Emotional Labor

Define “Emotional Labor”

As a human being, we can feel different emotions at the same time making us a unique creature. The same context can be applied  in an organization. There are a variety of jobs in an organization that required to be different and unique. Naturally, all employers expect their employees to follow the company rules and procedures, but emotional labor goes beyond simply follow the rules, as it needs individuals to change their personality into one that company-approved, one that is often far different from their usual disposition (Schwarts, 2012).  A very simple example is, a lecturer must be serious in delivering lectures and at the same time has to be cheerful. This emotions will make the class more alive yet controllable.

Emotional labor defined as a situation where an employee shows emotions which are relevant to organizational context during their interpersonal transaction.  It is important that to have elements such as knowledge, skills, and experiences to determine the level of productivity, but as a human being, people will not leave their emotions at the front door when they come to work. However, employees must be also to analyze their job description to ensure that the emotions portrayed are suitable according to the job requirement (Zainal Ariffin Ahmad et. al, 2009). According to Schwarts (2012), emotional labor is often very difficult than the actual job which it is performed, for it does not end once we leave the workplace. Sometimes it follows into our personal lives and add fuel to our anxiety. He also mentioned that it does not pay for this extra labor, but are expected to cope with it if want to continue earning for a living. For the fact of the matter is all job requires at least some acting. That said, we should never forget that what we expect of ourselves should always outweigh the expectations set upon us by others when it comes to defining our identity.

There are 2 types of emotional labor (Handle, 2013)

• Surface Acting – Faking emotions or ‘putting on a mask’ to display ‘right’ emotions at work, even if they don’t align with how you actually feel about the work.
• Deep Acting – Change our inner beliefs and feelings about the job to align with emotions that the work needs.

According to Handel (2013),  individuals tend to be happier at work and less stress when he or she align emotions with their work (“Deep acting”). In other hand, when an individual emotions have to be faked (“surface acting”), this typically leads to more stress, increased burnouts, emotional exhaustion and sometimes depression.

Some example of job need emotions quoted by Hochschild (1983) in Landy and Conte (2010) he estimated that at least  one third of American workers engage in emotional labor, which has been studied in several jobs such as police officers, waiter & waitress, salesperson, bank teller and flight attendants. For example, a waiter in a fine dinning restaurant needs to show pleasant emotions while at the same time hide the feelings of anger and frustration towards the rude customer. Similarly, a flight attendant must apologize to the passengers on behalf of the company if there is a delayed flight.