[acb-hsp] FW: [employment] Faking Enthusiasm

Wed Feb 6 16:40:32 EST 2013

Maybe we should look at devaluing managers and CEO's  in these types of
institutions, let's put their salaries at the same level as their employees.

Claude Everett
"First of all:  what is work? 
Work is of two kinds:
  first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface
relatively to other such matter;
 second, telling other people to do so.
  The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and
highly paid."
>From The collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell 

-----Original Message-----
From: Baracco, Andrew W [mailto:Andrew.Baracco at va.gov] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 10:21 AM
To: ceverett at dslextreme.com; Discussion list for ACB human service
professionals
Subject: RE: [acb-hsp] FW: [employment] Faking Enthusiasm

I recall when I was growing up, there was a nurses strike at a major
hospital in my community. The hospital administration took every opportunity
to assault the character of the strikers, saying that they put their own
petty concerns above that of patient care, and they didn't deserve to work
in that field.  They also obtained a court injunction and forced the nurses
back to work without addressing their issues.

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
Claude Everett
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 8:50 AM
To: 'Discussion list for ACB human service professionals'
Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] FW: [employment] Faking Enthusiasm

What a shame that we devalue positions such as child care workers or health
workers for seniors. 

Claude Everett
"First of all:  what is work? 
Work is of two kinds:
  first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface
relatively to other such matter;  second, telling other people to do so.
  The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and
highly paid."
>From The collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell 

-----Original Message-----
From: acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
Baracco, Andrew W
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 8:20 AM
To: Discussion list for ACB human service professionals
Subject: [acb-hsp] FW: [employment] Faking Enthusiasm

-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Baracco [mailto:wq6r at socal.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 6:34 PM
To: Baracco, Andrew W
Subject: Fw: [employment] Faking Enthusiasm

Something I can identify with.
-----Original Message-----
From: peter altschul
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 12:49 PM
To: Acbemp
Subject: [employment] Faking Enthusiasm 

Why Faking Enthusiasm Is The Latest Job Requirement
  By Anya Kamenetz February 5, 2013
  Increasingly, companies want loving the job to be part of the job (though
they're less eager to pay for it).  But when our required professional
persona is at odds with our selves, we all suffer.  Is there a solution?
  Sooner or later, most jobs require us to exhibit some emotion that we
don't necessarily feel.  Flight attendants and waiters are supposed to smile
when they hand you a drink; bill collectors are supposed to scare you into
coming across with the cash.  
Nurses and preschool teachers are supposed to be comforting, even loving.
When your job requires playing a part, though, it's hard to figure out where
you begin and your job ends.  The experience can be alienating, even
dehumanizing.
  Award-winning UC Berkeley sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, in her
book stThe Managed Heart coined the term "emotional labor" 
to describe the curious situation where "seeming to love the job becomes
part of the job."
  This concept has been in the air lately.  Josh Eidelson wrote in stThe
Nationst about D.C.-area Starbucks baristas exhorted to support a corporate
pro-austerity campaign by physically writing a slogan on cups.
"CEO's hawking 'shared sacrifice' are a dime a dozen," Eidelson noted.
"A working-class seal of approval is much more valuable, even if--like so
much in the American workplace--it's coerced."
  Timothy Noah wrote in stThe New Republicst about how Pret A Manger
requires its employees to master "Pret behaviors," such as "has presence,"
"creates a sense of fun," and "is happy to be themself."
Yes--in order to sell you a bacon sandwich, employees must be fully
self-actualized.  And the amount that they touch fellow-employees is
considered to be a positive indicator of sales, not a red flag for
sexual-harassment lawsuits.
  "If you have to love the job to do it well, the logic goes, then we don't
want people to be in it for the money."
  Usually we only think of emotional labor as belonging to the low-wage
service economy.  In fact, economist Nancy Folbre argued in her great book
stThe Invisible Heartst that the reason that jobs like preschool teacher and
social worker are so low-paid and devalued is precisely because they require
so much emotional labor.  If you have to love the job to do it well, the
logic goes, then we don't want people to be in it for the money.
  But as Hochschild wrote, "most of us have jobs that require some handling
of other peoples' feelings and our own, and in that sense we are all partly
flight attendants." Emotional labor exists even in the startup world, which
is supposed to prize authenticity and pure technical skill.  Lauren Bacon, a
web developer, technology entrepreneur, and author, wrote in the Huffington
Post last week about technology and "empathy work"--the unpaid,
not-part-of-the-job description stuff that
(usually) women do in the startup world, by, for example, bringing the team
together, projecting a positive image in their spare time on social media,
or reminding everyone to eat lunch.
  Bacon sees women in tech companies often being marginalized to ""people"
roles like HR, communications, project management, admin, and user
experience.  "One could almost--if one were feeling cheeky--rename these
roles employee empathy, customer empathy, team empathy, user empathy, and
boss empathy: all of them require deep skills in emotional intelligence,
verbal and written communications, and putting oneself in the shoes of
others," she says.  All this work is crucial to a company's success, but
valued at a lower level than the hard-core coding.
  Is there any way to make peace with the emotional heavy lifting that our
jobs may require? Bacon suggests that employers and job candidates do a
better job of talking about and adequately valuing people skills and not
offloading all the emotional labor to a few people.  For individuals,
choosing a job that's a good fit for your natural temperament is important.
But so is spending enough time away from work to find out how you really
feel.
  Copyright B) 2013 Mansueto Ventures LLC.  All rights reserved.
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