Is working in a very small business (TPE) good for your health? When we are satisfied with numbers, the temptation is to answer yes very quickly. In fact, women and men employed by VSEs are more likely to be in very good health – 25% compared to 19% among employees of the largest companies (1) -, take fewer sick leaves and report fewer accidents at work. and occupational diseases. This, while the prevention of occupational risks is much lower than in larger structures? More than one in two VSEs does not produce a single risk assessment document (Duer) – even though this has been compulsory since 2001 – and 74% of them do not organize any training in occupational health. .
How can this apparent paradox be explained? Two sociologists, Émilie Legrand and Fanny Darbus, tried to answer this question in an article entitled “Exempt from being sick”, which recently appeared in the “Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales” and under the caption “The workers. Are they in very small businesses (hairdressing, building, catering), employees who never get sick? “.
To stop, you have to be able to afford it
One of the first answers is that in order to stop, you have to be able to afford it. If in large companies agreements frequently provide for the payment of waiting days, this is not the case in small companies. Losing one to three days of salary is to risk plunging into the red. Émilie Legrand and Fanny Darbus show how, to avoid this sharp loss of income, employees “manage” and sometimes prefer to take a day off or a rest. More than their male colleagues, women also consult physiotherapists or osteopaths to try to limit their pain and thus avoid having to stop.
To be absent is to put your colleagues in difficulty, or even the sustainability of the company. In any case, it is to fear it.
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The experience of work is also often different. Due to the small size of the structure, the importance of each is visible. “The employees of the small companies that I meet evoke a greater recognition of the work carried out than those of the largest companies”, underlines Nathalie Arnould, occupational physician in Burgundy. The thematic summary of the Ile-de-France Direccte (regional directorate for companies, competition, consumption, work and employment) on occupational health in VSEs published in 2018 highlighted that, while employees of small businesses are more exposed to physical constraints (carrying heavy loads, painful postures, etc.), but they are less exposed to psychosocial risks. In addition, there is greater proximity to the employer. The impact of the absence of an employee is also greater. To be absent is to put your colleagues in difficulty, or even the sustainability of the company. In any case, it is to fear it.
The fear of the gaze of the other
It is also difficult to declare an accident at work. On the one hand by ignorance of the procedure. “There are a lot of employees, especially in smaller companies, who don’t know that every incident has to be reported. They tell me that they did not make a declaration because they did not need to go to the doctor or need a sick leave, ”explains Nathalie Arnould, who also insists on the fear of the gaze of the other.
Being a good professional is also being tough. Physical resistance is part of the professional identity, it is transmitted to the youngest upon learning.
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“If it may be acceptable to have an accident at work, to suffer several, it is to risk being considered as a bad professional. »Ditto for declarations of occupational diseases. Not only is the cumbersome nature of the recognition applications frightening, but the procedure can be felt as a mark of disloyalty towards the boss. However, this declaration will have no financial impact on the company. Unlike larger companies, very small businesses contribute to the occupational accidents and diseases fund on a lump sum basis.
In the sectors that the two sociologists studied, being a good professional also means being tough. Physical resistance is part of the professional identity, it is transmitted to the youngest upon learning. “In consultation, an employee in her forties complained of back and shoulder pain, but she immediately said to me ‘I am strong, it is not even worth considering putting myself off ””, recalls the occupational physician. There is no question of appearing as a “flank”. At the risk of leaving his health there!
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