The Weight of Emotional Labour

Written by Lianne Weaver, MD of Beam Training

Are you or your team buckling under the weight of emotional labour?

Emotional Labour is something we see all too frequently here at Beam and in fact it’s a large part of the reason we set up the People People Network to begin with.

We often fail to recognise the weight of carrying the strain of caring for and supporting other people and yet that weight can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, stress and much more.

Most of us recognise that when someone must use their physical body for work, there are times when their body will feel exhausted, it may get over used or may even suffer an injury. However, few of us recognise that this is just as applicable to people who use their emotions for work. The problem is that the weight of carrying other people is often invisible to those around us.

So what is emotional labour?

Emotional labour is a term coined way back in 1983 by sociologist Arlie Hochschild, it is a term used to describe the often invisible work done by someone to help support or soothe the needs or demands of others. Initially Hochschild believed this was a workplace issue, but we now recognise that this can be experienced at work and at home.

Essentially, we carry emotional labour when we have to change or cover our own emotions to support those around us.

For example:

• Being customer facing and having to always be upbeat and positive

• Handling a rude customer and resisting the urge to say what you really think

• Carrying the needs of a team member above your own

• Holding in a lot of emotional or difficult content because you cannot share it with someone for confidentiality or security reasons

In short, emotional labour is draining and impactful to all those who carry it and at Beam, we tend to see the long-term issues of it when we are asked to support employees who have reached burnout or exhaustion. At these times, we meet employees who are:

• Exhausted

• Tired of caring

• Lacking boundaries and managing the needs of others at all hours

• Feeling less productive in their own work due to supporting reactive challenges

• Suffering with their own physical and / or mental health

How can companies support these employees?

Firstly, it is important that organisations recognise the weight of supporting or responding to the emotions of others. That this work is not brushed over or seen as less demanding than physical work. Every organisation should care about the impact of emotional labour because it will impact the entire company with reduced resilience, poorer decision making, reduced psychological safety, lower productivity and increased absence.

It is then important that practical tools are put in place to support staff in a way that meets their needs. For example:

• Giving space for breaks between intense meetings – so many in a people centric role go from one challenging meeting into another, causing the pressure to build. Ensure that the company supports having short breaks built into meeting times.

• Encourage boundary setting – give your staff the opportunity to enforce some of their own boundaries, especially in relation to time, physical space and digital boundaries. Create an environment where saying “No” is ok.

• Create safe spaces – ensure that those in emotionally challenging roles have a safe space to offload, seek support and get best practice advice.

• Normalise conversations about emotional labour – recognise it within the workplace.

Moving Forward

Recognising the impact of emotional labour is increasingly important and we are thrilled to see that there are many companies who work with Beam who use our services to support their staff. For example:

1. Company C – They have experienced rapid growth over the past few years and know that they have promoted internally very quickly. They acknowledged that this left new managers in a vulnerable position, lacking experience and lacking boundaries. They use Beam to coach every new manager on a one-to-one basis with our 6 session Exemplary Leadership coaching plan where they learn how to set boundaries, have difficult conversations, build confidence and much more.

2. Company M – A high pressured company which often has difficult deadlines and requires periods of work of high intensity. They recognised that their staff often carried the weight of supporting and motivating each other and needed a safe space to get support, learn tools and develop. They appointed Beam to offer ad hoc 1:1 therapeutic coaching to any member of staff who needed that space.

3. Company B – A large organisation which is public facing, many of their employees are in a position where they must “put on a face” to the public and keep them happy. They recognised how exhausting this is for some employees and signed up to quarterly “Emotional Labour” sessions with Beam. These sessions create a supervision style framework for peers to be guided through challenges by an experienced therapeutic coach, to share best practice and learn coping mechanisms.

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Does your role have a high emotional load

• Yes
• I don't think so

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Further Support

If you would like us to support your employees book a call with us today here