Member Article

One in five employees are embarrassed by their job's online activity

23% of UK workers find their employer’s web presence cringeworthy, with 69% avoiding sharing where they work online altogether

New research from Splitpixel and TLF finds that the majority of people in the UK are keeping where they work a secret on social media, with one in five actively embarrassed by their company’s online presence.

Even with the ubiquity of LinkedIn for many sectors, only 31% of working people said they were comfortable sharing where they work online.

That means that more than two-thirds of people in the UK are keeping where they work hidden from social media.

This number was highest among younger age groups, with 37% of all people both in work and out aged 18-24 willing to share, rising to 40% in the 25-34 age group, and falling slightly to 35% of people in the 35-44 age group. This fell to 16% in the 45-54 age group.

Whether they share where they work or not, a smaller, but still significant, number of UK employees are actively embarrassed by the online presence of the company they work for.

More than one in five working people (23%) are embarrassed by the online branding or perception of the company they work for and, once again, those numbers are highest among younger age groups.

Feelings of embarrassment are highest among working 25-34-year-olds, at 34%. 30% of working 18-24-year-olds and 38% of working 35-44-year-olds also said they felt embarrassed by their employer online.

Employee pride is higher among older age groups, with just 13% of working 45-54-year-olds and 10% of working 55-64-year-olds saying they were embarrassed by their job’s online presence.

Commenting on the findings, Splitpixel’s co-founder and director Charlie Herke said:

“Privacy concerns and changing attitudes to work are keeping people from sharing where they work online, but the idea that people would avoid sharing because they’re embarrassed by their employer is a little bit concerning!

“Web design and social media standards change so fast that it’s easy for companies to become embarrassingly out of date. Even we look at what we were doing 10, even five years ago, and cringe a little bit now. Brands need to keep moving with the times, or risk falling out of favour with their own employees.”

*Survey of 2,070 UK adults aged 18+

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michelle Millar .