Changements organisationnels et évolution du vécu au travail : une comparaison entre secteur privé et fonction publique d'Etat

Using a linked employer-employee survey on computerisation and organisational change (COI), we have analysed the effects of organisational changes in the private sector and the state civil service on indicators of work intensification, skills development, and variations in employee involvement. Organisational changes are more intense in the state civil service than in the private sector, which confirms the importance of changes in the working environment of employees within the context of the modernisation of the state. However, these reforms have not resulted into an intensification of work neither in the form of an increase in pace constraints nor in the form of more frequent spikes of activity. In the private sector, changes were, on average, less intense, and if they are not significantly associated with increased workload , they appear to be related to an enrichment of work that does not lead to the accumulation of new skills. In the more subjective areas of involvement and recognition at work, the contrasts between the private sector and state civil service are the greatest. State officials express dissatisfaction with the changes, which result in a decline in work involvement, whereas in the private sector, organisational changes create an increase in involvement as long as the intensity of the change is not too great. In addition, private sector employees report a feeling of recognition at work that decreases with an increasing use of computer tools, and the balance between the perceived investment and derived benefits deteriorates with a high level of managerial change. However, in the private sector, this effect weakens with the combined presence of changes in both domains, whereas in the public sector, the perception of an effort-reward imbalance is reinforced.