Professor Paul Jaskunas wrote a piece last Saturday in The New York Times titled "The Tyranny of the Forced Smile." In it, Jaskunas described a range of jobs that expected of workers not only punctuality, excellence and inventiveness, but happiness (real or faux: no matter) and enthusiasm to boot.
Service and retail positions often require an engagement with the customer (or "guest" in hospitality-speak) beyond the simple money-for-goods transaction. Companies want employees to spread cheer, for customers to feel "at home," and for each interaction to leave a lasting, pleasant impression.
The problems with this are obvious. Sometimes employees — like all humans — aren't in a great mood. Owners may be psyched to start a cheery new business initiative (and thereafter reap the profits) while hourly, low-wage workers are the ones forced to put that initiative into practice.
Nancy Koehn, a historian at the Harvard Business School, said Tuesday on Boston Public Radio that businesses have myriad reasons for urging workers to act happy.
"Customers really like to work with people who enjoy what they do. [They bring] customers in and [make] them feel like it's a good experience," Koehn said. "It's so much more pleasant to deal with someone —faking it or not — who appears to be" satisfied.
"The great irony here is that there is a lot of uncertainty" for service-sector workers, Koehn said. "It's very precarious."
Koehn said the difference between an employer asking an employee to be cheerful — and an employee feeling legitimately cheerful — owes to confusion over why people work in the first place. Workers, Koehn said, want recognition.
"People that are satisfied in their work and enjoy their work are more productive," Koehn said. "What really constitutes worker satisfaction? That's a little different than happiness."
Koehn mentioned two companies that pride themselves on cultures of happiness and satisfaction — sandwich chain Pret a Manger, and eyeglass retailer Warby Parker.
"Why at this moment in history in America do we find companies like Pret a Manger?" Koehn asked. "Pret a Manger has a whole focus on, 'Are our workers exuberant enough?' [...] Warby Parker, the really chic, really in-the-moment [...] eyeglass manufacturer that puts a huge emphasis on 'fun-gineering.' [...] They portray that to their customers and other stakeholders."
Many workers are so wrapped up in their jobs — a historically American trait, Koehn explained — that anxiousness conquers happiness or satisfaction.
"You are your job. [...] I think that this goes all the way back that the people who [first] came" to North America, Koehn said. "There's still a sense of that. [...] You build your destiny."
Koehn said that American notion has spread to the rest of the world.
"It's really changing — the merging of leisure and work, 24/7 communication. [...] The old idea that part of the world has more leisure" is old-fashioned, Koehn said.
Personal identities tied closely to work, technology that sneaks menial work into off-work hours, and an expectation to be cheerful in all work could frustrate even the most well-being employee. In light of all that, Jaskunas made this very simple, very human request.
"I'd rather not feel obliged to profess my enthusiasm. I'll keep my chin up; on a good day I might even whistle. But please don't ask me to smile if I'm not in the mood."
>>To hear the entire segment with Nancy Koehn, click the audio link above. Nancy Koehn joins Boston Public Radio each Tuesday. Koehn is the author of Ernest Shackleton Exploring Leadership.
