ional work and its effects
Arlie Russell Hochschild published a book forty years ago about emotional work. Frontline employees (especially women), had to manage and express emotions as a part of their jobs. She spoke about how difficult it is for flight attendants who are not feeling well to smile and show up at work.
Emotional work is the opposite to the task-based, measurable output of the industrial economy. Even if you don’t dig holes, we’ll still offer a certain type of work: process this pile of paper and we won’t mind if you enjoy (or pretend to love) your job. Labor is easily measured.
But automation and AI have made this type of work into a race for the bottom. You’re likely to be in a race towards the bottom if you don’t put any emotional effort into the task. Piecework and’real skills’ that are easily measured will soon be automated, outsourced or lose their value.
Emotional work has become a source of competitive advantage. It is our commitment to show up as humans, even (especially), when we do not feel like it that creates value. This human work is what makes us feel valued and seen.
