ARTICLES

Emotional labour — the work of managing one’s feelings and expressions to fulfil the expectations of a role — is one of the most invisible and most unevenly distributed forms of work in businesses.

It shows up as the receptionist who maintains warmth throughout a difficult interaction. The nurse who absorbs a patient’s fear without showing their own. The manager who processes their own distress about a restructure privately so that their team feels supported. The HR professional who holds space for an employee in crisis while managing their own emotional response. The customer service team member who receives hostility with patience while masking frustration.

This work is real. It is cognitively and emotionally demanding. And in most organisations, it is expected of certain people in certain roles without being named, resourced or valued.

The distribution of emotional labour in a workplace is rarely accidental. It tends to fall most heavily on women, on people in service roles and on those with the least formal power. It is also least visible to those who perform it the least — which tends to include those who make decisions about workloads, role design and remuneration.

Organisations that take this seriously are beginning to design roles and workloads with emotional demands explicitly in mind. They are having honest conversations about where the invisible weight sits and whether it is being fairly shared and supported.

Making the invisible visible is the first step. And it often begins with leaders simply asking: what is the emotional weight of this person’s work — and what are we doing to support it?

 

If you want practical support reviewing your workplace policies, contracts, leadership capability, or workplace culture, Blue Kite HR Consulting can help you take a proactive approach before issues become bigger problems.