Do intellectual activity and manual work imply different links?

In the context of contrasting intellectual and manual work, we developed research to compare the turnover intentions from the organization among Human Resource Management (HRM) teachers and building construction workers. We applied the Behavioral Intentions to Stay in the Organization Scale (BISOS) and a sociodemographic form in 154 workers in Belo Horizonte, 77 teachers and 77 construction workers. We also applied semi-structured interviews to a small number of participants, exploring the participants’ arguments about these intentions. Among the teachers, there was a predominance of the intention to leave, whilst among the construction workers, the intention to stay. The difference between the distributions was statistically significant. We identified, however, a fragility of bonds with the organization for both occupational groups. On the one hand, the turnover intentions and the justifying arguments in their similarities and differences did not corroborate the expected polarization between intellectual and manual work. On the other hand, we can understand them as simultaneously reflecting the country’s current economic scenario and the educational profile of the two groups, in which construction workers have fewer options for reinsertion into the market, while teachers’ training enables other insertions into the market and/or having more than one job.