How HR should deal with covid19 vaccine fake news in the workplace

The fundamental elements of this technological and digitally-driven age are the ease of access to information, speed of connectivity and the ability to share information and perhaps more importantly, to disseminate misinformation. There are many good things about the internet, but with that comes the challenges of the reliability and credibility of the source of information particularly from the many new citizen journalists and internet bots. Remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal when the whistleblower testified about meddling in the 2016 US presidential election as well as the Brexit vote in the UK of the same year.

Can we assume that a major reason behind the spread of fake news is because of an agenda of “Trump” morals? A moral-based objective would be focused on facts with a sprinkle of palatable pollutants or prejudices, whereas an agenda will only focus on the outcome and apply the “any means necessary” principle, good or bad, as a philosophy behind decisions and actions.

According to MIT Media Lab, misinformation on Twitter is 70 per cent more likely to spread than truth and will reach its first 1,500 people six times faster. This point is so significant that it should readily influence both sharers and recipients to inflect and contemplate their own personal roles as participants in the propagation of fake news. It is also researched that people who share fake news are lazier or distracted more than biased. So remember, it takes only a few minutes to confirm the information online before hitting that share button.

According to the online Stanford Magazine, the so-called “power law” of social media is a well-documented pattern in social networks, which holds that messages replicate most rapidly if they are targeted at relatively small numbers of influential people with large followings. The tendency in all of us to believe stories that reinforce our convictions – and the stronger those convictions, the more powerfully the person feels the pull of confirmation bias.

It is huge operation trying to combat the effects of misinformation, given that by the time your employee is bombarded by the different dimensions from various sources it becomes very real and that would eventually become a pervading fact according to his/her opinion.

I write about this at this time because of the negative beliefs many workers have about taking the covid19 vaccine because of fake news, rumours, hearsay and misinformation. It is quite alright and natural, and is expected that workers will have questions and doubts, particularly in the case of this new vaccine, but the steps to bring resolution in an attempt to find the answers should be handled with care and indeed with skill.

Rumours are integral to our culture and society, and I am sure, so too in other countries. I remember instances of people sharing videos and images of flooding from past years knowing very well they were old images although they understood their action could inflict angst to workers and dwellers in the area or surrounding environs.

The 5G debate has been another popular worldwide fake news story. People all over the world believe that the builders of the 5G network will install a system that will deliberately cause their own customers harm and effectively make them unable to financially contribute to the longevity of their own company’s financial gains and wealth. It just makes no sense to the rational mindset.

A senior employee at one of my client companies told me with absolute conviction that he was not taking the vaccine because it alters the DNA of the recipient. When I questioned him, he could not provide me with the source of his information. Right there and then I googled it on my cell phone and needless to say he was shocked and noticeably embarrassed as he realised that he was spreading fake news.

Now that the Government will be distributing more vaccines to private sector industries, employers will be faced with the challenge of reluctance and even open resistance. The Government has not made it mandatory that individuals take the vaccine but its policy “vaccinate to operate” says much about its intent. In this regard, there are a few ideas I recently picked up that I believe can be helpful to HR practitioners.

1. Monitor chatter and try to nip it in the bud. Engage inhouse influencers and provide them with the correct information to share with colleagues.

2. Counter fiction with fact. So, when persons are suspected of being covid19 positive, you can ask for the employee’s permission to share their negative result with the other members of staff. Note this MUST only be done with permission.

3. Build trust by providing authentic or credible voices by having subject matter experts available to staff who wish to have questions answered.

4. Ensure the executives are open, transparent and on the same page. This enhances the credibility of senior managers.

5. Control the narrative by making company position and statements public or open to staff.

6. Identify the “fire starter” who might be your influencer.

7. Do your own risk assessment, design a plan involving the items above.

Rumours and/or misinformation can lead to toxicity within the workplace and even bullying of a covid19 positive worker. When HR ignores rumours, this can make them complicit. In this case “fake news will prevail when wise men do nothing”. The safety of workers is tantamount to a healthy workplace environment and that is a statutory obligation of all employers.