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

an article by Verónica Caridad Rabelo (San Francisco State University, USA) and Ramaswami Mahalingam (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA) published in Journal of Vocational Behavior Volume 113 (August 2019)

Abstract

Many 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 is 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 class injury, customer absentmindedness, and the spatial and temporal structure of work.

We summarize these findings by conceptualizing invisibility as an intersubjective phenomenon that creates and sustains various critical boundaries at work—between worker/client, dirty/clean, repugnant/respectable, undignified/worthy.

We conclude with a call for greater research on work that is invisible and ‘dirty’, and the people rendered invisible in the process, to make this work more equitable and dignified.

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The Loneliness and Shame of Feeling Invisible: How to Find Your Voice

a post by Dr Margaret Rutherford for the Perfectly Hidden Depression blog [via World of Psychology]

A lot of people feel invisible. And for many different reasons.

What do I mean by “feeling invisible?” Like you don’t matter. As if you aren’t a vital part of things. As if you are being overlooked or seen only for what you can do instead of for who you are. You’re an object — not a real human being. Shame can whisper to you that you’re not worth as much as others — that you aren’t acceptable, or welcome, or important. Your invisibility can begin to define you.

If it’s part of depression, then some of that “invisibility” may be imagined or misperceived. Maybe you are important to people but you’re taking their own lives being busy or not texting you back or whatever too personally. So that’s an important distinction to make and you may want to check out your thinking with a therapist or someone you trust.

Continue reading

And note that you are soooooooo invisible [very poor English on my part – you are either visible or you are not] that there isn’t even an image to illustrate this very interesting piece!

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