Emotional labor

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Not to be confused with Emotion work.

Emotional labor is the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job.[1][2] More specifically, workers are expected to regulate their emotions during interactions with customers, co-workers and superiors. This includes analysis and decision making in terms of the expression of emotion, whether actually felt or not, as well as its opposite: the suppression of emotions that are felt but not expressed.

Roles that have been identified as requiring emotional labor include but not limited to those involved in public administration, flight attendant, daycare worker, nursing home worker, nurse, doctor, store clerk, call center worker, teacher, social worker, as well as most roles in a hotel, motel, tavern/bar/pub and restaurant, as well as jobs in the media, such as TV and radio.[3] As particular economies move from a manufacturing to a service-based economy, many more workers in a variety of occupational fields are expected to manage their emotions according to employer demands when compared to sixty years ago.

Definition: versus emotion work[edit]

A waitress at a restaurant is expected to do emotional work, such as smiling and expressing positive emotion towards clients

The sociologist Arlie Hochschild provides the first definition of emotional labor, which is a form of emotion regulation that creates a publicly visible facial and bodily display within the workplace.[1] The related term emotion work (also called "emotion management") refers to "these same acts done in a private context," such as within the private sphere of one's home or interactions with family and friends. Hochschild identified three emotion regulation strategies: cognitive, bodily, and expressive.[4] Within cognitive emotion work, one attempts to change images, ideas, or thoughts in hopes of changing the feelings associated with them.[4] For example, one may associate a family picture with feeling happy and think about said picture whenever attempting to feel happy. Within bodily emotion work, one attempts to change physical symptoms in order to create a desired emotion.[4] For example, one may attempt deep breathing in order to reduce anger. Within expressive emotion work, one attempts to change expressive gestures to change inner feelings.[4] For example, one may attempt to smile when trying to feel happy. One becomes aware of emotion work most often when one's feelings do not fit the situation. For instance, when one does not feel sad at a funeral, one becomes acutely aware of the feelings appropriate for that situation.[4]

While emotion work happens within the private sphere, emotional labor is emotion management within the workplace according to employer expectations. According to Hochschild (1983), the emotion management by employers creates a situation in which this emotion management can be exchanged in the marketplace.[1] According to Hochschild (1983), jobs involving emotional labor are defined as those that:

  1. require face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with the public.
  2. require the worker to produce an emotional state in another person.
  3. allow the employer, through training and supervision, to exercise a degree of control over the emotional activities of employees.[1]

Hochschild (1983) argues that within this commodification process, service workers are estranged from their own feelings in the workplace.[1]


  1. Societal, occupational, and organizational norms. For example, empirical evidence indicates that in typically "busy" stores there is more legitimacy to express negative emotions, than there is in typically "slow" stores, in which employees are expected to behave accordingly to the display rules;[5] and so, that the emotional culture to which one belongs influences the employee's commitment to those rules.[6]
  2. Dispositional traits and inner feeling on the job; such as employee's emotional expressiveness, which refers to the capability to use facial expressions, voice, gestures, and body movements to transmit emotions;[7] or the employee's level of career identity (the importance of the career role to one's self-identity), which allows him or her to express the organizationally-desired emotions more easily, (because there is less discrepancy between his or her expressed behavior and emotional experience when engage their work).[8]
  3. Supervisory regulation of display rules; That is, supervisors are likely to be important definers of display rules at the job level, given their direct influence on worker's beliefs about high-performance expectations. Moreover, supervisors' impressions of the need to suppress negative emotions on the job influence the employees' impressions of that display rule.[9]

Vs. cognitive work[edit]

Cognitive skills and emotion work skills are separate but related dimensions for successful job performance. The former includes the application of factual knowledge to the intellectual analysis for problems and rational decision making. The latter includes analysis and decision making in terms of the expression of emotion, whether actually felt or not, as well as its opposite: the suppression of emotions that are felt but not expressed. More specifically, emotional labor comes into play during communication between worker and citizens, and it requires the rapid-fire execution of, emotive sensing, analyzing, judging, and behaving.[10]

Emotive Sensing: Detecting the affective state of the other and using that information to array one's own alternative in terms of how to respond.

Analyzing: One's own affective state and comparing it to that of the other.

Judging: Alternative responses will affect the other, then selecting the best alternative.

Behaving: Worker suppresses or expresses an emotion in order to elicit a desired response from the other.

