing people to transform themselves, adapting to
new contexts (Neves-Pereira & Alencar, 2018). Accordingly, this text aims to analyze
how creativity and proactivity can benefit the work and the workers affected by the
pandemic, identifying the possible contributions of this characteristic in this context ofcrisis.
In the current context, individuals need to learn how to generate ideas, adapt, innovate,
and solve problems as they are faced with uncertain circumstances (Ambrose, 2016),
allowing problems to be transformed into challenges and opportunities (Runco, 2016).
In the organizational and work context, this has been considered a vital element forcompanies to prosper in environments marked by constant changes, responding tochallenges and unforeseen situations (Rocha & Wechsler; Zhou & Hoever, 2014).
Likewise, proactivity is defined as actions directed and focused on the future, andinvolves an attitude of going beyond the tasks assigned and having a long-term
perspective (Shin & Eom, 2014), allowing individuals to identify opportunities, to act onthem, show initiative, and persevere until a significant change occurs (Gong, Cheung,Wang, & Huang, 2012). In conjunction with creativity, proactivity can favor the increaseof the creative performance of employees and the team, through the identification andmanipulation of opportunities in the environment, as well as the development of newwork methods to improve their performance.
Global crises such as the one we are experiencing due to the new coronavirus can beinterpreted as opportunities to face new challenges and growth, both for organizations
and their employees. Thus it is important, more than ever, that managers incorporate
creativity as an important element in the process of planning and response to the crisis.
This is because the increase in levels of creativity in organizations not only generates
creative and innovative changes for the company, but also changes in the individuals
and their behavior, especially in relation to increasing their well-being (Rasulzada &Dackert, 2009).

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship49In addition, creativity at work can transform the experience of workers regarding theimportance of their work, increasing the belief that they can make a difference in theirorganizational context, by overcoming the challenges present in this environment andthrough the possibility of proposing changes (Tavares, 2016). An organizational climate
favorable to creativity that encourages, supports, and implements new ideas can form
a decisive element in this moment of crisis, increasing the probability that employees
will feel more committed to the organization, presenting more positive mental states,
such as happiness, enthusiasm, and optimism (Rasulzada & Dackert, 2009), important in
the face of the crisis experienced.
The literature indicates that both creativity and proactivity are the result of a complex
relationship between individual, social, and contextual factors; thus, for the worker topresent creative and proactive ideas, in the work environment, various aspects must be
considered (Egan, 2005); however, it is worth mentioning that context has a central role
(Aggarwal & Bhatia, 2011). In this direction, Shalley et al. (2004) argue that there are
four factors that promote creativity, with one factor being individual (skills, motivation,
creative self-efficacy, personality) and three contextual (a. organizational factors, suchas organizational culture and organizational climate; b. social factors, such as
relationship with leaders and peers; c. work-related factors, such as autonomy and work
characteristics).
Considering that the manager has an important role in creating a work environment that
promotes creativity, there are actions that can be taken by him/her, such as: creating anenvironment that enables learning, promotes dialogue, and encourages collaboration(Oldham & Cummings, 1996; Tierney et al., 1999). Efforts to help the worker must
include organizational and managerial commitment, but also the individual efforts of
the workers, through a support structure for well-being in the organization (Quevillon,
Gray, Erickson, Gonzalez, & Jacobs, 2016).
It should be emphasized that autonomy is a pillar of creativity (Volmer et al., 2012; Wang
& Cheng, 2009), thus, allowing workers to think about the best way to do their work canfacilitate the emergence of creativity and proactivity. In addition to these aspects,
feedback and rewards are relevant, and managers must monitor and guide theirsubordinates when objectives and goals are being contemplated. It is worth highlightingthat the reality experienced with the pandemic is unlike anything workers wereaccustomed to, so assisting them and recognizing their progress, guiding their mistakes,
are fundamental for the results to be those expected by the organization. Moreover,workers will be more confident about the way they are doing their jobs and more likely
to experience well-being at work.

