‘Pushed from above and pushed from below’: Emotional labour and dual identities amongst senior probation officers in England and Wales

Senior Probation Officer’s (SPOs) in England and Wales work at the ‘front centre’ of organisation’s hierarchy. They act as both manager developer frontline probation practitioners. Previous research has focused on emotional labour undertaken by practitioners yet there is very little SPOs, even though they must be skilful emotion managers their own emotions those supervise. Using data gathered from interviews with 28 SPOs across Wales, we analyse how SPOs’ are ‘controlled’ senior management, ‘control’ workers attempts managing resisted supervisees, resist displays expected to present role. We conclude considering impact best support them