Building Psychological Safety in Platforms Through Essential T&S Roles

This article was ghostwritten by Samantha Hager based on an interview with Slack professional, Risa Stein.

Since the launch of web2, tech positions have become highly sought after. According to Computer World, “Tech industry employment has increased by 193,900 jobs, 28% higher than the same period in 2021.”?

However, not every tech job falls in the IT or engineering categories. Trust and safety positions are arguably the most important jobs in the industry, and it’s time leadership understands this.

As a Director of Integrity at Slack, I aim to show you how teams can implement these important tools and tactics for a safer future for all.

The Negative Effects of Poor Trust and Safety Protocols

Anywhere you are putting people together, bad things can happen. You must be able to manage these online environments safely. The main reason for this is to build end-user trust.

If a given user doesn't trust you with their information, privacy, or security, they're not going to interact with your brand.?

Poor trust and safety protocols can also pose regulatory risks for companies. Regulations dealing with content, user rights, and user safety can carry multibillion-dollar fines—and pose a threat to your digital environments.

All of this can lead to a lack of consumers and profits along with brand image devastation which, unsurprisingly, will crush your company in no time.?

Fortunately, trust and safety roles may help companies to counteract these problems once and for all.

A Profession That’s Progressing

From cyberbullying and doxxing to harassment and offensive language, the need for censorship—especially in a digital HQ—is becoming vital for a company’s internal and external success.

It’s the integrity team’s responsibility to ensure that there are plans and policies in place to protect and restore the trust and safety of users and teams. There are existing procedures for people behaving badly in person and, while this may sound obvious, the same must apply in virtual settings.

At Slack, Integrity is deeply interwoven in the work our platform does toward facilitating asynchronous collaboration. Features that create psychological safety at work by empowering users with control are critical.?

However, this new profession doesn’t have one true set of protocols to go by. With this being said, it’s crucial that companies understand how to make their trust and safety protocols align with their integrity teams.

Developing a Strategy That Works

Once you have an integrity team, it’s time to develop the strategies and protocols they’ll live by. You can do this by using a trust and safety strategy that works:

• Provide effective visibility, training, and tools to manage integrity in the workplace

The most common safety and visibility tools we think of for social media simply don't work in a digital HQ.?

Instead, give your users control over their privacy, security, and general well-being through tools and visibility initiatives such as muting notifications, setting work hours, and creating safe virtual spaces.?

Trust, integrity, and privacy by design are also super important. The more your organization implements these forms of training, the better off you and your end users will be.?

• Create privacy protections and follow the law

You need to have a clear community guidelines page. Every point must be strong, detailed, specific, and publicly available.?

Leadership must also be willing to invest in robust and consistent enforcement mechanisms. This could be user reporting, automated detection, or even a blend of the two paired with the use of content moderators. You should also have an appeals process for when mistakes are made. All of these steps will help ensure end users and employees are treated fairly in your digital environments.?

• Identify your most vulnerable users and protect them

Identifying your most vulnerable users and protecting them is vital. If you can keep them safe, you can keep anyone safe.

However, these users may differ depending on the features that make up your digital HQ or environment. With each feature, you should think about who may be affected and how to best ensure that they are safe.

• Know your customers and values, and ensure they align

You are responsible for keeping your customers safe and keeping the right customers in your audience base.

For example, last year, Slack voluntarily withdrew from Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That was an example of a commitment to ensuring that our customer base matched our principles and values. All in all, It's about building the proper constraints to make it unappealing to those who are not well-suited for your platform.

• Strive for excellence, never perfection

Finally, you should strive for excellence, never perfection. The truth is there’s no such thing as a totally ethical platform. You're always going to have ‘bad eggs’ by nature—and excellence is as good as it gets.

Now that you have the foundation for excellent trust and safety protocols that your integrity team can build upon, all that’s left is investing in these initiatives and seeing the results of effective trust and safety protocols for all.