Psychological distress in administrative staff of temporary agencies: signs of emerging psychosocial risk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69821/jowhes.v1i1.8Keywords:
Riesgos psicosociales, Salud mental, Empresas de servicios temporales, GHQ-30, Carga de trabajo, Salud ocupacionalAbstract
This study analyzed the perception of mental health among administrative staff at temporary employment agencies (TEAs), with the aim of identifying early signs of psychosocial risk and proposing preventive guidelines. An observational, cross-sectional, and analytical design was applied to a non-probabilistic sample of twenty workers in Colombia. The GHQ-30 was used as a screening instrument, complemented by a contextual module on working conditions. Fifty-five percent of the participants presented impairment in at least one dimension of the GHQ-30, with psychosomatic symptoms and insomnia being the most frequent. Twenty-five percent of the group showed a high overall impairment, suggesting the existence of subgroups with greater psychosocial vulnerability. The results point to factors such as workload, job rotation, lack of control, and limited organizational support as determinants of distress. It is recommended that psychosocial screening tools be integrated into the occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS), that supervisory leadership be strengthened, that workload be regulated, and that recovery practices be promoted. These findings reinforce the need for preventive interventions in environments with flexible work structures, particularly in understudied sectors such as outsourced administrative work.
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