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship50

Maria de Fátima Bruno-Faria
Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Program for Public Policy, Strategy and Development (PPED)
Tatiana de Cassia Nakano
Visiting Scholar from the University of California - Berkeley
Professor of the stricto sensu graduate program in Psychology, PUC-Campinas
Heila Magali da Silva Veiga
Associate Professor at the Federal University of Uberlândia, MG
Graduate Program in Psychology, UFU, MG

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The impacts of COVID-19 on Workers' Careers
Juliana Seidl
Alexsandro Luiz De Andrade
Filip De Fruyt
The COVID-19 global pandemic brings challenges, reflections and opportunities to the
future of work and to various groups of people active on the labor market, such as
entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals, employees, or public servants. This text aims
to discuss the implications of the pandemic on workers' careers and emerging
theoretical concepts for researchers and career counselors, as well as to ask attention
for the effect of social differences and consequent injustices on career development ina post-COVID context.

The impact of the pandemic on the Brazilian economy

Before discussing how the pandemic will affect workers' careers, it is necessary to lookat how it is already affecting the economy, work bonds and job security in the short termand how it will affect these in the medium and long term. There is no doubt that a global
recession can be expected in the near future, in both developed and underdeveloped
countries, with different consequences for their population, as well as diverse strategies
for overcoming it and stimulating growth (Rudolph et al., in press).
The Brazilian economic crisis that started in mid-2014 was not resolved; the economic
growth was meager, around 3% across the last three years without recession (20172019). Without consistent growth indicators, aligned to few technological advances, adeclining industrial system, continued loss in the quality of the educational system anda collapsing social apparatus, the scenario triggered by the recent coronavirus pandemicin Brazil is not really optimistic for the near future.
Recent socioeconomic indicators point the cancellation of investments, companies
closing doors, a falling GDP, a devaluation of the national currency and the growth ofunemployment. According to IBGE data, the number of people who applied for
unemployment insurance increased 39% compared to March and the expectation is that
this number will be even higher when calculated in the second quarter of 2020. In
addition, “the Ministry also disclosed that 6.2 million people were subject to theprovisional measure that allows the reduction of wages and the suspension of theemployment contract - a way to avoid the extinction of more jobs1”, which isaccompanied by a loss of income and a drop in the family consumption, feeding backthe recession process.
In the best scenario - if the vaccine and/or a drug are discovered soon and the virus iscontrolled - it is possible that this unemployment will be temporary and that theentrepreneurs will be able to retake their business as well as the workers return to theirformer jobs. However, if the pandemic crisis persists, it will be possible to observe not
only small companies, but also multinationals closing permanently, causing a long periodof unemployment, socioeconomic crisis and uncertainties in Brazil and in the world.
1

https://exame.com/economia/6-numeros-mostram-o-dramatico-impacto-do-coronavirus-na-economia/

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship54

How will careers be affected?

In recent years, a new career conception has been established and the contemporary
career definition is no longer associated with a logic of progressive growth in a single
organization, but to a sequence of career cycles, eventually in multiple organizations, sothat each cycle represents sets of a person's work experiences throughout his/her life
(Hall, 2004). It is known that unemployment is a multicausal phenomenon - surroundedby global, historical, economic, and social determinants - and people who face repeated
and/or long periods of unemployment tend to experience negative effects on thedevelopment and progression of their careers (Schmillen & Umkehrer, 2017).
Such negative effects are due to the fact that unemployment leads to a decrease inimportant personal and career resources, such as, for example: psychological capital(self-efficacy, resilience, hope and optimism), technical skills (professional knowledge
and skills) and social skills (decreased network development and professional social
support), essential for objective and subjective career success (Rudolph et al., in press;
Spurk et al., 2019).
Even for those who will not be unemployed, the pandemic has represented a shock intheir careers and in their professional roles, accompanied in most cases by situations oftension, change, insecurity in their occupational status, in addition to negative effects
on well-being and performance labor (Lee, Huang & Ashford, 2018). Therefore, in the
search for an effective adaptation to a context of uncertainty, processes of change andcareer transition are triggered (Akkermans et al., 2018; Rudolph et al., in press).
Additionally, it is highlighted that the pandemic crisis impacts careers in a very different
way, as there are variations associated with contractual job modalities (formal x
informal work), gender, ethnicity, and productive sector. For example, professionals
linked to the sectors of tourism (airlines and hotels), leisure (cinema, theater,
restaurants) and beauty are being negatively affected at the moment, while sectors suchas distance learning, online entertainment, remote work tools, nutrition, health andtelemedicine experience an increase in their demands2.
In contrast, the current job insecurity can also lead and has already led some
professionals to engage more actively in their careers. Many have assessed therelevance of their career choices, in a world with less social interactions and greater
information technologies, seeking to plan and explore new alternatives. In addition toassessing changes in occupations and sectors, several workers have sought tostrengthen their networks of professional and personal contacts and have invested incontinuing education and training to increase their social-emotional skills andemployability (Spurk et al., 2019; Rudolph et al., in press).

