Employee emotional labor and job satisfaction/turnover intent

Jung, H. S., & Yoon, H. H. (2014). Antecedents and consequences of employees’ job   stress in a foodservice industry: Focused on emotional labor and turnover       intent. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 38, 84-88.

Employee emotional labor and job satisfaction/turnover intent

Employees working in the foodservice industry experience issues involving emotional labor. Emotional labor is defined as the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job. Workers are expected to regulate their emotions during interactions with individuals such as customers and co-workers. Appropriate emotional labor will lead to positive customer work-of-mouth and repetitive purchases of goods and services. Understanding emotional labor, especially in the foodservice industry, will allow a manager to see changes in their employees as far as how they engage in their work. Emotional labor is often important in jobs where employees directly deal with customers and directly provide services. Now-a-days, employee’s emotions are managed at the organizational level rather than an individual level. Understanding emotional labor and how it can reduce emotional dissonance is something that dietitians should be aware of when managing their foodservice employees. Low emotional labor groups are found to have worse health conditions and lower job satisfaction as well as self-regard. Low job satisfaction leads to an increase in job turnover. An employee’s emotional labor can affect their job stress. It is important for foodservice managers and dietitians to realize this in order to reduce work stress and therefore make their employees happier with their job. A study found a significant relationship between emotional labor and turnover intent. When employees are trained, there should be an emphasis on behavioral aspects such as smiles and gestures as well as how to effectively perceive a customer’s emotions. Role-playing with employees may help them to understand how to do this.