Don't worry! Be happy! Or else you're fired!

Marketplace Business quoted Management Professor Blake Ashforth in their article about the effects of emotional labor: when smiling and being upbeat is part of your job.

Emotional labor — playing the role of the cheerful employee no matter what — can exact a heavy toll on workers, according to new research. But Management Professor Blake Ashforth commented that jobs requiring unfailing cheer are not a burden to everybody. From Marketplace Business, November 23, 2015:

Ashforth argues that job fit is an important part of making emotional labor less taxing and more fulfilling, adding that extroverts are usually better at engaging with their jobs in this way. “If you get people who care about the job, and the job itself allows them to express themselves, there’s autonomy with supportive management and a positive atmosphere, it can be a win-win,” Ashforth said.

Blake Ashforth studies how organizations and individuals affect each other. His work focuses on newcomer socialization and work adjustment, including how newcomers find meaning and connection in their work and workplaces and what organizations can do to ease their transition to work.

About Blake Ashforth