Emotional Labor

Emotional Labor

BUSS311 (03)

Emotional Labor

We are products of the labor service that we provide. Not only can they be physical, it can also be emotional. Physical labor is the physical or manual work that we perform. Emotional Labor affects us emotionally through our feelings and attitudes while performing tasks, especially when interacting with others.

Every one has emotions and they affect us one way or another. Emotional labor hits on service related jobs, which are practically everywhere. Jobs that can range from the fast food industry to Medical jobs etc; they all require the use of emotional labor. Emotional labor focuses on understanding the workplace, structure and social relations of service jobs and also the individual’s emotions and how it relates to their work. Emotional labor is when one gives out a certain emotion, while performing their work. This is both a good and bad thing. Everyone knows how stressful work can be, whatever job it is, and when a customer is not as polite, the employee still has to continue being respectful even if they do not feel that way on the inside.

The importance of emotional labor is that if the employee loses control of their emotions and suddenly gets upset at the customer, that is showing that the company does not have good service and the customer will most likely not come back. This will also gain the company or business, a bad reputation. If the reputation gets bad enough, then the company cannot function and make profit. It is important for employees to “put up a front” in front of customers sometimes because they need to get the job done even if they don’t like it.

The problem is, this can also be a bad thing. Employee’s work hard to earn money and it’s sad to say that a bad experience with a customer can bring that employee down. An employee can get over stressed and can may be cause health issues. If the customer becomes too harsh and the employee finally can’t keep his front and burst, then this can...