Should emotional labour be a critical component in healthcare workforce modelling?

ABSTRACT Healthcare work is emotionally intensive, yet emotional labour is overlooked in workforce modelling, with significant impact in terms of burnout and staff retention. The aim of this study was to examine emotional labour expenditure in a multi-professional group working in a large medical specialism across the UK to establish how this type of labour should be considered in workforce/labour modelling. The Discrete Emotional Labour Scale was administered to multidisciplinary members of a professional society working in haematology across the UK. Principal Component Analysis was used to understand the ways in which different emotion groups interact and contribute to emotional labour. Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to explore differences along these principal components between cohorts separated by profession, pay grade and years of service. The findings reveal emotional labour demand can be assessed and integrated into workforce modelling. Suppressing negative and faking positive emotions significantly impact labour expenditure. Emotional labour demands vary across professional groups, pay, and years of service. Lower pay bands in clinical roles show different emotional patterns compared to higher pay bands with managerial responsibilities. Early-career professionals displayed distinct emotional labour responses compared to experienced colleagues. This highlights the need to include emotional labour demand in workforce modelling.