The reason deep acting work is so appealing is that research says that employees who engage in it experience more feelings of personal accomplishment. Therefore, researchers recognize deep acting as beneficial for both employees and customers. However, here is my warning. Researchers are afraid that all this talk about feelings and their regulation might motivate organizations to treat employees' feelings as a commodity (something it can control to benefit the bottom line).

Research on mood regulation suggests training employees to engage in deep acting techniques. If, indeed, "jobs are not as easily molded as are people," then training agents how to deep act may be an effective means for employees to adjust to their work situations. Giving your agents the ability to act positively no matter what they feel is intriguing and practically useful thought for call center managers.

Have you implemented emotion regulation and deep acting training for agents in your call center? We would love to hear from you if you have found a program that is effective.