Good customer service may actually be causing workers to consider leaving their organization. Putting on a smile through a difficult interaction can deplete emotional resources—referred to as emotional labor—particularly when the employee does not fully subscribe to making the interaction positive.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
There are two types of acting that employees engage in during common customer service interactions: deep acting and surface acting. Deep acting occurs when employees attempt to change their feelings toward a situation so that their emotions match their behavior. Surface acting, on the other hand, occurs when employees merely mask their feelings and present an outward appearance that does not match their feelings. It is this second form of acting, surface acting, which causes emotional depletion.
In this study (Chau et al., 2009), emotional depletion was positively related to turnover intentions. In other words, people who experience burnout also have higher intentions to leave their organization. Turnover intentions were then linked to actual turnover rates 6 months later. Deep acting had the opposite effect. Employees who engaged in deep acting actually had lower levels of turnover intentions. Employees who fully take on their roles when interacting with others expend fewer emotional resources.
THE BOTTOM LINE
For business scenarios, this has some pretty obvious implications. Managers can go beyond encouraging employees to maintain that sunny disposition, and instead promote deep acting over surface acting. By doing so, they may keep those employees happier and with the organization longer.
Chau, S. L., Dahling, J. J., Levy, P. E., & Diefendorff, J. M. (2009). A predictive study of emotional labor and turnover. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 1151-1163.
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