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In the fast-paced world of social media, some news pass by and fade out while other news capture our attention and trend, captivate the mass and spread like wildfire. Recently a post has been trending by a girl called Maryam Helmy due to an unexpected deduction in her salary for a weird reason. The post went viral on social media and sparked a wave of controversy. This story shed light on the relationship between employees and their companies, showcasing the impact an individual can have being a company’s strongest advocate or contribute to negative publicity that harms the company’s reputation. Let’s dig deeper into the Maryam Helmy’s story and examine the incident from multiple perspectives, exploring valuable lessons for businesses regarding employee loyalty and advocacy.
The Director’s Belly Trend – When Employees Posts Go Viral
A few days ago, Maryam Helmy, an employee at a programming company in Egypt, unexpectedly found herself at the center of a controversy. She was subjected to a significant salary deduction of 3500 EGP due to an unintentional mistake in a video ad she had edited and uploaded to Youtube. The video inadvertently featured the CEO who was the presenter with his belly showing throughout the video, departing from the company’s desired elegant image. This case captured the attention of many social media users.
Maryam published on her social media account a picture of the salary deduction letter on social media saying “All people get deductions for being late or negligent in their work, and this is the reason the company discounted me!”. The text of the deduction decision was as follows: “Dear Maryam Helmy, we would like to inform you that a decision has been made to deduct the amount of 3,500 Egyptian pounds from your salary this month.
This decision comes as a result of filming a video in which the belly of Mr. Abdel Rahman El Gamal, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, appears which is considered a violation of the policies followed in the media department. As you know, one of your responsibilities in the media department is to show the best image to all workers at Gammal Tech, without exception.
We appreciate your efforts and know that this is the first time you have made a mistake since the beginning of your work with us, and we look forward to avoiding such mistakes in the future. Your commitment to professional standards reflects a positive image of the company and contributes to enhancing its reputation.”
The Power of Employee Advocacy
In an interview with Al-Arabiya channel, Maryam explained the company’s emphasis on presenting an elegant and professional image in their videos and that they told her several times not to show the engineer’s belly in any video and this was their justification for her salary deduction.
Maryam’s social media post sharing the salary deduction notice gained significant attention. Many individuals empathized with her, sharing the post and expressing their support, which reached more than 6.2K shares and 20k+ reactions in 2 days. Even the published video got a lot of views and comments after Maryam’s post showing their support for the case.
Although Maryam’s post seemed genuine, but as the case went viral, some people started wondering whether it was a real incident or a well-crafted marketing stunt aimed at increasing video views and publicizing the company.
This raises two crucial questions: How can an employee be a powerful advocate for the company? How important is employee loyalty when it comes to upholding a company’s desired image?
The Impact of Public Opinion
On social media platforms, people started expressing their views on the punishment. Opinions varied, where many people believed that a single misstep must not overshadow an employee’s overall contributions to the company. From the company’s perspective based on the letter Maryam shared, there are guidelines placed to preserve their image and those guidelines are critical and should not be neglected regarding the reason.
After people started commenting on the video and wondering why the video Maryam was punished for is still on Youtube, the video was removed, maybe this was after being pressured by the public with many comments supporting Maryam or due to their skepticism that this was intended to raise the video views or for because the video as they mentioned violated their media guidelines. Other than that , the company did not reply till now in any way. Regardless the reason why they removed the video, this incident also serves as a reminder that public perception can significantly impact a company’s reputation and therefore handling internal matters with employees is a very critical issue that needs much consideration.
Can Negative News Be Positive?
Negative news that spread from inside a company can result in a negative impact on the businesses’ reputations. Many people still believe that any publicity is good publicity, when people share and promote your business negatively this can also increase your business reach due to the negativity bias, where people have a psychological human tendency to read, listen, and watch, and even remember negative memories more than positive ones.
Also, content that triggers negative emotional reactions such as fear, anger, or sadness is more likely to be shared. This is why there is always increasing demand for negative news and marketing stunts that are intended to capture media and public attention and connect with viewers emotionally.
As a business advice, it’s better to avoid negative coverage than to take the risk and this is why company’s need to pay attention to how their employees talk about them.
Who Are The Best Brand Ambassadors for Any Business?
The case of Maryam offers valuable insights for companies from fostering employee loyalty to maintaining a positive company image. It highlights the importance of clear communication and setting expectations with employees regarding company values and image. It also shows how powerful employees can be for a company’s publicity and for reflecting the company’s image, and influencing its social media presence. This case challenges businesses to reflect on their relationship with their employees, emphasizing the critical role that employees play.
Also many companies look for brand ambassadors where as the best advocates can be the employees, the ones who truly understand the business and are loyal to it. People trust user-generated content more than brand created content. There is also a mutual benefit for employees, as their employment and professional reputation relies on the success and the reputation of the brand.
Share Your Opinion
Maryam in a video on Ahl Masr News Media said that she did not expect at all her video to go viral and it was just a fun post intended to be shared with her friends. She also mentioned that she is now in a critical stage that she is waiting to see how the company will react to her post and that the decision for salary deduction was already taken and now she wants to stay in the company and she does not want the post and public opinion to force the company to fire her. Taking a look at Maryam’s story, we can spot the importance of fostering a supportive work environment, where employees can serve as ambassadors for their organizations. Employees can have both positive and negative influence on the company’s reputation and also what an employee shares can have a direct influence on his job.
Share with us your opinion on Maryam Helmy’s case. Do you believe that the penalty was justified for violating important rules, or was it an excessive response to a simple mistake that could have been overlooked? Additionally, what are your thoughts on how the company will respond to Maryam’s post?
