Bridge-building Emotional Labour: The Emotional Labour of Boundary Spanners Who Match Disadvantaged Claimants with Employers

Abstract

The practices of frontline workers in public job centres who try to match disadvantaged claimants with employers are discussed in this article, based on a case study of Danish job centres. The notion of bridge-building emotional labour and the frontline practices and tensions involved in matching disadvantaged claimants with employers are presented, which contribute to understanding the emotional labour involved in boundary spanning. The study shows how frontline workers’ emotional labour is directed towards bridging key institutional logics: bureaucracy (efficient policy implementation), consumerism (customer service directed towards employers) and professionalism (professional empathy for vulnerable claimants). Through bridge-building emotional labour, frontline workers try to diminish the gap between the policy goals of public street-level organizations, the demands of the labour market and the reduced ability to work of disadvantaged claimants.