Although the purpose of a company’s establishment is to make money, managers should not only focus on business but also consider the well-being and health of their employees. Experts say that the ongoing mental health crisis in the workplace is forcing managers to take into account the emotional well-being of employees, with emotions being at the core of workplace management.
Jose Navarro, a researcher at the Labor and Organizational Psychology Center at the University of Barcelona in Spain, wrote an article on The Conversation website, emphasizing the importance of understanding emotions in order to comprehend emotional health.
Navarro explains that emotions are short-lived and intense responses to specific events that are important to us and influence our behavior. Emotions are not just subjective experiences but also serve as a driving force for our actions. For example, sadness can decrease work performance, while anger can lead to conflicts.
Simply saying someone is “not feeling well” is not enough. Understanding their specific emotions is the first step to understanding their workplace behavior.
To understand people’s emotions in the workplace, Navarro and his colleagues conducted a study involving 102 employees from different departments. The study aimed to explore how six basic emotions (happiness, surprise, sadness, disgust, fear, and anger) manifest in daily workplace life and their frequency of occurrence.
They collected a total of 1,499 work-related significant events provided by the participants and assessed the nature of these events as positive or negative (valence) and their novelty or disruptiveness (intensity).
The study revealed several key points:
– The workplace is generally a pleasant environment. Happiness is the most common and intense emotion, appearing in 67% of reported events, followed by surprise at 54%. People who consistently experience negative emotions are more likely to choose to leave their jobs.
– Negative emotions are less frequent but more intense. The frequency of anger (nearly 40%) and sadness (32%) is higher than fear (26%) and disgust (20%). Furthermore, negative emotions rarely appear alone but are often a combination of emotions, especially anger, sadness, and disgust.
– The intensity has a compounding effect. Simply categorizing work-related events as “good” or “bad” is insufficient. To trigger strong emotions, the intensity of the triggering event must be significant, meaning it needs to be disruptive or novel.
– Fear manifests differently from other emotions. It is the only emotion purely determined by the intensity of the event rather than valence (positive or negative). It is also significantly influenced by individual traits or situations. Certain employees are more prone to experiencing this emotion due to their personality or job role.
– Gender has minimal impact on the intensity of employees’ emotions. Gender only affects the frequency of specific emotions – men tend to exhibit happiness more often, while women are more likely to display feelings of disgust.
Analyzing the 1,499 events, Navarro identified situations triggering various emotions, most of which involve managers, colleagues, or clients:
– Happiness arises from achievement and interpersonal interactions.
– Surprise stems from unmet expectations.
– Sadness relates to loss and unmet expectations.
– Disgust is typically linked to moral issues.
– Fear arises from threats and safety concerns.
– Anger emerges from a sense of unfair treatment or disrespect.
It’s worth noting that experts have highlighted how emotions can be contagious. Therefore, it is advised not to bring negative work-related emotions and stress home after work to avoid jeopardizing marital relationships.