One influencer shares why workplace social media content matters to HR

If you’ve scrolled through TikTok, you’ve probably seen Natalie Marshall.

Marshall, also known by her social media personality, Corporate Natalie, frequently pokes fun at corporate worklife and even some HR norms. She started her TikTok page in 2020 as a way to laugh through the pain of the pandemic-era world of work, Marshall told HR Brew, at a time when she was 23 and working as a Deloitte consultant.

“This concept of making fun of work from home was new, and people were latching on to that at that time, because it was like, ‘Wow, we’re allowed to talk about our employers in this way? We’re allowed to poke fun at this?’” Marshall said. “I think everyone just wanted to share a laugh at that time.”

Marshall left her job at Deloitte in late 2020 to dedicate more time to content creation. Five years later, she’s running three businesses, including her social media brand, a podcast called Demoted with fellow workplace content creator Ross Pomerantz, and Expand VA, a virtual assistant platform for content creators.

In a recent TikTok, Marshall and Pomerantz suggest how employees open their next meeting with HR. “I literally blacked out. If I can’t remember, it didn’t happen,” Pomerantz joked. “I’m not speaking without legal counsel present, and if this is about me making a pass at Joe from legal, I’m not speaking at all,” Marshall teased.

What workplace content means to employees. Since Marshall started posting videos making fun of corporate America, she said she’s seen the “corporate content space” grow into thousands of creators that bring value to the employee experience.

By sharing day-in-the-life videos where employees showcase what it’s like to work at a specific company or industry, Marshall said workplace content has the power to “open people’s eyes” to new perspectives and opportunities, while also helping employees feel like they’re not alone if going through a workplace hardship.

“It just opens the conversation and allows us to feel comfortable. It’s like when you see [a] content creator post about their mental health journey, and you feel so seen, and you feel like, ‘Oh, wow, I could talk to my friends about this,’” she said.

What she wants HR to know. Marshall’s content has evolved as the workplace has changed, with return-to-office conversations and Gen Z’s style of working being prime examples. She’s also branched outside of TikTok into attending HR conferences and speaking to people pros about her advice and expertise with a focus on generational dynamics.

“Why is there so much like instability between generations in the workplace? I wanted to speak to this cross-generational harmony, because I think Gen Z has a lot to offer the workplace,” she said. “They’re changing the dynamic of social media teams at so many companies. They’re able to get everyone benefits that a company might not have wanted before. They aren’t afraid to ask these questions.”

Marshall said employers need to become more transparent, and that’s why she continues to make fun of the lack of transparency in the workplace in her videos, especially in the interview and onboarding process.

“With these change-ups that we’re seeing where people are getting notified last minute that they now are changing to fully in office. It’s like, ‘I took this job because I enjoyed the lifestyle…being remote, being with my dog, being with my young children,’” she said. “That’s something that I make videos poking fun at, but it really is to bring light to it that companies need to be transparent.”

Plans for the future. As Marshall frequently highlights grievances that many employees have with their managers, including a funny bit about micromanaging, she’s ironically now someone else’s boss with two full-time employees, a brand manager and content specialist. She said it gets hard being a manager in a small business, because you have to keep yourself accountable to learning and growing as a leader.

“When you’re the operator for your business, you’re like, ‘Oh gosh, should I take a course? What should I do?’” she said. “Really plopping down and learning how to manage effectively, and keeping myself accountable for that has been important, because I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know everything, and I want to walk the walk as much as I talk about it on socials.”

On top of growing as a manager, Marshall said she wants to continue honing her skills as a speaker and thought leader, and branch out of the “Corporate Natalie character” and into who Natalie Marshall is as a workplace expert—which has her spending more time on many HR pros’ favorite hangout space, LinkedIn.

“It excites me to see that platform growing, and really investing myself on that page, and positioning myself as more of a thought leader in the creator space, in the HR space, and finding my niche there,” she said. “On other platforms, it’s pretty clear I’m Corporate Natalie, but on LinkedIn, it’s really pulling back the curtain of, ‘Who is Natalie Marshall?’”