Meet the 'workfluencers'
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Hello and welcome to Business Daily. I'm Deborah Weitzman. From day-in-the-life videos to casual office conversations and quirky teen moments, employees are no longer just working behind the scenes.

they're stepping into the spotlight as the creative forces behind their company's social media content. I love being in front of a camera, bringing ideas, seeing that we can show customers and other employees and potential future employees that we

don't take ourselves too seriously, we know how to have fun and that we can follow trends. More companies are shifting away from traditional influencer marketing and embracing employee-generated content. We get to meet some of the actual real-life employees, which creates this

Brilliant story behind the brand. And a lot of people are saying that for 2025, it's going to be one of the biggest social media marketing trends we'll see. It's becoming a crucial part of recruitment. People are going out and they're looking to align who they are with what they do in a deeper way. And they're using these channels in order to do that. But it's not all smooth sailing. While employee generated content can help to humanise brands and boost engagement, it also carries risks.

Everyone has to understand we're being paid by clients to get great work out there. And it's my worst nightmare. Someone puts something out there on a social media channel, head of an embargo, that could be a real problem for us. And as companies experiment with this new type of content, should staff be paid for it?

It starts to become a really fine line between whether it is now a transactional relationship that could affect the authenticity and whether that payment should be something that occurs. That's all coming up here on the BBC World Service. Hiya. Hiya. Please can I get the Beats and Berries protein shake? Of course. Thank you.

I'm at Joe and the Juice in central London. It's a buzzing cafe chain with around 380 locations worldwide. Behind the counter, Kenza is blending my protein shake. She started as a juicer here a few years ago and has quickly worked her way up to manager. But Kenza isn't just known for crafting drinks. She's also making waves as a face of the brand on social media.

I get recognised a lot actually, it's quite weird and funny. I'm like, yeah, yeah, it's me. I have a passion for creating content and I love being fun with camera, bringing ideas, seeing that we can show customers and other employees and potential future employees that we don't take ourselves too seriously, we know how to have fun and that we can follow trends while putting our own personality into it is something I really enjoy about the job.

During quieter times in this juice bar, Kenza teams up with Rania, the company's brand and communications manager, to produce content for platforms like TikTok and Instagram. We can see a trend and be like, OK, let's just do that, but the Joe version of it.

or we really think into content and be like, OK, this could do well because it's interesting. It shows what the employees do in a day. It shows our personality as a company. You know, we have a very specific brand and our DNA is quite fun and young and we want to showcase that to the world, basically. So it's a very... It just really depends if you take it out day by day. So what have you and Rania enjoyed making together recently? Yeah.

We did the video that we did this week, which is we went to a bar and we tried out different combinations of juices or shakes that customers actually recommended that they do because our menu is very customizable. Let's give this a try.

I'm getting cashew, I'm getting almonds. It's like a breakfast bowl blended in a cup. Could I get an oat latte with collagen powder, please? I'm a bit nervous for this one because I can see the powder floating. How do you think your job as a juicer has helped you to pick up the skills for creating content as part of your day-to-day work?

When I started, I was very shy. In this job, you have to speak all day long. You meet so many new people. As a trainer as well, I had to make other people comfortable within the new job role. That really took my personality from being very shy to being very open, being very enthusiastic about things. I've always taken a very positive approach to anything that kind of comes my way.

Content created by employees and shared on personal platforms can drive engagement in ways that traditional corporate messaging often can't. According to the job networking platform LinkedIn, 70% of people view employees as the most credible source of company information, far surpassing official channels. In a digital world craving authenticity, that trust is a game changer.

Consumers are also growing sceptical of polished influencer-led content, which many brands have leaned on heavily in recent years. Edelman's 2024 State of Influencer Marketing report shows that while most US companies spend under $50,000 on influencers, 15% invest over $500,000. Employee-generated content is now emerging as a more impactful and cost-effective alternative.

My name is Alison Battersby and I'm a social media consultant.

I run an agency called Avocado Social. We advise on strategies, the latest platforms and features, and we keep our marketing clients up to date with all of the recent changes across social media. So over the last couple of years, the general consumer has become much less trusting of influencers and they're becoming less effective. Influencers are

are not necessarily always providing genuine reviews because a lot of the time they're being incentivized. So this could be through payment or exclusive insight or exclusive access to events. So we've started to see a shift towards using your employees as brand ad ambassadors. And what that has resulted in is far more authentic and genuine content that

that is being posted, which is very relatable for the consumer. Most likely the employee will have gone out there, sourced the content themselves, filmed it on their phone, done any voiceovers or editing. And a lot of people are saying that for 2025, it's going to be one of the biggest social media marketing trends we'll see. Are you seeing any standout examples where brands have used employee generated content to really connect with their audiences?

