The anxiety and fear associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have posed a psychological trauma for people around the globe. Our study draws on clinical psychology perspective to explore how employees sharing their COVID-19 experiences on social media can enhance their feelings of empathy and perceptions of social support, which in turn, influence their task performance and helping behaviour. Analysing this from a clinical psychology perspective further suggests that the benefits of social sharing are greater when employees impart their experiences with those from similar demographics due to the greater relevance and closeness.

Immediately after the government ended the nationwide social distancing rules in South Korea (6 May 2020), we collected data from 84 full-time office workers for ten consecutive workdays starting from the first day when they returned to work. The results from our experience-sampling study (Level 1 N = 815, Level 2 N = 84) provide general support for our predictions. Our research responds to urgent calls for understanding employees’ experiences after returning to work as businesses and countries have started relaxing their social-distancing rules to revive the economy.

This study reveals that organisations would benefit from employees’ social sharing about COVID-19, which boosts their productivity through empathy and social support among co-workers. We suggest organisations encourage their employees to support each other and, ultimately, accomplish a successful transition during this pandemic.