| Summary: | The banking sector has undergone remarkable changes since the production restructuring in
the 1990s, which caused a significant decrease in the number of workers and changes in the
work organization. Such contingencies have caused an impact on the mental health of bank
workers, and it is important to investigate the mechanisms of mediation and defense against
suffering used by workers in this context. In this descriptive, qualitative research, bank workers
of a national private institution were interviewed. The interviews were subjected to content
analysis. The research identified the effects of work organization, where the management assumption
generates an important individualization of the work, since the banking workers are
stressed by the pressure of the goal and the need for recognition. There is a subjective mobilization
trying to mediate the suffering resulting from the work dynamics, as evidenced by an affective
superficiality and the isolation that seeks to account for the demand for attributions
imposed, which is reflected in the condition of customer service. The mediation strategies in
the participants’ experiences are cooperation, practical intelligence and transgression. Virile
cynicism, affective insensitivity, isolation, and psychical illness were identified as defense mechanisms.
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