So there's some brilliant EGC that's beginning to emerge from mainstream brands. The first example is Anthropologie, which is the fashion retailer, using employees from within the stores to offer some valuable content, such as things like suggested gifts.

that you might want to purchase for family members and asking employees what their favourite products are on market at the moment. Oh, this mug is stunning. The bow detail is beautiful and my mum would love probably this entire set. Can you now find me a gift for yourself? Easy, easy, easy, easy. Don't need to go far. We get to meet some of the actual real life employees.

I also think that a lot of customers can see themselves as the employee, whether it's somebody working in an office, in a particular industry, or maybe it's somebody who relates to their age or gender.

of the certain person who's featuring in the video. Alison told me it's not just customers being influenced by this type of content, but job seekers too. Brands like Chipotle and Domino's, which are large food retailers, are offering really exclusive behind-the-scenes content through their TikTok and Instagram feeds, showcasing employees working behind the scenes, training on the job,

and giving us quite a unique view of what it's like to work at the company. So I hopped out of bed, got in the car and we got to work. When you start working at the Chipotle Restaurant Support Center aka FHQ, you get the chance to do restaurant training and learn how Chipotle's food is made every day. Today was really all about

More brands are beginning to consider how they might use their employees to create content that's going to offer different perspectives from different departments, that's going to showcase diversity.

that's going to become much more relatable and share stories from behind the scenes of a brand. Here's the career coach, Andrew McCaskill. It's culture that drives career fulfillment. And so rather than just naturally gravitating to a product or a brand that you're attracted to for your next career move, what you'll tend to do is try and research the culture today in a way that we simply didn't in the past. People are going out and they're looking to align who they are with what they do.

in a deeper way. And they're using these channels in order to do that. The gold comes from genuine, authentic advocacy. And people don't trust perfect anyway, Deborah, right? Like nobody trusts perfect. So it's important that it's real. But then for companies to share it, I think where it goes wrong is companies produce something and then the employees are told to share it. I don't think the talent market views that with any kind of authenticity at all. This is Business Daily on the BBC World Service. ♪

This advertisement feature is paid and presented by Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking. Energy is at the heart of Africa's development. With a burgeoning need to expand energy sources for a growing population, organisations must work together to increase access to affordable, reliable energy.

At the inaugural African Markets Conference held in South Africa, business leaders, policymakers and government representatives came together to discuss what is needed to enable innovation and growth in the energy sector. To find out more about what is required for a just energy transition in Africa, visit standardbank.com forward slash CIB.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, host of Wondery's Business Movers. In our latest series, media mogul Ted Turner launches a 24-hour channel dedicated solely to breaking news. But CNN doesn't just shake up the television industry. It transforms journalism, politics, and culture in America forever. Listen to Business Movers, making the news on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Debra Weitzman and we're looking at employee generated content which is becoming a powerful marketing tool for attracting new talent. I work at PWC Switzerland. Of course I attend after work after hours.

Of course we have a garden in the middle of our office. Major corporate players are also putting power into the hands of employees to leverage recruitment and culture building. Take PwC, for example, the global accounting giant. There are kind of perceptions or ideas of what it's like working in a business like ours. And actually, there's a lot of fun and interesting things that go on as well. That's Kunal Gandhi, PwC's social media lead.

asked him why employee generated content has really taken off there, particularly in the past year. As social media has just kind of continued to become more and more popular, people have the power to share their own stories, to share their own insights from a workplace perspective.

And it's really different across the world, depending on kind of the key trends in those areas. A lot of the key things that we see are people at events showing their perspectives of follow me for a day when I'm at this event, doing this thing, what it's like. We have a lot of work that's done on the recruitment side. So showing younger perspective people who we want to join the firm around like what a day in the life of working here is like. Employees' personal networks exponentially increase the company's visibility to a whole new audience sector.

But also platforms like LinkedIn are a lot more friendly from the algorithm perspective on showing people content than company content. So it also makes it a lot more helpful if you've got people talking about your organization than you just saying what you would say from your normal company channels, because there's much more likelihood it's going to be seen by people. So I think that's a really important part of it. So how do you think a company can begin to introduce this trend into the workplace?

