“They really don't want to see us”: How cleaners experience invisible ‘dirty’ work

Publication date: Available online 26 October 2018Source: Journal of Vocational BehaviorAuthor(s): Verónica Caridad Rabelo, Ramaswami MahalingamAbstractMany people want to feel valued and included but being invisible may undermine one's sense of belonging and meaningful engagement. Some employees may face chronic invisibility due to job stigma (e.g., ‘dirty’ work), overnight shifts, and/or spatial separation from coworkers and customers. We examine how people make sense of feeling invisible at work: what people experience when they are not seen or are treated as though they cannot be seen. We sought to understand when workers feel invisible, how they make sense of these experiences, and the consequences for their work and well-being. To examine how people experience invisibility, we conducted an inductive phenomenological analysis. Data included open-ended questions from a survey of 199 university building cleaners and in-depth conversations with a subset of 12 cleaners. Three major themes emerged: how cleaners experienced invisibility, what invisibility feels like, and why they were rendered invisible. Cleaners experienced invisibility at work (not being recognized or acknowledged by customers) and invisibility of work (feeling that work ignored or unappreciated). They varied in how they made sense of invisibility, experiencing anger, resignation, ambivalence, and relief. Cleaners also identified several mechanisms to explain why they were rendered invisible, including ...

Source: Journal of Vocational Behavior - October 26, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research