Job stigma bringing you down? New research says to ‘shake it off’
Study highlights the impact of self-confidence and supportive management on job performance
The stereotypical employee may be at a desk in front of a computer screen working a nine-to-five, but for many employees, the work day is filled with manual labor, hazardous environments and late-night shifts.
Your local garbage collector, for example, is someone with a job that society might consider “dirty,” both literally and socially.
For so-called “dirty jobs,” the environment may be stressful, the stigma can be hard to ignore, but the work needs to get done to keep society functioning.
Scott Dust is the Kirk and Jacki Perry Professor in Leadership in the Department of Management and the senior director of Lindner Professional Programs.
Scott Dust, PhD, professor in the management department at the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business, worked with doctoral candidates Sodiq Babatunde and Ben Fagan to analyze the impact of stress and stigma on well-being in certain careers.
Their study, “Shake it off: The role of self-consciousness in dictating whether dirty work reduces satisfaction through emotional exhaustion,” was recently published in the Journal of Management & Organization. The title is an intentional nod to Taylor Swift’s hit single, “Shake It Off,” because the advice in her song applies directly to the results of the study.
The word “dirty” can apply to various types of stigmatization: Think literally, like in sewage and waste management, or socially and morally, such as in prison staffing or legal defense.
“Think about a society without people like prison wardens or morticians. It would be chaotic,” Babatunde explained.
“These workers are susceptible to increased levels of emotional exhaustion, a specific form of burnout,” said Dust, who also serves as the senior director of Lindner Professional Programs. “This is problematic because burnout leads to reduced satisfaction in their career and life in general.”
Reframing ‘dirty’ work
Sodiq Babatunde was inspired to study emotional exhaustion in stigmatized jobs by his experiences in Nigeria.
In the study, the team defined “dirty work” as “occupational stigmatization” that “stems from societal perceptions of such jobs as undesirable or unclean.”
“Dirty workers keep the environment clean, help us live healthy and keep us safe,” Babatunde said. “These guys are essential workers. They do things that many of us cannot do. Despite doing that, they still get stigmatized.”
“The way to combat this is to ensure that the pride these workers feel from what their jobs give them and what they in turn give to society is greater than the sting of judgement,” Fagan said.
The team worked together to investigate the relationship between dirty work, emotional exhaustion and career outcomes by analyzing the demands these types of jobs require and the resources they offer to employees. They found that through measuring employee satisfaction empirically, they could specifically track the effects of stigmatization that had previously largely only been assumed. According to Dust, these occupations are understudied in comparison to their white-collar peers.
These are the types of professions the world needs. If you can handle it, you can get paid well for it.
Scott Dust, PhD UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business
The data was clear: workers with more self-confidence were impacted less by any preconceived notions of their careers.
“Although easier said than done, those that don't have a tendency to care what people say or think about them are much more resilient in being able to shake it off and maintain levels of satisfaction with their work regardless of whether others consider it ‘dirty,’” Dust said.
The practical applications of the study extend beyond just personal reflection. The team also provided guidelines for managers to identify emotional exhaustion and tackle the challenges for employees in these stigmatized professions.
“It’s specifically helping managers understand how you handle these stigmas,” Fagan said.
“We provide different interventions managers can do that will help their workers reduce the emotional exhaustion or help them interpret their role in a way that says, ‘I’m valuable. What I’m doing is worth it and contributing to society.’”
The lucrative effects of having thick skin
Dust likened their research to the reality TV show “Dirty Jobs.” “The people in that show are killing it, right? They’re making lots of money, they have lots of autonomy, they have lots of independence,” he explained. “These are the types of professions the world needs. If you can handle it, you can get paid well for it,” he said.
“Our samples are from the U.S. and United Kingdom, but the applications are transferable,” Babatunde said. “Back home in Nigeria, there are certain jobs and professions that can be very lucrative. For example, the National Union of Road Transport Workers who collect taxes from bus drivers. People don’t perceive them well, but they can make a lot of money if they just do not care what people think,” he explained, noting that it is a well-paying profession in Nigeria.
Ben Fagan is in his second year of his doctoral candidacy in the Department of Management.
While focused on dirty work, Fagan noted that the results are applicable regardless of your career.
“I focus on research centered on image and identity and how people balance the two. This research on dirty work is central to that, but we can think outside of those specific occupations as well,” Fagan said. “What we found through this study on emotional exhaustion and how to manage it is that it is applicable to any job. People can always assume who you are in your job based only on your title.”
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Featured image at top of a sanitation worker loading a garbage truck. Photo/iStock/PeopleImages
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