The new, in-demand job skill: Being an influencer

On a recent day off from making lattes and Frappuccinos, Starbucks barista Bridget Baron came into work to do something the company usually frowns upon: posting an on-the-job TikTok.

- Allison Pohle

For this video, though, the 21-year-old used a company-issued tripod and wore her Starbucks logo-emblazoned apron. The video she filmed of herself swirling whipped cream on to holiday drinks racked up more than 800,000 views—and gave Starbucks a quick, viral marketing hit.

There is a rich tradition of employees posting about work life. But it is often to spoof the grind of customer service or corporate culture, and many staffers do it without explicit approval or revealing where they work.

Now, instead of discouraging the practice, companies from Starbucks to Delta Air Lines are leaning into it by co-opting workers as their own social-media influencers. And they want a hand in crafting the content.

The strategy lets employers showcase their workplaces as happy ones and get some grassroots-like marketing out of their often young, digital-native staffers.

For employees, it is a chance to channel their budding content-creation skills into greater visibility and access to perks, such as work trips and professional-development training.

It can also serve as a notch on their résumé.

"I have grown up on social media and I love creating content," said Baron, who studies computer science in Charlotte, N.C., and aspires to be a user-experience designer. She recently added "content creator" to her Starbucks work experience on LinkedIn. After working at Starbucks for three years, she said, "I thought this would be a great intersection of the two things."