Burnout and Stress: Emotional Hygiene When Working with People

Emotional exhaustion, due to the prevalence of the problem, is a popular topic.

Experts in scientific research point out that people who work with people are most prone to burnout.

Business psychologist Stanislav Sambursky told how to help yourself avoid professional burnout.

The main causes of emotional burnout are:

• Dissatisfaction with wages
• Working at a job you don't like
• Excessive perfectionism
• Work stress with no opportunity to relieve stress

When we talk about emotional exhaustion, we are dealing with emotional overload. And the main thing here is not the lack of interesting income at the current place of work.

Arlie Russell Hochschild, a professor of sociology, studied the shift in the American economy from manufacturing to a service economy. In the 1970s, Hochschild singled out two occupational groups for in-depth study.

Emotional exhaustion of collectors and flight attendants

Despite the completely different business areas, professionals from both groups have many similar qualities. Like flight attendants, collectors require significant emotional self-organization.

Stewards are expected to treat passengers with respect and kindness, no matter how they behave. Collectors are also expected to remain cool and even aggressive, no matter who the debtor is.

Karl Marx noted in his works that factory workers, becoming an addition to the assembly line, do not feel a connection with their own labor. And in the modern economy, built on the service sector, it is even worse - people have become distant from each other.

A service professional often has to hide his true emotions. In response to any harsh comments and outright rudeness from the customer, the professional remains collected and friendly, although his emotions may be off the charts.

When working with people, the specialist behaves insincerely towards himself again and again. This is typical emotional self-suppression.

For reference, people who are subjected to long-term emotional abuse, such as in toxic relationships, may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. In the workplace, toxicity can be off the charts and at some point become very damaging to the professional.

Emotional self-suppression is a springboard for illness

Working with people, specialists often have to show emotions that they do not experience. In particular, he needs this so that his emotion reaches the client. So that the client performs those actions that will help achieve the business goals of the employer company.

For example, a collector is obliged to instill in a person such emotions that he promptly pays off his debts and in the future is careful when assessing the need for borrowed funds.
On the contrary, the seller needs to evoke positive emotions so that the buyer comes back again and again. To bring other people into the right emotional state, you yourself must be in a certain emotional state or imitate it.

Professor Hochschild introduced the concepts of "emotional labor" and "emotional work"

Both concepts involve working with your own feelings and the feelings of others.

Emotional labor is everything we do from the heart for our family and friends, without expecting financial reward. We do it for those who are important to us, whom we want to support.

We invest our emotional resources into relationships, even if we don’t realize it. Healthy and successful relationships always have approximately the same emotional investment from all participants.

We are satisfied when we receive and give approximately the same amount of emotional labor.

If one person invests emotionally in a relationship and the other person only allows it and does not reciprocate, the relationship is doomed. It ends or continues as destructive.

Emotional work is a specific type of work where a specialist needs to invest emotionally in order to achieve work results. The employee is forced to do the work even if he does not like working with clients at all or is not happy with the managers.

The employee is paid for the performance of his direct duties, indicators, etc. Emotional investments remain out of sight. No one pays extra for emotional investment in work, and it most often goes unnoticed by employers. And the employees themselves rarely and reluctantly talk about the fact that the work takes a lot of emotional energy.

At the same time, emotional work is one of the most important components of the service sector. Note that the higher the price of a product or service, the better the quality of "emotional service" the client receives.

In addition, many customers are willing to pay extra money to receive special treatment. More attention, more participation and additional comfort - this is how you can sell goods and services more expensively.

Emotional work, to be performed efficiently, requires a large internal resource of the specialist and its regular replenishment.

When your inner energy runs out, moral exhaustion inevitably sets in.

To prevent emotional burnout among flight attendants, they were asked to imagine that all passengers on the flight were their guests or friends. This simple technique changed the attitude and the crew began to treat passengers with compassion and genuine care.

An employee can improve their emotional state by getting into the "role". However, true emotions do not disappear and at home, a firework of negative emotions can explode from a minor trigger.

What should we do?

Suppressing feelings and overworking can lead to burnout, cynicism towards clients, disgust towards everyone around you, and even self-hatred.

You can live for a while by suppressing your emotions, but long-term self-suppression will not end well.

"The main reason for emotional burnout is that you do something you don't like and don't want to do. Talk to a corporate psychologist or seek career advice from an independent business psychologist" - Stanislav Sambursky, business psychologist, clinical psychologist

• Related news:
• psychology
• board
• work
• 7 January 2023

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