Importance of experience for older home care workers in facing up to the constraints of work.

Home care workers (HCWs) are at risk from injury. A case study was undertaken in a local community health center in order (1) to identify the constraints that introduce risk into the work of HCWs, and (2) to study the strategies they apply, depending on their age, to reduce the effects of those constraints. Observation and semistructured interviews were the main sources of data. Analysis shows that HCWs aged 45 or over sometimes adopt different postures from those used by their younger colleagues. During physical care, the HCWs also carry out screening and social support tasks that are not recognized in the organization of their work. Older workers develop strategies that help them save time, refine their screening and support methods, protect themselves against accidents, and react properly in emergencies or dangerous situations. Because the changes that can be made in patients' homes are limited, the expertise of experienced HCWs is essential. The organization of work must maintain a certain flexibility to allow the workers to use their strategies.

Ergonomic analysis of work activity of data entry clerks in the computerized service sector can reveal unrecognized skills.

Women are highly represented in those computer service jobs which are supposed to require the lowest level of qualification. The complexity of the activities which contribute to accomplishing such tasks in real life is usually unrecognized, as are the skills needed to perform these activities. The requirements of one such job, held by 7 women in a university administration, have been documented by ergonomic analysis. According to the supervisors, little mental effort was required, and "the employees do the job without even thinking about it." However, study of the real tasks involved revealed that the job required a great deal of innovative thinking, all of it unrecognized by the employer, and some of it actually forbidden. However, because the knowledge was not arrived at through systematic training, it is fragmentary and does not permit the employee to be fully autonomous or to transfer her skills to other jobs.