Mental health and MTD: Why emotional labor is a hidden danger

At the time of publishing this article, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is less than a month away from being launched.

By the time you read it, it may already be in progress.

In any case, as an accountant or bookkeeper, you will be feeling the difficulty of not only increasing the workload (eg five data collection requirements per client compared to one before), but also conveying emotions to clients as they adapt to the changes.

In this article we look at this latest situation, and ways to deal with it, as follows:

What is emotional labor and why is it so dangerous?

This article is the third part of our series looking at an introduction to MTD Income Tax, in the context of the welfare of financial professionals.

The first part looks at the basics of creating a headspace during MTD discharge, while the second part looks at balancing MTD dose with optimal mental health outcomes.

Understanding emotional labor is a key part of this, and it is a mental health issue that may not be very visible in many organizational strategies or workload planning. But if you ignore it, you risk serious side effects—especially in the context of the MTD.

Essentially, emotional functioning means controlling or suppressing your emotions so that you can keep up with customers or colleagues, and do what you need to do in the organization.

Now, to some extent we all do this. We ignore the slightest irritation and know when to let the annoying habits of customers and colleagues wash over us.

However, if you find yourself doing this often and doing so becomes a struggle, then the effort can affect your mental performance.

The term emotional labor originated in 1983 when, in her book The Managed Heart, American sociologist Arlie Hochschild defined emotional labor as the need to “withdraw or repress emotion in order to maintain an outward appearance of the right attitude toward others.”

We will not dig into too many details in this article. Hochschild makes a distinction between emotional labor and emotional labor, for example. It’s worth researching if you find it piques your interest.

But in the office, examples might include:

• Remembering people’s birthdays
• Agreeing to pick up a colleague’s work if they have an emergency at home
• Providing additional, informal and unpaid support to colleagues
• Dealing with a client who doesn’t work well on deadlines or who can’t manage stress

In times of change and the increasing workload of Making Tax Digital (MTD), it is the last on that list that can have the most impact. Emotional labor and the associated mental stress can build up quickly but insidiously.

Emotional staff and MTD of Income Tax

Being aware of the emotional labor in the client’s situation is important during these times of change.

Often a client who is confused and unnerved by the new procedures associated with the Income Tax MTD being introduced will simply want the confusion and concerns noted by their accountant before they begin to take practical action.

Reassurance and empathy are important, and have the advantage of being easy to discard.

But you need to be aware of the dividing line between good client care on the one hand, and emotional over-involvement on the other.

Clients such as sole traders and small home owners, in particular, will not have colleagues to share their worries and concerns with. So, you can be the end of the line.

You need to set your own limits in terms of emotional involvement and hours dedicated to a particular client.

MTD: Why it’s important to use common sense and empathy

Consider a client who seems angry about MTD.

In fact, it may be new technologies and processes that cause them to be angry. They are more likely to feel out of control, judged, and perhaps afraid of being seen as inadequate or ineffective.

One way to handle a client in this difficult situation is to, after listening to their concerns, explain to them that they are not alone.

“Many of my clients tell me the same thing and I totally understand why they say that.”

This acknowledges the client’s concern, and normalizes it.

Although he said to them, “Don’t worry!” or “You’ll get used to it!” it can sound overwhelming and encouraging.

Allowing the client to be quiet and express their fears and frustrations can clear the air before you start looking at specific actions to take to solve their problems. Don’t interrupt, no matter how tempted you are. Wait until there is a clear, natural lull in their movement.

Managing depressed and anxious clients with MTD

Therefore, the goal would be to acknowledge the customer’s feelings, clarify what is really needed from them (and this can often be less than what they fear) and give them one or two specific tasks (not five or six).

On your side of the professional divide, it’s worth sitting down with your team to discuss some of the conversations they have with clients.

Find out how clients feel, what they are complaining about, and what their fears were. You can share ideas about what answers have worked in your experience and that of other members of your team.

What was said that brought sympathy and lowered the emotional temperature? What moved the client and allowed them to focus on practical steps?

When you’re talking to clients, no one wants to sound like they’re reading a script. But being prepared for questions, and knowing that there are practical, tried and tested answers to those questions, can help deliver better customer service while managing your own struggle. In the long run, this will protect your mental well-being.

As part of this you can borrow from a healing technique known as compassionate reorientation.

It involves acknowledging the other person’s emotions and returning to action. You might want to say something like, “This is obviously really stressful for you, and I totally understand that. All I can do is make sure the compliance side is handled so that’s one less thing on your plate. Now, let’s focus on what we need from you this quarter.”

Also, being warm, empathetic, and friendly but also clear about what you really need from your client will help reduce their stress and anxiety by removing that feeling of, “I don’t even know where to start.”

You can also think about how you and your team decompress after one of these difficult conversations with a client. Giving a name to the process of handling difficult calls from customers—branding it, in effect—can help embed it in your team.

The benefits of mindfulness

Knowing yourself is important as a way to protect your mental health. This is sometimes known as mindfulness, because we aim to notice what is happening in the moment, not judge what is happening.

For example, you may need to know that a client who vents is not your favorite client at the best of times. It’s also possible that you’re already feeling stressed about something else going on in your work or personal life when that phone call comes.

Taking a few moments to assess your own state of mind and emotions can better prepare you to face the client’s: “OK, I have a busy day and the babysitter is canceled tonight so I’m feeling weird. I’m going to have to catch my breath and be more patient for the next 20 minutes.”

This is the kind of simple act of self-awareness that can help.

Clients expressing frustration and concern are understandable and acceptable, but harassment and annoyance are not.

It is good to talk with colleagues to develop a sense of where these important differences lie. What words and phrases should the client not use with you or your partner? What is reasonable for them to ask you to do for them and what is excessive?

A deadline may be particularly tight during important reporting days, but, for example, should a client be allowed to demand a piece of work at 5pm delivered to them before 9am the following day?

Check that you have clearly defined the client’s expectations.

It’s worth taking the time to develop a written policy—and once you have one, review it regularly. It is very important that more junior team members who may not be confident and who may be charged with chasing files and information know what is and is not acceptable client behavior.

If that behavior is something unacceptable, they need to know how to respond and to whom to report.

Final thoughts

In general, creating a culture where people are aware of the difficulties that emotions can take and feel able to discuss mental health issues is more important than ever.

Remember that the people in your company who are most likely to talk about their feelings or hold off on public speaking may be the ones who struggle the most.

Have they become silent and no longer talking? Do they spend long hours in the office or online, and miss meetings and lunch breaks?

It is important for everyone to be aware of the signs of over-emotional communication and its psychological impact so that they can identify those signs in themselves and others.

An investment of time and resources now to be able to anticipate and correct these problems and develop the best strategies will allow you to avoid them causing problems in the future.