Emotional Labor and Crisis Response
Human Capital Issues
Emotional Labor as Public Good and the State a Harbor of Refuge
Critical Incident Stress Management
combating harmful effects of emotionally intense work
procedure: critical incident debriefing
meetings attended by a counselor and the team members who were involved together in an emotionally intense situation
operational judgments are supposed to be reserved for separate sessions devoted to technical and procedural issues
only effective when those attending are responsive and resist the temptation to focus on topics that are easier to discuss
Self-Care Plans
used predominantly among victim assistance workers and domestic violence workers
purpose is to preemptively keep responders healthy
employees specify personal goals for themselves on an annual basis
responders who succeed in preventing burnout learn to treat mistakes and bad calls as learning opportunities
Traits to Look For When Hiring Emotional Laborers
traits required for successfully working in an emotionally intense, chaotic environment are elusive
employers seek job applicants who are aware of their own reactions to trauma and are cognizant of the need to deal openly with the emotional intensity of their experiences
job applicants who respond that they do not experience stress are as unlikely to be hired as those who admit to maladaptive behaviors such as drinking too much
self-awareness is paramount; an essential trait for hiring workers who must engage in emotionally-intense work. this trait enables workers to take stock of their own performance and process their emotions
Training and Supervision
most job descriptions fail to mention the emotional intensity of the work
the agencies that do the best job of training are those that focus on trauma and what victims of trauma experience as well as what workers may experience in the form of vicarious trauma
Overcoming Emotion Overload
prepare them for managing their own emotional overload
organizational culture dictates which emotions are appropriate to display and which ones are not
whether norms are formally or informally expressed, they influence whether the worker disguises emotional expression or not
secretive culture makes it difficult to discuss anxieties and shortcomings openly and deal with them constructively
fields whose work forces are predominantly female have an easier time addressing the emotive aspects of the job during training
Staff Development
efforts to help staff develop emotive skills and to cope with lingering reactions to intense situations must be culture-specific
critical incident stress management/stress mitigation; phrases used not to harm "masculinity"
clear signs of PTSD
Emotional Labor: What, How, and Why
What
How
Why
at varying levels of intensity, emotional labor plays a role in nearly all government jobs
performance of emotional labor need not lead to burnout
the difference lies in how management and workers address the emotive labor demands of these jobs
emotional labor is part of an occupation, not simply something that a person brings to the job (or not)
the characteristics of the job - its purpose and role in the organization, its demands and requirements - determine whether or not job holders will find themselves exerting emotional labor
agencies can screen, train, retrain, and evaluate employees on the quality of emotional labor that they exercise on the job
emotional labor requires workers to suppress, exaggerate, or otherwise manipulate their own and/or another's private feelings in order to comply with work-related display rules
cognitive consequences of emotional regulation and concluded that emotion suppression impaired memory for information encountered while individuals inhibited ongoing emotion - expressive behavior
it is not the experience of emotion that impairs cognitive function, but rather the regulation (suppression or exaggeration) of it that impairs cognitive function