How to Manage ‘Emotional Labor’ Among Senior Care Staff

We all know the feeling of coming to work and having to put on a happy face despite something personal or emotional going on in our lives. Well, senior living’s frontline staff knows that experience all too well, and recent research findings suggest this this behavior can lead to burnout.

The behavior has been deemed “surface acting,” or acting one way on the surface but feeling another way on the inside, all while not empathizing with the other person in an interaction. It’s considered a form of “emotional labor,” and over time, it can take a toll on the workers involved.

In senior living, frontline staff recognize they are expected to engage in this type of behavior. In fact, 92% know they are supposed to manage negative feelings on the job in order to maintain positive interactions with residents, according to a study from Mather LifeWays Intstitute on Aging, the research arm of Evanston, Illinois-based senior living provider Mather LifeWays.

The report, titled “‘May I Help You?’ Engagement and Emotional Labor in Frontline Senior Living Employees” and authored by Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging Senior Research Associate Jordan Stein, analyzes responses from a 26-item questionnaire filled out by 37 frontline employees at a Chicago-area life plan community (formerly known as continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs).

“Overall, the findings indicated that frontline staff tend to support organizational expectations that they present a positive countenance to residents in order to enhance residents’ experience, and that they do not express negative feelings when interacting with residents,” the report states.

Luckily, there’s action senior living providers can take to combat employee burnout. With proper training, staff can learn how to manage their emotions in a healthy manner.

Some organizations use classroom training, handbooks or scripts as a means of directing workers on how to display and/or feel certain emotions, while others depend on direct guidance from supervisors.

Another suggestion is to provide deeper training on how employers can create positive feelings within themselves to make it easier for them to act accordingly. Providers can also relate stories about previous customer interactions to help employees better understand and relate to their customers.

Additional suggestions listed in the report include:

• Focused training on interpersonal skills aimed at improving positive emotional cognition
• End-of-day positive reflection and mindfulness
• Encourage staff to think of residents as personal guests in their own living room

Burnout as a result of surface acting and emotional labor can be exacerbated by staffing issues such as understaffed shifts and excess overtime. Managing these two items is crucial to helping your staff reduce stress and lessening the turnover that results from it:

1. Understaffed Shifts. Are there consistently understaffed shifts at your organization? Employees that work those shifts are likely taking on more tasks and responsibility than they should. As a result, they are at risk for the stress and fatigue that lead to burnout. When filling shifts that open up last minute, providers often rely on the same few people that they know are willing to pick up extra hours. Do your best to offer shifts to employees who are in no danger of going into overtime. As a more long-term solution, you’ll want to gain visibility into the holes in your schedule and determine where more employees are needed.
2. Excess Overtime. When it comes to overtime, help employees understand the importance of work/life balance. Pay attention to your schedule and to employees that often pick up extra hours. While employees sometimes want to work extra hours and you may appreciate their willingness to fill-in shifts, those employees may be at risk for burning out. Rather than waiting until after payroll to see where overtime occurred, try to prevent overtime. Also, avoid scheduling overtime into your master schedule— overtime should be an exception rather than the rule.

Overall, it’s leaderships’ responsibility to create a healthy environment for staff. Make sure employees understand appropriate ways of expressing emotions by setting an example and by offering training. “The more training workers have, the more effort they’re willing to exert in creating positive emotions,” according to the report.

Help prevent stress and fatigue by limiting scheduled overtime and reducing the frequency of understaffed shifts. Let employees know that you care about their physical and emotional well-being and support their efforts to avoid burnout. Ultimately your workforce will happier, more engaged and provide higher quality care for residents.