Surface and deep acting[edit]

Original description of this emotion management process, researchers have focused on surface acting and deep acting as the primary strategies that employees use to regulate their emotions. Surface acting involves a "faking" process through which outward expressions are altered, yet internal feelings are left intact (2013).[11] Conversely, deep acting is an effortful process through which employees change their internal feelings to align with organizational expectations, producing more natural and genuine emotional displays (Grandey et al., 2013)[12] (3). Although the underlying regulatory processes involved in each approach differ, the objective of both, is typically to show positive emotions, which are presumed to impact the feelings of customers and bottom-line outcomes (e.g., sales, positive recommendations, and repeat business; Pugh, 2001; Tsai, 2001).[12][13][14] However, as previously mentioned, research generally has found surface acting to be more consistently problematic for employee well-being than deep acting (Grandey, 2003; Hülsheger & Schewe, 2011).[15][16]


A nurse working in a hospital, is expected to express positive emotions towards patients, such as warmth and compassion.

In the past, emotional labor demands and display rules were viewed as a characteristic of particular occupations, such as restaurant workers, cashiers, hospital workers, bill collectors, counselors, secretaries, and nurses. However, display rules have been conceptualized not only as role requirements of particular occupational groups, but also as interpersonal job demands, which are shared by many kinds of occupations.[9]

Bill collectors[edit]

In 1991, Sutton did an in-depth qualitative study into bill collectors at a collection agency.[17] He found that unlike the other jobs described here where employees need to act cheerful and concerned, bill collectors are selected and socialized to show irritation to most debtors. Specifically, the collection agency hired agents who seemed to be easily aroused. The newly hired agents were then trained on when and how to show varying emotions to different types of debtors. As they worked at the collection agency, they were closely monitored by their supervisors to make sure that they frequently conveyed urgency to debtors.

Bill collectors' emotional labor consists of not letting angry and hostile debtors make them angry and to not feel guilty about pressuring friendly debtors for money.[17] They coped with angry debtors by publicly showing their anger or making jokes when they got off the phone.[17] They minimized the guilt they felt by staying emotionally detached from the debtors.[17]

Food-industry workers[edit]

Wait staff[edit]

A waitress taking an order in an American restaurant

In her 1991 study of waitresses in Philadelphia, Paules examines how these workers assert control and protect their self identity during interactions with customers. In restaurant work, Paules argues, workers' subordination to customers is reinforced through "cultural symbols that originate from deeply rooted assumptions about service work." Because the waitresses were not strictly regulated by their employers, waitresses' interactions with customers were controlled by the waitresses themselves. Although they are stigmatized by the stereotypes and assumptions of servitude surrounding restaurant work, the waitresses studied were not negatively affected by their interactions with customers. To the contrary, they viewed their ability to manage their emotions as a valuable skill that could be used to gain control over customers. Thus, the Philadelphia waitresses took advantage of the lack of employer-regulated emotional labor in order to avoid the potentially negative consequences of emotional labor.[18]

Though Paules highlights the positive consequences of emotional labor for a specific population of waitresses, other scholars have also found negative consequences of emotional labor within the waitressing industry. Through eighteen months of participant observation research, Bayard De Volo (2003) found that casino waitresses are highly monitored and monetarily bribed to perform emotional labor in the workplace.[19] Specifically, Bayard De Volo (2003) argues that through a sexualized environment and a generous tipping system, both casino owners and customers control waitresses' behavior and appearance for their own benefit and pleasure. Even though the waitresses have their own forms of individual and collective resistance mechanisms, intense and consistent monitoring of their actions by casino management makes it difficult to change the power dynamics of the casino workplace.[19]

Fast-food employees[edit]

By using participant observation and interviews, Leidner (1993) examines how employers in fast food restaurants regulate workers' interactions with customers.[20] According to Leidner (1993), employers attempt to regulate workers' interactions with customers only under certain conditions. Specifically, when employers attempt to regulate worker-customer interactions, employers believe that "the quality of the interaction is important to the success of the enterprise", that workers are "unable or unwilling to conduct the interactions appropriately on their own", and that the "tasks themselves are not too complex or context-dependent."[20] According to Leidner (1993), regulating employee interactions with customers involves standardizing workers' personal interactions with customers. At the McDonald's fast food restaurants in Leidner's (1993) study, these interactions are strictly scripted, and workers' compliance with the scripts and regulations are closely monitored.[20]

Along with examining employers' attempts to regulate employee-customer interactions, Leidner (1993) examines how fast-food workers' respond to these regulations.[20] According to Leidner (1993), meeting employers' expectations requires workers to engage in some form of emotional labor. For example, McDonald's workers are expected to greet customers with a smile and friendly attitude independent of their own mood or temperament at the time. Leidner (1993) suggests that rigid compliance with these expectations is at least potentially damaging to workers' sense of self and identity. However, Leidner (1993) did not see the negative consequences of emotional labor in the workers she studied. Instead, McDonald's workers attempted to individualize their responses to customers in small ways. Specifically, they used humor or exaggeration to demonstrate their rebellion against the strict regulation of their employee-customer interactions.[20]


