The Hidden Workload: What Your Employees Are Carrying That Isn’t in Their Job Description

 

Employee Emotional Wellbeing: The Hidden Workload Employees Carry

 

Employee emotional wellbeing isn't always about workload. Sometimes, it's about everything employees are carrying that isn't in their job description.

When we talk about employee emotional wellbeing, the conversation often focuses on familiar territory such as workload, stress, mental health, flexible working and work-life balance. All important! But there is another form of work happening in organisations every day that is much harder to see.

It doesn't appear on a job description and it isn't captured by a timesheet. It rarely shows up in a performance review. It is the emotional workload at work.

Think of the employee who stays calm when a colleague is difficult. The manager who absorbs everyone's frustrations. The person who avoids challenging behaviour because they don't want to create conflict. The team member who is always the one saying, “Don't worry, I'll sort it.” Eventually, the person who looks perfectly fine on the outside but is completely drained on the inside.

 

What is emotional workload at work?

We often hear the term emotional labour in relation to customer-facing roles – the requirement to remain friendly, patient and professional even when you don't necessarily feel that way. But emotional labour doesn't only happen between employees and customers. It happens between colleagues, managers and teams too.

Employees manage their emotions when dealing with difficult colleagues. They soften difficult feedback, hide frustration in meetings, reassure other people, mediate disagreements informally. They remain positive when they're struggling themselves.

This is emotional workload at work. The mental and emotional energy required to manage relationships, expectations, conflict and other people's emotions alongside the actual requirements of the job. And when that responsibility consistently falls on the same people, it can start to affect employee emotional wellbeing.

 

 

When “resilience” becomes a workplace strategy

There is an important distinction between helping employees become more resilient and expecting employees to resiliently tolerate an unhealthy environment.

If someone is struggling because of an excessive workload, teaching them breathing exercises isn't going to solve the workload. If someone is exhausted because they are constantly managing conflict, giving them access to a wellbeing app isn't going to resolve the conflict. And if an employee is becoming unwell because they feel unable to challenge poor behaviour, telling them to “look after their wellbeing” puts the responsibility in the wrong place.

Good employee wellbeing isn't simply about giving people tools to cope with difficult circumstances. It also means understanding what is creating those circumstances in the first place.

 

The wellbeing problem hiding inside Employee Relations

This is where employee relations and employee wellbeing become much more closely connected than many businesses realise. A difficult working relationship doesn't necessarily begin with a formal grievance. It can start much earlier.

1. An employee becomes quieter.
2. They stop contributing in meetings.
3. They avoid a particular colleague.
4. They become anxious about certain conversations.
5. They start taking longer to recover after difficult interactions.
6. Their performance changes.
7. They take more time off.

Eventually, what started as an interpersonal problem can become a workplace stress, absence or employee relations issue. The warning signs may have been there for months.

 

Could workplace relationships be affecting employee wellbeing?

This is a question managers should be asking more often. Not every difficult relationship is a serious problem, and healthy workplaces will always involve disagreement.

The issue is what happens when an employee feels they have to continually manage another person's behaviour because the underlying issue isn't being addressed. That might mean avoiding someone to prevent confrontation, taking responsibility for keeping the peace, absorbing inappropriate comments or behaviour. None of these activities may appear in an employee's workload, but they still require energy.

 

 

Why “fine” doesn't always mean fine

One of the challenges with employee emotional wellbeing is that struggling employees don't always look like they're struggling. Some become visibly distressed while others become quieter, more withdrawn or unusually agreeable. Some continue performing well because they're determined not to let anyone down.

In fact, the employees who appear most capable of coping can sometimes be the ones carrying the greatest emotional workload.

That's why wellbeing conversations need to go beyond “How are you?” A more useful question might be “What is taking the most energy from you at work at the moment?”

The answer may have nothing to do with workload. It could be a relationship, a colleague, a manager, a recurring conflict. Or simply the emotional effort of constantly trying to keep everyone else happy.

 

What can employers do to support employee emotional wellbeing?

The answer isn't to eliminate every difficult conversation or expect everyone to get along perfectly. Healthy workplaces still have disagreements.

Instead, employers should look at whether emotional responsibility is being distributed fairly.

Notice who is constantly “holding the team together”

Are the same people repeatedly mediating disagreements, supporting colleagues or dealing with difficult personalities? If so, don't automatically praise them for their resilience. Ask whether they're carrying something that should be addressed organisationally.

Don't confuse harmony with health

A quiet team isn't necessarily a healthy team. If people don't feel comfortable challenging behaviour, the absence of conflict can simply mean people have stopped speaking up. Healthy workplace emotional wellbeing doesn't mean everyone is happy all the time. It means people feel able to raise concerns, have difficult conversations and ask for support.

Look beyond wellbeing perks

Wellbeing initiatives have their place, but they shouldn't become a substitute for good management. If stress is being caused by poor communication, unrealistic expectations, unresolved conflict or problematic working relationships, those issues need addressing at source.

Give managers the skills to have difficult conversations

Managers don't need to become therapists. But they do need to recognise when an employee may be struggling, understand their responsibilities and know how to address inappropriate behaviour, conflict and performance issues early.

Effective management is an important part of supporting employee mental health and wellbeing.

Address Employee Relations issues early

Not every workplace disagreement requires a formal process. Sometimes a facilitated conversation, mediation or a well-managed informal discussion can prevent a relationship from deteriorating further. The earlier an organisation identifies an issue, the more opportunity there is to resolve it before it affects someone's wellbeing.

 

Wellbeing shouldn't depend on how much someone can tolerate

Perhaps the biggest shift businesses can make is to stop viewing employee wellbeing purely as something that happens to an employee. Work itself can create or reduce the conditions that affect wellbeing.

If an employee is constantly stressed because of their working environment, asking them to become more resilient isn't necessarily the answer. Sometimes the answer is to change the environment. That might mean addressing workload, improving management, resolving conflict or challenging inappropriate behaviour. It also might mean giving employees permission to say, “This isn't working”, without feeling that they are creating a problem.

Need support with an Employee Relations issue?

At Amica HR, we help businesses manage workplace conflict, difficult employee relationships and sensitive Employee Relations matters before they become bigger problems.

From informal advice and facilitated conversations to ongoing HR support, our approach is practical, impartial and focused on finding a way forward.

If an issue is affecting your people, don't wait for it to become a formal case.

 

Talk to Amica HR about how we can help.