There are challenging jobs and others that seriously compromise mental health. What happens to us at work can even change the way we are.
Last update: February 22, 2022
Work changes the personality, is what shows a recent study that has had a notable impact. We now have scientific confirmation that workplace experiences affect character, attitude and even way of being in multiple ways.
We learn over the years, from failures and also from every stimulating environment. Somehow, in those corporate and professional microworlds in which we navigate on a daily basis, valuable skills are also acquired for our personal growth.
However, there is also an undeniable fact. Factors such as stress, cases of bullying or keeping precarious jobs for years change our way of being. The optimism fades and the bright and cheerful character becomes more taciturn at times.
The extrovert becomes less open to others and the introvert further intensifies his introspection and inner withdrawal.
What we do every day at work ends up molding us for better or for worse. After all, we spend a good deal of our time in these scenarios.
Work changes personality, but how?
Isn't the personality stable over time? How can a set of events in the workplace change our way of being?
The truth is that our personality can change and be shaped based on personal experiences. Adolescence is estimated to be the stage in life in which a stable pattern of behavior, emotion and thinking style is forged.
However, in the course of our life, various traits in the way of being and acting can change. It follows that the work experiences have, on average, a significant impact.
The influence of work during youth
The first contact with the job market can sometimes help us mature. This is indicated by a research work conducted by doctors Eva Asselmann and Jule Specht, of the Humboldt University of Berlin, published in the Journal of Personality.
The beginning of working life favors the formation and affirmation of personality. In general, and from what has been observed on a large sample of people, i young people become more responsible, kind and outgoing during their early jobs.
Obviously this can change over time, but this first contact with the labor market enriches young people aged XNUMX or XNUMX.
Some work experiences can have permanent repercussions
Few things are more comfortable and rewarding than having a good job. Lself-esteem, self-image and identity are strengthened.
However, when work changes the personality, weakening it and creating a more vulnerable self, the causes that orchestrate this problem are manifold.
It was demonstrated that keeping a stressful job for 5 years changes the way we are. Specifically, one begins to suffer from emotional instability, anxiety, negative thoughts, sadness, etc.
Factors such as precariousness increase uncertainty and this prevents us from making long-term plans. When a person has no future projection a because of job instability becomes more suspicious, less optimistic and hopeless.
Unfavorable work environments and precariousness have a great impact on people's personalities: they become even less friendly.
Companies should take into account that work changes personality
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has recently determined that the companies have an obligation to safeguard the psychological well-being of their employees.
If the job changes the personality, it should be for the better, to equip with valuable strengths, confidence and skills. Not to quench enthusiasm or destroy mental health.
One of the company's goals should be to be able to develop a more positive self among workers. This is possible by creating decent jobs with decent wages.
Such a scenario induces the worker to give the best of himself, to feel valued, perceive themselves as useful, integrated and respected.
Challenging jobs maximize our potential
Good work has positive effects not only on personality, but also on well-being. Strenuous jobs are the cause of several mental health problems among the population.
Living in situations of mobbing, or harassment in the workplace, or experiencing the pressure of a stressful job for years does not only have a mental cost. It also changes many aspects of our character.
We need more dignified and inspiring jobs, those who give values, skills, trust and optimistic life prospects.
Not only managers need to worry about this. The work environment is also created by colleagues and by any person who belongs to those contexts in which we spend most of our life.