According to Larson and Yao (2005), empathy should characterize physicians' interactions with their patients because, despite advancement in medical technology, the interpersonal relationship between physicians and patients remains essential to quality healthcare.[21] Larson and Yao (2005) argue that physicians consider empathy a form of emotional labor. Specifically, according to Larson and Yao (2005), physicians engage in emotional labor through deep acting by feeling sincere empathy before, during, and after interactions with patients. On the other hand, Larson and Yao (2005) argue that physicians engage in surface acting when they fake empathic behaviors toward the patient. Although Larson and Yao (2005) argue that deep acting is preferred, physicians may rely on surface acting when sincere empathy for patients is impossible. Overall, Larson and Yao (2005) argue that physicians are more effective and enjoy more professional satisfaction when they engage in empathy through deep acting due to emotional labor.[21]

Police work[edit]

According to Martin (1999), police work involves substantial amounts of emotional labor by officers, who must control their own facial and bodily displays of emotion in the presence of other officers and citizens.[22] Although policing is often viewed as stereotypically masculine work that focuses on fighting crime, policing also requires officers to maintain order and provide a variety of interpersonal services. For example, police must have a commanding presence that allows them to act decisively and maintain control in unpredictable situations while having the ability to actively listen and talk to citizens. According to Martin (1999), a police officer who displays too much anger, sympathy, or other emotion while dealing with danger on the job will be viewed by other officers as someone unable to withstand the pressures of police work.[22] While being able to balance this self-management of emotions in front of other officers, police must also assertively restore order and use effective interpersonal skills to gain citizen trust and compliance. Ultimately, the ability of police officers to effectively engage in emotional labor affects how other officers and citizens view them.[22]

Public administration[edit]

Many scholars argue that the amount of emotional work required between all levels of government is on the local level. It is at the level of cities and counties that the responsibility lies for day to day emergency preparedness, firefighters, law enforcement, public education, public health, and family and children's services. Citizens in a community expect the same level of satisfaction from their government, as they receive in a customer service-oriented job. This takes a considerate amount of work for both employees and employers in the field of public administration. There are two comparisons that represent emotional labor within public administration, "Rational Work versus Emotion Work", and "Emotional Labor versus Emotional Intelligence".[23]


When public administrators perform emotional labor, many scholars argue administrators are dealing with significantly more sensitive situations than an employees in the service industry. The reason for this is because they are on the front lines of the government, and are expected to by citizens to serve them quickly and efficiently. When confronted by a citizen or a co-worker public administrators use emotional sensing to size up the emotional state of the citizen in need. Workers then take stock of their own emotional state in order to make sure that the emotion they are expressing is appropriate to their roles. Simultaneously, they have to determine how to act in order to elicit the desired response from the citizen as well as from co-workers. Public Administrators perform emotional labor through five different strategies: Psychological First Aid, Compartments and Closets, Crazy Calm, Humor, and Common Sense.[10]

Definition: rational work vs. emotion work[edit]

According to Mary Guy, Public administration does not only focus on the business side of administration but also on the personal side as well. It is not just about collecting the water bill or land ordinances to construct a new property, it is also about the quality of life and sense of community that is allotted to them by their city officials. Rational work is the ability to think cognitively and analytically, while emotion work means to think more practically and with more reason.[24]

Definition: vs. emotional intelligence[edit]

Knowing how to suppress and manage one's own feelings is known as emotional intelligence, the ability to control one's emotions and to be able to do this at a high level guarantees one's own ability to serve those in need. Emotional intelligence is performed while performing emotional labor, and without one the other can not be there.[25]


Macdonald and Sirianni (1996) use the term "emotional proletariat" to describe service jobs in which "workers exercise emotional labor wherein they are required to display friendliness and deference to customers."[26] Because of deference, these occupations tend to be stereotyped as female jobs, independent of the actual number of women working the job. According to Macdonald and Sirianni (1996), because deference is a characteristic demanded of all those in disadvantaged structural positions, especially women, when deference is made a job requirement, women are likely to be overrepresented in these jobs. Macdonald and Sirianni (1996) claim that "[i]n no other area of wage labor are the personal characteristics of the workers so strongly associated with the nature of the work."[26] Thus, according to Macdonald and Sirianna (1996), although all workers employed within the service economy may have a difﬁcult time maintaining their dignity and self-identity due to the demands of emotional labor, such an issue may be especially problematic for women workers.[26]