So look for employees who are already on social media and they're passionate about sharing their work and they're passionate about sharing it in the right way. Once you've found people who are good at it, showcasing employees who've seen benefits from participating and using them as role models is really, really good as well. I think the leadership kind of element is really, really important too, if that's something that a company can unlock. Leaders should set the tone by trying to participate. So them sharing their own perspectives, them sharing their own insights.

Some employees might feel uncomfortable merging their work and personal life, or perhaps they might be camera shy. How do you as a firm ensure that they don't feel pressured to participate? Employee generated content is something that I would look at as voluntary, not mandatory. So participation in it should always be optional. And forcing employees to do it is where you start to harm the authenticity and the trust. If we have our people doing it, it's really important to make sure that

You have a programme where there is a diverse group of people in there to make sure that is a true representation of the organisation. Do you think employees should be compensated for creating and sharing work-related content? I think it's a really interesting question because I think this becomes a conversation about recognition versus compensation and trying to strike a balance in the right way. So it starts to become a really fine line between whether it is now a transactional relationship

that could affect the authenticity and whether that payment should be something that occurs. You know, there are other forms of compensation that are not necessarily to do with being paid that I think are still real benefits of employee-generated content. There's

kind of professional development opportunities. There's the fact that you genuinely do believe the things that you are saying. And then the byproduct of that is actually you are enhancing your own personal brand. You are enhancing the brand that you work for. And ideally, you know, everyone's a winner in terms of what you're saying.

Earlier in the programme, we heard from Kenza, a Joe and the Juice employee. I asked whether she believes she deserves to be paid. I don't think I should get paid extra because there's nothing really that I bring more to the table than being my authentic bar manager self. If I do have to stay longer after work to partake in a concert, I do get paid for my extra hours. But it's not something that I...

should be getting paid more for. Canal told me that there's a delicate balance when it comes to giving staff at PwC creative freedom on social media. You know, there's a potential lack of control. So employees could end up posting off-brand content or inappropriate content that could end up harming the company's reputation. There can be inconsistent messaging as well, depending on what people are saying. So employees should feel empowered to express themselves as long as the content that they are sharing doesn't contravene

the kind of social media guidelines that we have. The trust element is so important here, but it requires them to also act as responsible brand ambassadors at the same time. But you've got to show them that you trust them and not that you need to see every single thing that they're doing. And actually, if you don't quite like

like one word they're saying, you make them change it. Like that is really, really important. You want them to take some ownership of how it works because it's in their words, it's their perspective. As managing director of the TEN Group, a global communications agency, Eddie Hammerman also emphasises the need to educate staff on the risks of

of sharing work-related content. Everyone has to understand we're being paid by clients to get great work out there. And if someone puts something out, it's my worst nightmare, someone puts something out there on a social media channel ahead of an embargo, that could be a real problem for us. There are some risks

but there are some big rewards too. We're a small to medium-sized business with 50 people based in London, but we operate globally. We want to give people the creative license to get themselves out there and get the 10 group values out there. Everything from going to award ceremonies to celebrating our snack draw in the office. And we're really proud of that snack draw. Eddie, you've worked with hundreds of household name brands worldwide. What's your take on that?

What other potential risks should employers be aware of when it comes to entering this world of employee generated content? No one wants to end up on the wrong side of the internet. It can be dark out there. So there is also a duty of care on behalf of the brand and the business to protect the staff who may end up getting trolled personally online for content they're putting out on behalf of a brand.

Plus, you don't really want some of the employees to become bigger than the brand itself. So if we give an example of Chick-fil-A and the Sauce Girl, who became an overnight sensation from some of the goofing around that she did...

No Chick-fil-A sauce? No Chick-fil-A sauce. So you want a barbecue sauce? Yeah. There is a danger that people can then identify the brand too much with one person. That person could leave, that person could put some stuff on their social media that isn't appropriate. And what you're seeing more and more from some of the brands who are slightly more ahead in the employee-generated content space is you see multiple people in the content, not just one person itself. And finally, let's return to Kunal Gandhi from PwC.

He says his main hope for the future of employee-generated content is that it retains its authenticity. Wherever we work or whatever we do now, we are becoming a lot more wise to the behind-the-scenes things of how things work. For example, with influencer marketing, it was really, really successful to begin with.

It's still quite successful now, but because people understand it a lot more and understand how it works, they're a lot more sceptical and a lot more discerning about how they feel. And I wouldn't want employee generated content to move in that direction where people try to capitalise on it for profit of some sort or pay for some sort. And that builds a bit of a bad name for it entirely everywhere, because I think that is the risk with it. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Business Daily, which was presented and produced by me, Deborah Weitzman.

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