Labor created man. Someone may disagree with calling this statement materialistic and irrelevant, but it is difficult to challenge the truth that labor plays one of the leading, dominant roles in our lives. Some in labor see a way to assert themselves and build a career, others work for money and a better life, while others see work as an opportunity for self-expression and self-improvement. Finally, work in the team is a way of socialization and “survival” in the modern world.
Since labor activity occupies a very large part of our life, it is important that its direction, organization and structure correspond to the psychological characteristics of the person, character, temperament and level of claims, finally. In addition, a very important issue is the proper organization of labor and the arrangement of the workplace, which has a serious impact on increasing productivity and lowering energy and labor costs. These issues are dealt with by a separate branch of psychology, which studies the psychological aspects of work and the person’s attitude to work. The subject of the psychology of work is a person in working conditions, his becoming a professional, motivation and adaptation to work, professional orientation and psychological features that are revealed in various fields of activity.
This direction in psychology arose at the beginning of the 20th century, when the rapid growth of industrial production required an increase in productivity and labor intensity. Some owners of factories did this by extending the working day and increasing the volume of work, while others thought about alternative ways, creating more comfortable conditions, scientific organization of activities, improving the skills of workers, introducing various social incentives. This yielded results, and labor productivity at such enterprises increased significantly. It became clear that psychology and labor are two concepts that are closely related.
The psychology of labor has several directions. One of them is related to career guidance selection. Each person has a set of individual characteristics, professional abilities, which show his tendency to one or another activity. To identify these abilities and help a person decide on the choice of a profession, special tests have been developed.
Labor psychology also studies various external conditions that affect a person’s ability to work: the intensity and duration of work, its monotony and severity, and the mode of work. Special techniques developed by psychologists measure the degree of fatigue and decrease in working capacity, which helps to create optimal working conditions. This area of ​​science is closely related to the physiological characteristics of man. Another important task of labor psychology is safety. The study of the psychological causes of industrial emergencies helps in the development of special tools and recommendations, as well as training and exercise systems that develop the psychological qualities of workers and prevent emergency situations at emergency enterprises.
Labor psychology is also involved in isolating and studying the psychological characteristics necessary for a particular profession. A qualitative description of important professional features is called a professiogram. Its compilation is administered by another area of ​​science - the psychology of professions.
Labor psychology, as well as management psychology, are very important subjects for study not only by psychologists, but also by enterprise managers, in order to increase the efficiency of their employees, as well as school teachers who should help their students in determining their future profession and know how to identify their professional inclinations.