Emotional labor also affects women by perpetuating occupational segregation and the gender wage gap.[27] Job segregation, which is the systematic tendency for men and women to work in different occupations, is often cited as the reason why women lack equal pay when compared to men. According to Guy and Newman (2004), occupational segregation and ultimately the gender wage gap can at least be partially attributed to emotional labor. Specifically, work-related tasks that require emotion work thought to be natural for women, such as caring and empathizing are requirements of many female-dominated occupations. However, according to Guy and Newman (2004), these feminized work tasks are not a part of formal job descriptions and performance evaluations. The emotion work expected of many female employees is essentially invisible and uncompensated while the employer gains profit more generally. Thus, according to Guy and Newman (2004), ignored and uncompensated emotional labor is at least one underlying cause for both occupational gender segregation and the gender wage gap.[27]


Positive affective display in service interactions, such as smiling and conveying friendliness, are positively associated with customer positive feelings,[28] and important outcomes, such as intention to return, intention to recommend a store to others, and perception of overall service quality.[29] There is evidence that emotional labor may lead to employees' emotional exhaustion and burnout over time, and may also reduce employees' job satisfaction. That is, higher degree of using emotion regulation on the job is related to higher levels of employees' emotional exhaustion,[6] and lower levels of employees' job satisfaction.[30]

There is empirical evidence that higher levels of emotional labor demands are not uniformly rewarded with higher wages. Rather, the reward is dependent on the level of general cognitive demands required by the job. That is, occupations with high cognitive demands evidence wage returns with increasing emotional labor demands; whereas occupations low in cognitive demands evidence a wage "penalty" with increasing emotional labor demands.[31]

Coping skills[edit]

