The BARF

The BARF: Emotional Labor, AI, and the Cracks in Work Nobody Wants to Own

Listen Later

Modern work is asking more from people than it ever has, and almost none of it is being acknowledged. Beyond skills and output, workers are expected to absorb stress, regulate emotions, manage uncertainty, and stay productive through constant change. This emotional labor has become a silent requirement, baked into jobs without recognition, protection, or compensation.

At the same time, organizations are introducing AI into some of the most sensitive parts of work: feedback, performance reviews, scheduling, and support. The promise is efficiency. The reality is exposure. These tools don’t fix broken systems. They surface where accountability is weak, where expectations are unclear, and where trust has already started to erode.

What looks like isolated issues - a strike over scheduling, frustration with performance reviews, employees turning to AI for reassurance - are actually connected signals. They point to a growing gap between what work demands emotionally and what companies are willing or able to own. AI is not creating that gap. It’s accelerating it.

In this episode, we share our analysis on emotional labor at work, why AI is quietly stepping into human gaps, and what recent labor actions like the Starbucks strike reveal about control, predictability, and trust. We unpack where organizations are underestimating the emotional cost of modern work and why governance, not technology, is becoming the real leadership challenge.

  • Key Takeaways
    Emotional labor is no longer the exception. It is the baseline. Work now expects people to manage stress, emotions, and ambiguity as part of the job, yet most organizations still treat this effort as invisible. That gap is one of the biggest drivers of burnout and disengagement, even in roles that appear stable on the surface.
  • AI is being used as emotional support because management systems are stretched thin. When employees turn to technology for clarity or reassurance, it usually signals that feedback loops are broken or leaders are overloaded. AI fills the space, but it also exposes who actually owns the human experience at work.
  • Performance reviews become fragile the moment AI influences outcomes. Algorithms do not remove bias or responsibility. They shift it. Without clear ownership and governance, trust in performance systems collapses quickly and employees stop believing the process is fair.
  • Scheduling is not an operational detail. It is power. The Starbucks strike made clear that unpredictability creates financial stress, emotional strain, and resentment, especially for hourly workers. Predictability is not a perk. It is dignity.
  • Technology does not change culture. It reveals it. Healthy organizations use AI as leverage. Fragile ones feel it as pressure. Ignoring emotional labor and accountability only makes the fallout faster and louder.

    • Chapters

    00:00 Emotional labor hiding in plain sight
    03:12 How job expectations quietly expanded
    06:18 AI as emotional backup
    10:42 Where accountability slips
    15:07 Performance reviews and trust
    19:58 Bias, credibility, and governance
    24:36 Scheduling as control
    27:02 Starbucks as an early warning
    33:11 What leaders are underestimating right now


    Connect with us

    William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/
    Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/


    Connect with WRKdefined on your favorite social network

    Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined/
    Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
    Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    The BARFBy WRKdefined