A close-up shot of a corkboard covered with various notes, diagrams, and text explaining "What is Emotional Labor?"

Skip to content Penn StatePenn State: College of the Liberal Arts WELD Lab Workplace Emotional Labor and Diversity Search for:SearchSearch for... Search... Home People Research What is Emotional Labor? Press Dr. Grandey’s CV Start of Main Content What is emotional labor? Home | What is Emotional Labor? By definition (Hochschild, 1983, The Managed Heart), emotional labor refers to regulating or managing emotional expressions with others as part of one’s professional work role. Emotional labor is parallel to physical labor; both are occupations that tend to require a lot of effort, but EL is effort around emotions and tends to be female-dominated (i.e., service or caring work) and physical labor is effort with the body and tends to be male-dominated. What emotional labor is NOT: Emotional labor is distinct from “emotion work” or the interpersonal task (i.e., gift giving, event planning) that women often do in work and home lives, a current point of confusion. Still confused? Read more about emotional labor in this article by Leah Fessler from Quartz at Work. emotional labor EMOTIONAL LABOR EMOTION WORK (Management/Regulation) Work role specific Any social context Managing emotions during interactions (e.g., organizational outsiders) to achieve professional goals and conform to work role requirements Expectations are explicitly stated in handbooks, training, financial gains. Managing emotions to maintain personal goals and relationships (e.g., with friends, family, Ver más