Emotional labor is the work a person does to match their displayed emotions with those expected for a position. Some people have more difficulty with this type of work than others, and for many people emotional labor can lead to increased stress and burnout. The most easily recognizable case of emotional labor is when a supervisor requires employees in customer service positions to smile and remain pleasant at all times, even in the face of insults. Jobs in which the employee's intelligence is valued more than the employee's physical presence often require less emotional labor, so this type of work disproportionately punishes the poor and disenfranchised.
There are many different examples of emotional labor, and not all of them relate to being nice. In some cultures, a person must be reserved or intimidating for certain jobs, even when feeling happy. Most commonly, this type of work arises as a demand for service workers or other low-level employees who are told to exhibit certain emotions, even if they don't feel them. Not appearing personable in a customer service environment can, in some cases, lead to termination of employment.
People who have their emotions abnormally tightly regulated by their employers often experience a decreased quality of life or job dissatisfaction. This is because these people feel controlled and most of their days are not authentic. Interestingly, companies that feel the need to micromanage their employees' emotions are often the same companies that treat their employees poorly, so training in appropriate affect can sometimes be used as an indication of how fair they are. a company treats employees.
One of the main problems with emotional labor is that it is extremely gendered in many cases. Women are often expected to display positive emotions at all times, and to do otherwise is considered poor customer service or a poor attitude toward work. Men have much lighter emotional expectations in the field of customer service, and even when a job calls for a display of affection, it's more common for men to experience genuine emotions rather than feel the need to fake them.
There are many ways to get around difficult emotional labor. For example, employees who are required to act solemn in their jobs will often feel genuine solemnity if they take their job seriously and genuinely care about the task at hand. One of the ways to force employees to smile constantly is to create an environment in which employees want to smile. Creating happy and fair work environments severely reduces emotional strain on service workers and can lead to better morale and more loyal workers.