Are we getting moderator well-being all wrong?

I'm Alice Hunsberger. Trust & Safety Insider is my weekly rundown on the topics, industry trends and workplace strategies that trust and safety professionals need to know about to do their job.

This week, I'm thinking about moderator wellness programmes, and what works (and doesn't). I already had this piece written and ready to go when a friend texted me asking for wellness guidance; it’s clear to me that we don’t have enough easily available resources so I hope today’s edition can inspire a broader conversation.

Get in touch if you have resources you can share or questions about today’s edition. Here we go! — Alice

What the research that says about wellbeing programmes

Last month, a study of 160 commercial content moderators tried to replicate prior research on moderator wellbeing. It confirmed what many T&S Insider readers likely already suspect: a third of moderators are struggling significantly with mental health, and current workplace wellness programs aren’t always helping.

While moderators who participated in wellness programmes did report lower secondary‑trauma symptoms (such as panic attacks, rumination, etc), there was no significant drop in overall distress or rise in wellbeing. Worse, moderators who doubt the confidentiality of those wellness services show higher distress, higher trauma, and lower wellbeing.

It's worth reading in full but there are three conclusions that I find really interesting:

1. Some people are made to be moderators

Given that wellbeing service use was not significantly associated with psychological distress, this suggests there are individuals who are naturally more resilient to this type of work.

Anecdotally, I’ve found this to be completely true. People who are able to balance perspective, focus on what they can control, and who have stable and healthy home lives are more able to thrive in moderation roles. Resilience should absolutely be screened for when hiring for T&S roles.

However, experience also matters, as the research points out:

"The finding that some moderators reported improved wellbeing after transitioning from customer support roles suggests that job-related factors beyond exposure alone may influence outcomes."

Customer support roles are incredibly stressful (have you ever been yelled at on the phone by a customer?! It’s terrible!) and yet these roles often have little to no mental health support or cultures of resilience the way that moderation teams do.

2. The opportunity of 'problem-focussed coping'

The researchers called out 'problem-focussed coping' — where someone directly addresses the source of a distressing situation rather than trying to reduce emotional stress or avoid it altogether — as an opportunity to improve wellness programmes:

"Given the association between problem-focussed coping and better wellbeing, structured resilience training that teaches adaptive coping strategies could improve CMs’ [Content Moderator’s] ability to manage stress."

This has worked for me personally; I’ve been at companies where my voice has been heard and where I’ve always been able to directly influence the tools, policies, and workflows that I use. I've been able to actively problem solve and I believe that's helped me avoid significant work-related stress or trauma.

Frontline moderators, by contrast, have very little autonomy in their roles. They’re not able to prevent the never-ending flood of content, make their tools better, adjust their schedules, or change platform policies. There is limited scope to fix and, as the research shows, this can lead to increased stress and lower frustration tolerance.

3. Peer support is underutilised

"Since many CMs valued wellbeing services despite limited symptom reduction, peer support programs and mentorship initiatives could further strengthen workplace support systems."

It’s important to not fall into the trap of having moderators responsible for each other’s wellbeing. However, having programmes that are directly shaped by peers can be a double-win: it gives moderators the ability to take concrete action to help themselves and others. 

Focusing on what you can control (see:problem-focussed coping) might be related to your own work, but it could also be how you can help others: maybe you can coach a newer employee, organise a spreadsheet of edge cases to improve training manuals, or check in on someone who isn’t doing too well?

Vital role to play

Although the study showed that wellness programs run by companies don't necessarily result in a rise in moderator wellbeing, they are still important.

That's because there is currently no central hub of wellness resources for Trust & Safety professionals and, although I tried to address that by crowdsourcing some resources a few years back, many of them are for other types of professionals in similar work, such as journalists and OSINT researchers.

So these few schemes not only fulfil a direct need but also play an important role in setting the bar for others to follow.

I care deeply about moderator wellbeing and will keep building practical, accessible resources for teams of all sizes. If you’re interested in contributing or collaborating, just hit reply.

Realistic optimism

It’s not all bad, though. The study also revealed 57 % of moderators still fall in the healthy‑to‑low distress range, including 18 % of those exposed to egregious content daily. That's something to be noted and to be celebrated.

However, we must also recognise that this won’t be the case for everyone. Moderators must be able to recognise mental health warning signs and have a plan to get out before they need to. If anger or numbness becomes the default, explore transfers, training programmes or therapy. Yes, employers have a moral responsibility to invest in wellness programmes for staff but sometimes the healthiest move is to leave your role and find something new.

Also worth reading

Missouri AG Thinks Supreme Court Ruling Lets Him Control Social Media Moderation (It Doesn’t) (Techdirt)
Why? Some Attorney Generals have wild ideas but Missouri AG Andrew Bailey has to be up there with this one.

TrustCon 2025 Agenda (TrustCon)
Why? The agenda for TrustCon is out and it looks incredible! Tons on AI (who is surprised?) but also a lot of great workshops, panels, and discussions.

Regarding "white genocide" (Read Max)
Why? You probably saw that Grok started to include information about “white genocide” into nearly every X/Twitter reply. This is one of the best reads I've come across on the whole, sorry debacle.