Content Moderator work can be challenging. Not only do they contend with the everyday stressors of work, but they are also exposed on a daily basis to repetitive, shocking, or disturbing content, increasing their potential risk of psychological distress.
Content Moderators have many responsibilities, including:
- Platform policy enforcement
- Risk assessments on different types of content
- Pattern or trend analysis in policy violations
- Continuous learning on evolving policy
- Compliance with legal requirements and best practices
Furthermore, they operate in environments that can be rigid in terms of job control and autonomy. The core focus of their roles is to remove as much harmful content as swiftly as possible, a task that is noble in and of itself.
Stress and Trauma in Content Moderation
The combination of potential stressors synonymous with this type of work, along with exposure to potentially traumatic material, can increase the risk of vicarious trauma.
This cumulative effect of stressors and exposure to trauma is also evident in other occupations, and research highlights working conditions as a risk factor for occupational post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
So, how can organizations support Content Moderators in this complex working environment? Let’s start by understanding the concept of workplace resilience.
What is Workplace Resilience?
Resilience is the successful mental, emotional, and behavioral adaptation to difficult or challenging circumstances or demands. Genetics, environment (e.g., stressors), and previous life experiences, such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), can mediate it.
Good social support and optimism can also strengthen resilience. A resilient workplace culture is a broader, more holistic approach to wellbeing where individual resilience is supported and strengthened.
How to Address Systemic Issues for Long-Term Wellbeing
Many workplaces focus on employee resiliency programs without addressing the impact of the work environment. Psychosocial stressors unique to the organization can contribute to burnout, absenteeism, and high turnover, signaling a larger systemic problem.
According to W. Edwards Deming, an American business theorist and economist, 94% of problems in the workplace are systemic, with only 6% attributable to the individual.
Individual interventions like resilience training or lunchtime yoga can have a positive effect on stress redunction and burnout, but they can’t address factors such as poor operational processes, inconsistent management practices, or understaffing. If these systemic issues are not targeted and addressed, then stress and burnout will persist.
Promoting Organizational Resilience
Individual-level interventions, of course, still have value. They need to be nurtured structurally at the organizational level by effective strategy, leadership, communication, resourcing, and recruitment, to give a few examples.
Fortunately, we have seen the benefits of a systemic approach to psychological safety and wellbeing among our customers. They have been willing to identify systemic issues and hazards in the workplace and partner with us to address them.
These are the types of collaborative engagements needed in a Trust and Safety partnership to ensure the ongoing resiliency and wellbeing of content moderation teams.
Adapting from Reactive to Proactive Support
Historically, Trust and Safety organizations, as with other industries, focused on individual resilience in supporting Content Moderators.
They have provided general resilience training and reactive support, such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) or counseling. These measures aim to support individuals impacted by content or workplace stressors.
Recognizing the Need for Ongoing Support
Moderation work differs from other corporate industries. It carries a higher risk of psychological effects (i.e., traumatic stress, depression and anxiety, vicarious trauma) and physical health (i.e., cardiovascular disease).
Therefore, moderators require additional psychological and emotional support throughout their careers with proactive coping strategies and leadership commitment to their employee wellbeing.
Proactive and Preventative Strategies
Studies have certainly shown the effectiveness of onsite counseling in the treatment of stress, anxiety, depression, and work performance.
In the industry, it is logical and ethical to ensure reactive interventions remain in place. While reactive interventions remain necessary, proactively addressing systemic issues can reduce the risk of harm.
Preventative strategies to reduce psychological risk include:
- Wellbeing assessments
- Psychological Health and Safety Risk Assessments
- The use of technology to prevent unnecessary exposure
- Comprehensive resilience training throughout the entire career
- Recruitment processes that fully disclose the risk of exposure
The ISO 45003 framework
The ISO 45003 on Psychological Health and Safety at Work provides a framework for proactively addressing psychosocial hazards by identifying systemic work factors that present a risk of harm to employees and the overall business in the long run.
A Psychological Health and Safety Risk Assessment is an invaluable tool to audit organizational systems and processes against known psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
Get in Touch
The tides are shifting, indeed, as Trust and Safety organizations recognize the importance of wellbeing strategies that move from resilience toward an organizational culture shift.
If you would like to learn more about preventative, organizational-level interventions, talk to us at Zevo Health.
Our Trust and Safety Solutions Directors will parse out your challenges and needs from an organizational perspective to ensure you are doing everything you can to safeguard your content moderation teams.
