An incredibly busy Saturday night is coming to a close at an upmarket restaurant, and the headwaiter looks and feels harried. To top it all, he has to listen to a never-ending complaint from a cantankerous customer. Seething inside, the waiter listens to the harangue with a smile and apologises to the customer.
Here is another scenario. A nurse working for an intensive care unit is battling depression from a devastating personal tragedy, but reports on the dot, is as smiling and meticulous as ever as she attends to her patients.
In certain jobs, it may be necessary sometimes to suppress or mask one’s real emotions. These workers are engaged in emotional labour. To be effective, they have to display certain positive emotions. Their work is also loosely referred to as affective labour. For, through civility and cheerfulness, they have to evoke positive feelings about their organisation in the minds of their customers.
Emotional labour performed under circumstances similar to these in the hypothetical situations, takes its toll. The dissonance between the emotions the workers feel and the ones they display at work can induce stress. And it takes more than mental strength and discipline on their part to meet the peculiar demands of their jobs. It takes continuous support from managers too.
Conducting regular programmes to review their behaviour on the job and minimising the emotional load on them by creating a happy working environment are essentials. Recruiting candidates with right disposition counts too.
Geoffery G. Thomas, a talent management professional and someone who has headed teams at radio stations in Chennai and Bangalore, says, “Shouldn’t candidates be assessed for their emotional strength while being recruited for jobs that require emotional labour? In radio, affective labour is at work. An RJ can transfer his emotions to the listeners. The RJ has to make the listener feel positive. In a dial-in programme, he cannot be rude to the caller or say something that can upset the caller’s emotional equilibrium. When the caller acts rude or makes a sensitive comment, the RJ cannot turn offensive. While interviewing someone for an RJ’s job, I would act rude to him just to gauge his response. Disposition plays a great role in emotional labour. Jobs in this category require people with certain personality traits,” says Geoffrey.
The next challenge before managers is a clear understanding of the peculiar difficulties of emotional labour. Without this, effective intervention is not possible. In his first job as a human resources professional, which was at a leading pizzeria, Sujith Kumar J., secretary of HRD Network — Chennai Chapter, understood firsthand what it meant to work at a pizza outlet.
“I was put through a 30-day training, in which I mopped the floor, cleaned the plates, delivered pizzas and waited at the tables. The message was clear: Unless you understand what the job demands, how are you going to recruit the right candidates and train them effectively?” says Sujith.
Constant review of behaviour at work and necessary corrections, suggested and carried out in an non-critical manner, are indispensables.
“In the world of radio, RJs are encouraged to listen to each other’s shows with a view to learning together and making corrections, which include rectifying bad behaviour patterns. There have been times when I have pointed out to RJs that they should not have been harsh on a caller,” says Geoffrey.
People performing emotional labour cannot be shielded for certain sources of stress. A manager cannot lay a hedge of protection around their personal lives. But there is one thing he can always do — create a happy working environment that would not add to the stress of emotional labour, if not minimise it.
