Based on ergonomics and psychodynamics of work, this article discusses some significant aspects of work at call centres. The results are based on research carried out in companies located in São Paulo and Brasília, between the 90s and the beginnings of the year 2000. The call centers under study are mainly in the area of finance (credit cards and banks), but they are also from public services and telephone companies. Other than showing the importance of changing paradigms that guide operators' work, in order to reduce suffering and illness, the results suggest new paradigms in which work is a tool for operators' professional growth. Therefore, work as a mean to personal fulfilment, as well as to achieve productivity and quality goals , respecting human development in organizations.
workers' health; organizational paradigms; suffering at work