2

https://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/economia/economia-apos-coronavirus-setores-ganham-perdem/

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship55

Social justice, Protean career and sustainable career

In a scenario of greater uncertainty and less support from organizations, institutions andthe government, understanding aspects of career and professional development
becomes a challenge for society, as well as for career counselors. In this context, we
discuss three concepts that facilitate a discussion and dialogue on career development
and intervention, i.e. professional guidance for social justice (Hooley & Sultana, 2016),
the concept of protean careers (Hall, 2004) and the notion of sustainable careers (DeVos, Van der Heijden, & Akkermans, 2020).
The neoliberalism and the Fourth Industrial Revolution3 raised the level of individualpressures for continuing education, learning new skills and self-managed conceptions ofcareers. These challenges could be handled more easily In Brazil by those keeping higher
social positions, but such challenges were difficult to deal with by a large group of the
population struggling with the fulfillment of basic needs for survival. In this scenario,
vocational guidance for social justice (Hooley & Sultana, 2016), in addition to discussing
access to decent work for all, underscores the need for public policies to generate
employment, involving a special focus on less enriched socioeconomic classes. Thus, theincrease in structural unemployment and the consequences of the pandemic require
equitable policies in continuing education and incentives for quality training and hiringof professionals from minority groups (young people, the elderly, blacks, women,
LGBTQ+ population).
A second structuring and guiding axis is the protean career conception, which values theindividual nature of self-management and career direction (Hall, 2004). In a VUCA4
world, protagonism and the internal locus of decision are fundamental characteristics
for professional maintenance and growth. The protean career model assumes that when
the individual guides his professional development based on personal values andinterests, intrinsic motivation is cultivated, which can lead to a greater commitment andengagement of the professional with the desire to innovate, learn and grow in her/his
career. It should be noted that the protean career concept indicates the need for selfmanagement not only in professional development decisions but also in maintainingbalance for dedication to family and social roles, which is now being reinforced by the
COVID-19 crisis (Hirschi, Steiner, Burmeister, & Johnston, 2020).
In line with the notion of a sustainable society, sustainable careers occur in social andnon-traditional spaces. Over time, they are marked by individual interests and meanings
aiming at creating and maintaining adaptive capacity in harmony with aspects of mental
health, well-being and respect for environmental resources (De Vos, Van der Heijden, &Akkermans, 2020). As an example, during this crisis, it was possible to observe asignificant number of people doing volunteer work in health services and in thecommunity, discovering and reinforcing interests, values, psychological resources in thistime of confinement at home.
Experts, artists and celebrities have already stressed that the “new normal” will not be
and should not be going back to how we lived before, but rather, to live in a more
34

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ind%C3%BAstria_4.0
VUCA is the acronym for vulnerability, uncertainty, complexity e ambiguity

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship56

sustainable way. The crisis has also fostered people's reflection on the importance ofdedicating more to life spheres such as physical and mental health, social connections
with family and friends and cultivating solidarity, offering help to those who need it
most, being closer to our less socially favored community (Hirschi et al., 2020).

What can I do in this scenario?

