Emotional labor is an idiom meaning to manage your own or others' emotions to meet job or relationship expectations, often involving suppressing real feelings (like frustration) or faking others (like cheerfulness) for a desired outcome, like a positive customer experience or harmonious home life, and it can lead to stress and burnout. More specifically, workers are expected to regulate their personas during interactions with customers, co-workers, clients, and managers. 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. This is done so as to produce a certain feeling in the customer or client that will allow the company or organization to succeed.
Coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild, it was originally for paid work (e.g., flight attendants, nurses) but now broadly includes unseen household and relationship tasks, often disproportionately falling on women and marginalized groups.
Roles that have been identified as requiring emotional labor include those involved in education, public administration, law, childcare, health care, social work, hospitality, media, advocacy, aviation and espionage.
Examples
Job: A waiter smiling at a difficult customer.
Job: A debt collector suppressing sympathy to extract payment.
Home: Remembering birthdays or scheduling doctor's appointments.
Home: Managing family logistics and anticipating needs.
