Emotional Labor General Concepts and Its Relation to Health

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Emotional LaborGeneral Concepts andIts
Relation to Health

• A. Butch de Castro, RN, PHN, MSN/MPH
• PhD candidate
• Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health

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Economic Labor Trends

• Shift from manufacturing based economy to
  service based economy
• Creation of service industry employment
• Proliferation of service jobs and careers

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What is Emotional Labor?

• Manual Labor
• Physical Labor
• Intellectual Labor
• Can emotions be used as a job skill?

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Emotional Labor Defined

• The management of feeling to create a publicly
  observable facial and bodily display this
  process is sold for a wage and therefore has
  exchange value (Hochschild, 1983).
• The act of displaying the appropriate emotion
  (i.e., conforming with a display rule), with the
  goal to engage in a form of impression management
  for the organization (Ashforth Humphrey, 1993).

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Emotional Labor Defined

• The effort, planning, and control needed to
  express organizationally desired emotion during
  interpersonal transactions (Morris Feldman,
  1996).
• The process of regulating both feelings and
  expressions for organizational goals (Grandey,
  1999).

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Jobs Involving Emotional Labor...

• Require face to face or voice to voice contact
  with the public.
• Require the worker to produce an emotional state
  in another person.
• Allow the employer, through training and
  supervision, to exercise a degree of control over
  the emotional activities of employees.
• (from Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed
  heart Commercialization of human feeling.)

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Dimensions of Emotional Labor

• Surface Acting
• Pretending or Regulating Emotional Expressions
• Emotional Dissonance
• Deep Acting
• Modification of Emotions

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Demand Required Effort

• Service work imposes a demand on workers
• Workers must meet this demand by exerting some
  level of effort

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Limits on Worker Autonomy

• Feeling Rules / Display Rules
• Routinization of Service Interaction (
  Deskilling)
• Recruitment classified ad descriptions
• Selection hiring preferences and practices
• Socialization Practices formal training
• informal modeling

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Emotional Labor and Power Status

• Persons in lower-status categories women,
  people of color, children lack a status shield
  against poorer treatment of their feelings.
  (Hochshild, 1983)
• Social Distribution of jobs leads to certain
  sub-groups of worker to assume emotional labor

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Emotional Labor and Health

• Emotional Labor...
• through dissonance created by surface acting
• and / or
• the effort required for deep acting
• ...creates a stressor for service workers that
  may negatively impact psychological, behavioral,
  and physical well-being.

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Worker Health Issues

• Job Stress
• Job Strain
• (psychological demand/decision lattitude/social
  support)
• Job Satisfaction
• Burnout
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Self-Esteem
• Anger

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Conceptual Framework
Situational Cues Emotion
Regulation Process Long-Term Consequences

• Interaction Expectations
• Frequency
• Duration
• Variety
• Display Rules

• Emotional Labor
• Deep Acting Modify Feelings
• Attentional Deployment
• Cognitive Change
• Surface Acting Modify Expressions
• Response Modification

• Individual Well-Being
• Burnout
• Job Satisfaction

• Organizational Well-Being
• Performance
• Withdrawal Behavior

• Emotional Events
• Positive Events
• Negative Events

• Individual Factors
• Gender
• Emotional Expressivity
• Emotional Intelligence
• Affectivity (NA/PA)

• Organizational Factors
• Job Autonomy
• Supervisor Support
• Coworker Support

(Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotion regulation in the
workplace A new way to conceptualize emotional
labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,
5(1), 95-110.)
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Conceptual Model for Proposed Research (Adapted
from NIOSH Model of Job Stress and Health, 1997)
Individual Factors

• Age
• Race
• Sex
• Personality Types
• Stage of career

Acute Reactions
Job Stressors

• Psychological
• Job Dissatisfaction
• Perceived Stress

• Job/Task Demands
• Surface Acting
• Deep Acting
• Psychological Demand
• Decision Latitude
• Organizational
• Occupational History
• Feeling / Display Rules

Illness

• Physiological
• Heart Rate
• Blood Pressure

• Depression
• Hypertension
• CHD
• Alcoholism

• Behavioral
• Smoking
• Alcohol Use

• Family History of CHD
• Socioeconomic Status
• Education
• Household Composition
• Neighborhood Stressors

• Supervisor/Co-Worker Social Support
• Social / Interpersonal Competence
• Coping
• Defense Mechanisms

Non-Work
Buffers
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Occupational Health Implications

• How can we recognize emotional labor as a work
  demand and potential occupational hazard of
  service employment?
• What is the psychosocial impact of emotional
  labor on service workers?
• What are the potential needs of workplace efforts
  to prevent negative psychosocial health outcomes
  among workers in the service sector?
• Is a social class of workers being created
  because of emotional labor?

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Emotional LaborIssues for Young Workers(A
Special Population at Risk)
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Profile of Young Workers

• Employment during teenage years is a common (and
  often encouraged) experience
• Numbers of working youth increasing secondary to
  growing employment opportunities and attraction
  to gainful income
• Typically work in service employment (e.g.,
  retail sales, customer service, food service)
• Regularly tolerate actual and potential
  occupational hazards

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Why is paid work beneficial for youth?

• Imparts positive work values and work ethic
• Reinforces importance of academic skills for
  future career success
• Provides better understanding of the workplace
• Learns job acquisition, how to deal with meet
  expectations of superiors, and money management
• Gains task-related skills
• Increases contact with adults
• Builds character and confidence
• Enhances self-concept and identity
• Gains independence teaches responsibility

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Risk Factors of Young Workers

• Physical / Physiological
• Growth and Size, Sleep Requirements,
  Overexertion, Susceptibility to Injury
  Illness (e.g., organ/system development)
• Psychosocial
• Psychological Development / Transition
• Lack of Work Experience
• Lack of Supervision
• Inappropriate Work Assignments
• Power Imbalance
• Societal Expectations

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Effect of Emotional Labor on Youth

• Disproportionately experience the demands of
  emotional labor
• Reinforces subordinate positions in power
  relationships (supervisors service recipient)
• Threatens psychosocial well-being secondary to
  psychological immaturity
• Pivotally influences the outlook towards work and
  its associated benefit or detriment to ones
  psychosocial health
• Creates a need for unique assistance in coping
  with psychosocial demand of emotional labor