Are you the office mom? If so, your career is at risk.

That’s the conclusion of a new article by Melody Wilding for Forbes. According to Wilding, emotional labour – or the effort spent managing emotions – affects women’s careers more than men’s. And the office mom is often the one who bears the brunt of that burden.

The article discusses how women are often saddled with the majority of the emotional labour in the workplace. This can manifest itself in a number of ways, such as being responsible for managing relationships and handling tasks that are seen as ‘women’s work’. This can be extremely taxing and lead to women feeling overwhelmed and unsupported.

Emotional labour is the process of managing emotions in the workplace. It can include tasks such as cheering up a colleague who is having a bad day, handling customer complaints, or acting happy and enthusiastic even when you’re not feeling it. Women are often expected to shoulder the majority of emotional labour in the office, and this can take a toll on their careers.

There are several reasons for this. First, women are typically socialised to be more emotionally expressive than men. They’re also more likely to be responsible for tasks like organising team events and arranging childcare. All of these activities require emotional labour.

But emotional labour doesn’t just affect women’s personal lives. It can also have a negative impact on their careers. For example, it can lead to feelings of burnout and frustration. It can also make it difficult to assert oneself in the workplace or to take on new challenges.

So what can managers, business owners and supervisors do to help? Here are three tips:

1) Be aware of the issue.

2) Encourage employees to take breaks.

3) Offer flexible work arrangements.

If you’re a woman in business, it’s important to be aware of the emotional labour you’re expected to perform. Take steps to manage your own emotions, and encourage your employees to do the same.

Find out more in the original article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melodywilding/2018/06/06/dont-be-the-office-mom-how-emotional-labor-affects-womens-careers/?sh=274620651103

This article summary was created by Eleanor Shakiba

Eleanor is a leadership trainer, success coach and people skills expert. She helps managers and business owners build thriving teams and organisations, using tools from Positive Psychology. She's trained more than 60,000 people during her career as a corporate trainer and professional development consultant. Her mission is inspiring talented people to become leaders who make a difference.