Coping occurs in response to psychological stress—usually triggered by changes—in an effort to maintain mental health and emotional well-being. Life stressors are often described as negative events (loss of a job). However, positive changes in life (a new job) can also constitute life stressors, thus requiring the use of coping skills to adapt. Coping strategies are the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that you use to adjust to the changes that occur in your life.[32] The use of coping skills will help a person better themselves in the work place and perform to the best of their ability to achieve success. There are many ways to cope and adapt to changes. Some ways include: sharing emotions with peers, having a healthy social life outside of work, being humorous, and adjusting expectations of self and work. These coping skills will help turn negative emotion to positive and allow for more focus on the public in contrast to oneself.[33]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b c d e Russell Hochschild, Arlie (1983). The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05454-7. 
  2. ^ Grandey, Alicia A. (2000). "Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor". Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 5 (1): 59–100. doi:10.1037/1076-8998.5.1.95. PMID 10658889. 
  3. ^ Russell Hochschild, Arlie (2012), "Preface to the 2012 edition", in Russell Hochschild, Arlie, The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling, Berkeley: University of California Press, p. x, ISBN 978-0-520-27294-1 
  4. ^ a b c d e Russell Hochschild, Arlie (November 1979). "Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure". American Journal of Sociology. University of Chicago Press. 85 (3): 551–575. doi:10.1086/227049. JSTOR 2778583.  Pdf.
  5. ^ Rafaeli, A.; Sutton, R. I. (1989). "The expression of emotion in organizational life". Research in Organizational Behavior. 11: 1–42.  Pdf.
  6. ^ a b Grandey, A.A.; Fisk, G.M.; Steiner, D.D. (2005). "Must "service with a smile" be stressful? The moderate role of personal control for American and French employees". Journal of Applied Psychology. 90 (5): 893–904. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.90.5.893. PMID 16162062.  Download.
  7. ^ Friedman, H. S.; Prince, L. M.; Riggio, R. E.; DiMatteo, R. (1980). "Understanding and assessing nonverbal expressiveness: The affective communication test". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 39 (2): 333–351. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.2.333. 
  8. ^ Wilk, S.L.; Moynihan, L.M. (2005). "Display rule "regulators": The relationship between supervisors and workers emotional exhaustion". Journal of Applied Psychology. 90 (5): 917–927. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.90.5.917. PMID 16162064. 
  9. ^ a b Diefendorff, J. M.; Richard, E. M. (2003). "Antecedents and consequences of emotional display rule perceptions". Journal of Applied Psychology. 88 (2): 284–294. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.2.284. PMID 12731712. 
  10. ^ a b Mastracci, Sharron H. (2012). Emotional Labor and Crisis Response, Working on a Razor's Edge. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 20–36. 
  11. ^ Hochschild, A.R. (1983). "The managed heart: The commercialization of feeling". University of California Press. 
  12. ^ a b Grandy, A.; Diefendorff, J.M.; Rupp, D. (2013). Emotional labor in the 21st century: Diverse Perspectives on Emotion Regulation at Work. Routledge. pp. 3–17. 
  13. ^ Pugh, S. D..Emotional labor: Organization-level influences, strategies, and outcomes. New York. N.Y: Routledge
  14. ^ Tsai, W.C. (2001). "Determinants and consequences of employee displayed positive emotions". Journal of Management. 27: 497–512. doi:10.1177/014920630102700406. 
  15. ^ Grandey, A.A. (2003). "When "the show must go on": Surface acting and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery". Academy of Management Journal. 46: 86–96. doi:10.2307/30040678. 
  16. ^ Hülsheger, U.R.; Schewe, A.F. (2011). "On the costs and benefits of emotional labor: A meta-analysis of three decades of research". Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 16: 361–389. doi:10.1037/a0022876. 
  17. ^ a b c d Sutton, Robert I. (1991). "Maintaining norms about expressed emotions: The case of bill collectors". Administrative Science Quarterly. 36 (2): 245–268. doi:10.2307/2393355. JSTOR 2393355. 
  18. ^ Paules, G.F. (1991). Dishing it out: power and resistance among waitresses in a New Jersey restaurant. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University. ISBN 9780877228875. 
  19. ^ a b Bayard De Volo, L (2003). "Service and surveillance: infrapolitics at work among casino cocktail waitresses". Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society. 10 (3): 346–376. doi:10.1093/sp/jxg019.  Article at Project MUSE.
  20. ^ a b c d e Leidner, Robin. Fast food, fast talk: service work and the routinization of everyday life. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520085008. 
  21. ^ a b Larson, E.B.; Yao, X. (2005). "Clinical empathy as emotional labor in the patient-physician relationship". The Journal of the American Medical Association. 293 (9): 1100–1106. doi:10.1001/jama.293.9.1100. PMID 15741532. 
  22. ^ a b c Martin, S.E. (1999). "Police force or police service? Gender and emotional labor". The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 561 (1). doi:10.1177/000271629956100108. JSTOR 1049285. 
  23. ^ Guy, Mary; Newman, Meredith; Mastracci, Sharon (2008). Emotional Labor- Putting the Service in Public Service. New York: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-7656-2117-7. 
  24. ^ Guy, Mary; Newman, Meredith; Mastracci, Sharon (2008). Emotional Labor- Putting the Service in Public Service. New York: M.E. Sharpe. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-7656-2117-7. 
  25. ^ Guy, Mary; Newman, Meredith; Mastracci, Sharon (2008). Public Service. New York: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-0-7656-2117-7. 
  26. ^ a b c Macdonald, Cameron L.; Sirianni, Carmen (1996), "The service society and the changing experience of work", in Macdonald, Cameron L.; Sirianni, Carmen, In working in the service society, Temple University Press, pp. 1–28, ISBN 978-1-56639-480-2. 
  27. ^ a b Guy, Mary Ellen; Newman, Meredith A. (2004). "Women's jobs, men's jobs: sex segregation and emotional labor". Public Administration Review. 64 (3): 289–298. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2004.00373.x. 
  28. ^ Pugh, S.D. (2001). "Service with a smile: emotional contagion in the service encounter". Academy of Management Journal. 44 (5): 1018–1027. doi:10.2307/3069445. JSTOR 3069445. 
  29. ^ Parasuraman, A.; Zeithaml, V.A.; Berry, L.L. (Spring 1988). "SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for measuring customer perceptions of service quality". Journal of Retailing. 64 (1): 12–40.  Pdf.
  30. ^ Brotheridge, C. M.; Grandey, A. A. (2002). "Emotional labor and burnout: Comparing two perspectives of people work" (PDF). Journal of Vocational Behavior. Aop.psy.unibe.ch. 60: 17–39. doi:10.1006/jvbe.2001.1815. 
  31. ^ Glomb, T.M.; Kammeyer-Mueller, J.; Rotundo, M. (2004). "Emotional labor demands and compensating wage differentials". Journal of Applied Psychology. 89: 700–714. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.4.700.  Pdf.
  32. ^ "How Do You Cope". ucla.edu. UCLA. Retrieved November 20, 2015. 
  33. ^ Diefendorff, J; Gosserand, R (2003). "Understanding the emotional labor process: A control theory perspective". Journal of Organizational Behavior J. Organiz. Behave. 24: 945–959. doi:10.1002/job.230. 

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