Mediaboss Marketing

Many users on #worktok a tag that has more than a half-billion views found themselves ending up on TikTok out of lockdown malaise, when their companies implemented remote-work policies more than two years ago.

"I was bored on my couch, to be honest with you," says account-manger Coleman.

He joined TikTok after lockdowns began in early 2020, when his company began remote work. Hed found himself engaging in new rituals like "taking a midday shower, taking a midday nap or doing laundry" during the workday and when he started scrolling through TikTok, to his surprise, he found he "wasn't the only person" sneaking in dog walks. Many of his videos focus on those work-from-home behaviours that nearly all remote workers now partake in, like puttering around the house doing chores in between tasks, or "wiggling your mouse to stay online" to "show that your status is green".

Recruiter Jones, who also joined TikTok during the pandemic because she was missing that camaraderie you get from sitting around the office and sharing stories, says the app provided her a way to join the conversation around the ways work was changing.

"I didn't start this channel on Instagram, because then it's really just my friends and my family that follow me," says Jones. "On TikTok, the way the algorithm works, you're pushed out to a lot of different kind of people, and that's really fun."

Relatable and real

For solicitor Nelson-Case, #worktok shows how "so many of us go through the same experiences, regardless of what our jobs are".

"The experiences and nuances of corporate life and working in an office are relatable and almost universal," he says, adding that his intent isn't to complain about his job or colleagues, whom he calls "supportive and great". For him, #worktok is more about "the nuances and the challenges of the corporate environment itself." He thinks by watching these videos, workers especially during the pandemic "feel less alone".

Continued here:
#worktok: The surge of venting about the worst of work - BBC