Can we really leave our emotions at the door? Rethinking performance in the workplace

Written by Duygu Olcay Sarisin from Element Logistics

We often hear a familiar phrase in professional life: “Leave your personal problems at the door.”

In principle, it sounds reasonable. We all have responsibilities, deadlines, customers, colleagues and targets. Professionalism requires us to remain accountable regardless of what may be happening outside the workplace.

But is it realistic to expect people to completely separate their emotions and personal circumstances from their professional performance?

Perhaps not.

Employees do not arrive at work carrying only their qualifications, experience and technical skills. We also bring our thoughts, emotions, concerns and the realities of our lives with us.

A difficult family situation, financial pressure, uncertainty, relationship challenges, health concerns or simply an emotionally demanding period can occupy part of our mental capacity.

We may still arrive at work on time, answer emails, attend meetings and complete our responsibilities, while internally using significant energy to manage something completely unrelated to our job.

And that matters when we talk about performance.

Performance is not only about capability

When an employee's performance temporarily declines, it can be easy to interpret the change as a problem with motivation, commitment or capability.

However, performance is rarely that simple.

Our cognitive resources are not unlimited. When our attention is divided between professional responsibilities and significant emotional concerns, concentration, decision-making and problem-solving may become more difficult.

This does not necessarily mean that an employee has become less capable.

A person who has consistently performed at a high level does not suddenly lose their knowledge, experience or professional ability because they are experiencing a difficult week or month.

This distinction is important.

Temporary reduced performance should not automatically be confused with poor performance.

Managers therefore need to look beyond isolated moments and consider patterns over time. Has the individual's performance consistently been below expectations, or are we observing a temporary change? Is there a capability issue, or could there be circumstances affecting someone's ability to operate at their normal capacity?

These are very different situations and may require very different management approaches.

Being present does not always mean being fully productive

Another important concept in workplace performance is presenteeism: being physically present at work while operating below one's usual capacity because of physical, psychological or personal circumstances.

This is particularly relevant in demanding industries.

In sectors such as logistics and freight forwarding, for example, employees regularly manage urgent deadlines, customer expectations, operational disruptions and situations that require rapid decision-making. The ability to remain focused under pressure is an important professional skill.

But even highly resilient professionals have limits.

Someone can be sitting at their desk, responding to customers and managing their workload while a significant proportion of their attention is elsewhere.

Recognising this does not mean lowering professional standards. It means understanding the human factors behind sustainable performance.

Professionalism should not mean emotional suppression

There is also an important difference between emotional regulation and emotional suppression.

Professionalism should not require people to stop experiencing emotions. Instead, it should involve recognising those emotions and developing healthy ways to manage their impact on professional responsibilities.

For employees, this may mean prioritising tasks differently, taking short breaks, communicating when support is required or recognising that they may need additional time to complete particularly demanding work.

For managers, it may mean creating an environment where an employee can say, “I am dealing with something difficult at the moment,” without immediately fearing that their competence or commitment will be questioned.

Of course, empathy does not remove accountability.

Businesses still need targets, standards and results. Employees still have responsibilities to their colleagues, customers and organisations.

The challenge for modern leadership is finding the balance between the two.

Empathy and performance are not opposites

Sometimes workplace discussions position empathy and performance as if organisations must choose between them.

I believe this creates an unnecessary contradiction.

A supportive workplace does not have to be a workplace without expectations. Equally, a high-performance culture does not need to ignore the human circumstances affecting the people responsible for delivering that performance.

Good leadership can involve both.

Managers can maintain clear expectations while recognising temporary difficulties. They can hold employees accountable while still asking, “Is everything okay?” They can focus on business outcomes while creating enough psychological safety for employees to communicate when something is affecting their ability to perform.

In fact, understanding employees as people rather than simply as resources may contribute to more sustainable performance in the long term.

Rethinking the question

Perhaps, therefore, we are asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking:

“How do we stop our emotions from affecting our work?”

we could ask:

“How do we manage our emotions and personal circumstances while continuing to perform professionally?”

And from a leadership perspective:

“How can organisations maintain high standards while recognising that human performance naturally fluctuates?”

There will inevitably be days when we are highly focused, energetic and productive. There may also be periods when maintaining that same level of performance requires considerably more effort.

Neither should define our entire professional capability.

Ultimately, sustainable performance is not about expecting people to function like machines regardless of what is happening in their lives.

It is about building the self-awareness, emotional regulation, leadership practices and workplace cultures that allow people to remain responsible professionals while still being human.

Perhaps we cannot always leave our emotions at the door.

The more important skill may be learning how to carry them without allowing them to determine where we are going.