emotional labor

Emotional labor or emotion work is a requirement of a job that employees display required emotions toward customers or others. More specifically, emotional labor comes into play during communication between worker and citizen and between worker and worker. 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. 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.