Based on what has been said, some suggestions are presented to professionals on how
to act in this scenario to mitigate the effects of this crisis on their careers:
1. Respect yourself and assess your emotional health: each of us reacts differently ina crisis situation, especially on threatening situations. We must respect our reaction,
whether it is more passive or more active, of denial or of confrontation. Before
starting a career transition, assess and reflect on your mental health. At the sametime, it is worthwhile to realize that the delicacy of the scenario presents itself as agood moment for self-knowledge and for questioning and further developing yoursocio-emotional skills.
2. Review your choices: many people who were already motivated to make a careertransition are feeling this need more manifest since the beginning of the pandemics.
Assess whether your current professional choices still reflect your values, whether
there is an interest in relocating on the job market or making any career transition,and seek help from professionals who offer career guidance if you find that you areunable to carry out this analysis by yourself.
3. Be open to learn: after analyzing your choices, consider this period as essential toacquire and/or develop new skills, knowledge, whether in your area of expertise ornot. The mastery of programs, applications and other virtual technologies becomes
crucial. Openness to lifelong learning represents an essential competence forpeople of different ages, at any stage of their careers.
4. Expand, and strengthen your network: strengthening and broadening your personal
and professional network is essential as it will help you in the process of emotional
regulation (when realizing that you are not alone) as well as when signaling to yournetwork that you are interested to make a career transition - looking for a new job
opportunity - which can also help you to achieve it.
5. Take care of your work-life balance: The roles of worker, family and citizen are
occurring in an overlapping way and often in the same place since the beginning of
the confinement: at home. It is very important to plan and properly manage thetime dedicated to each of these roles in order to take care for your relationships
and other life domains.
6. Try to avoid standing still: if you are unemployed, volunteering can be a good way
to develop personal resources, socio-emotional skills, assess work centrality andmeaning for you during the crisis, feel active and connect to other people, in
addition to exercising generosity and gratitude.
It should be noted that the attempt to classify groups of people of the same age groupin generations is mistaken, because a myth has been created - not scientifically proven- that people belonging to the same age group have typical behaviors, attitudes andvalues (Rudolph & Zacher, 2020). This tendency to generalize is common due to thehuman need to find simple explanations, however the focus on stereotypes may notcontribute to the understanding that the uncertainties in the world of work and careers,
The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship57

intensified by the pandemic crisis, affects people of all ages differently (Rudolph et al.,in press; Rudolph & Zacher, 2020).
For this reason, experts indicate that researchers and consultants in the field adopt thelifespan development perspective to understand if the efficacy of the individuals'
personal and contextual resources (for example, emotional regulation, social support)
to manage their careers and to deal with other demands imposed by the pandemic (forexample, the increase in work demands) change with age (Rudolph & Zacher, 2020).
As a research agenda, it is suggested to examine whether and how the crisis has affected
career experiences and trajectories. As described above, the effects of this pandemic
are already resulting in worsening unemployment rates, career changes and greater
involvement with volunteer activities. Researchers can also investigate how the crisis
has altered psychological resources, attitudes, behaviors, aspirations and career choices
and how these changes have affected their career development (Rudolph et al., inpress).
Finally, at this moment, public policies and government actions must focus oncontrolling the spread of the virus through public health, economic and social
development measures, as well as helping people to remain employed and financially
support the most affected companies and the development of policies against exclusionof groups and minorities. The suggestions presented in this essay do not cancel out the
impacts and losses of the pandemic, but they can reduce the negative effects of
unemployment, open doors to new social and labor relations and help Brazilians develop
their careers and personal lives.
Juliana Seidl
PhD in Social, Work and Organizational Psychology from the University of Brasilia(mobility period at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA), Master on Work,
Organizational and Personnel Psychology from the University of Coimbra (mobility
period at the University of Barcelona), Psychologist from the University of Brasília(mobility period at McGill University, Montréal, Canada). She is the founder andconsultant of Aposentadoria Plena, business partner of Maturi and businessdevelopment of Low Lands Assessment Systems. E-mail: juliana@maturi.com.br
Alexsandro Luiz De Andrade
PhD in Psychology from the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Post-doctorate
in Professional Development and Personality from the University of Hawaii (USA),
Psychologist from the Federal University of Santa Cataria (UFSC). Alexsandro is an
Associate Professor of the Graduate Program in Psychology at UFES, where hecoordinates the Laboratory of Psychological Assessment and Measurement (LABAMP),
and he is also Professor of the Professional Master's Program in Public Management at
UFES. At this moment, his research group receives funding from CNPq and FAPES. Email: alexsandro.deandrade@yahoo.com

The impacts of the pandemic on workers and their work relationship

58

Filip De Fruyt
PhD in Psychology from the University of Ghent, Master in Biomedical Sciences from the
University of Brussels. Filip is a Senior Full Professor in Differential Psychology andPersonality Assessment at the Department of Developmental, Personality and Social
Psychology of Ghent University, Belgium. He further holds the Institute Ayrton Senna
Chair at Ghent University, Belgium and is International Relations Officer at Lowlands
Assessment Systems, the Netherlands, an international business consultancy firm. Email: filip.defruyt@ugent.be or filip@llas.nl

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