That article aims to discuss the suffering and pleasure experiences in the work of public and private bank managers of João Pessoa-PB. Taking psycodynamic of work as main theoretical reference, it articulates the material produced in the field with the theory approach on the subjects' operation at work, specifically in what concerns the complex relationship among suffering, pleasure and work. For the presented analysis, the transformations in the managerial work and in the administration manners and the bank operations that happened in the last decades are considered. In the field research sixteen interviews were accomplished with people that exercised general or intermediate managements, analyzed through content analysis. The results show that the following elements can be sources of pleasure or suffering: working with customers and other employees, the recognition or the absence of recognition of this work, the organizational structure, the work load and the pressure for results, the autonomy or the lack of autonomy to take decisions, and the salary.
Managers; Work organization; Suffering; Satisfaction; Occupational stress
