Introduction
As social media has become more prominent in our lives, it has also become prominent in the ways that we promote our businesses or organisations. We need to consider as employers, the psychological safety of our employees when encouraging them to participate in social media campaigns. For this, there needs to be a structured approach to the creation of social media content, which takes into consideration the possible risks that could cause harm to employees featured in posts, reels, videos and blogs.
When employers feature employees in social media content, they must balance brand promotion with a duty of care toward their staff. This exposure introduces specific health and safety risks, particularly regarding privacy, online abuse, and long-term mental wellbeing.
Featured employees can become targets for trolling, personal attacks, or unwarranted criticism from the public. Posting content can also inadvertently reveal an employee's work location, daily routines, or connections, which may lead to stalking or the exploitation of personal information.
Legal Duties
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to take steps to protect the mental health and psychological safety of their employees. It places a duty of care on the employer for their health, safety and welfare.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers to complete suitable and sufficient risk assessments for work tasks that present hazards. This includes the mental health and stress risks that could be a result of their participation in organisational social media content.
Control Measures
It is vital that employees feel no pressure to participate in any form of business-related marketing content, including that which is used for the organisation’s social media presence.
During the planning of this kind of content, before a camera is even turned on, ensure employees know that their participation is truly voluntary. It needs to be established that if they decline to be involved that this will in no way affect their performance reviews or career progression.
It is important that employees are fully informed when making decisions about being featured in online content. Make sure they are aware of what the content is for, what the content contains, and where it will be posted.
When planning social media content, a key consideration is the platform. Different platforms engage different audiences and with that carry different risks. Professional social media platforms present risk of professional critique, whereas more mainstream platforms can be prone to have more volatile comment sections. These platforms widen the potential audience and when posted, content can end up on the feed of any of its users and not just people that “follow” the account. Negative comments left by users on the mainstream social media apps tend to focus less on professional aspects of the content and more on your employees’ individual characteristics or actions.
Employees, where they have agreed to be part of a social media campaign, should feel the content represents them accurately.
To protect the identity of the employee, it could be considered whether the content will be as effective without showing their faces, such as voiceovers or only showing hands-only for videos showing processes or demonstrations.
Once the post is public, the employer must act as a digital shield to protect the employee. This means actively monitoring the comments on posts. The featured employee should never be the person responsible for reviewing the comments that have been left on a post. A dedicated social media manager should filter, hide, or delete abusive comments quickly.
A clear process for employees to request the content is taken down should be established. Employees must be able to request that the content is taken down immediately if they feel distressed by the reaction, no questions asked.
The psychological impact often appears after the content goes live. Where your employees have been involved in social media content and the response has affected their mental health, it is important that they have somebody that they can talk to.
Trained mental health first aiders can not only talk through problems with your employees, but they can also spot the subtle signs that the reaction to the content has caused them some distress. Alternatively, giving your employees access to an employee assistance programme, allows them to call and speak to a professional confidential counsellor.
Summary
To protect employees effectively, employers must move beyond simple "permission" and treat social media participation as a workplace hazard that requires active management. By integrating these safeguards, businesses not only meet their legal obligations but also foster a culture of psychological safety, ensuring that brand promotion does not come at the cost of employee wellbeing.
