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Have you ever sent a work email, text, or other message with an emoji in it? Chances are you have. The word generation company WordList Finder recently surveyed 1,028 people who work from home about their emoji use. More than 70 percent reported that they use emojis in work communications at least some of the time, and 8 percent said they do it all the time.
But even though most people use emojis at work, many seem to have mixed feelings about them. In the survey, 44 percent of respondents said they thought the use of emojis in work communications was unprofessional.
What the heck is going on here? For one thing, a lot depends on who's on the other end of the message. About 84 percent of respondents thought it was fine to use emojis with peers, and 69 percent said using emojis with junior colleagues was acceptable. But only 20 percent considered it acceptable to use emojis with clients.
Then there's the question of what emojis you're using. Asked which specific emojis were least acceptable, respondents cited the beer emoji, the middle finger emoji, and the lipstick kiss emoji. They also pointed to the eggplant emoji, often used to represent a penis, and the peach emoji, which is sometimes called the "butt emoji."
You probably don't need a survey to tell you that using any of these emojis could be a very bad idea. But there's a subtler problem with emojis. People can easily misconstrue their intended meaning, or be confused by them. You may know what you mean if you send an upside-down smiley face, or a person shrugging, but respondents listed these as the two most confusing emoji. And they said the rolling eyes emoji and the "unamused face" (in which the eyes are looking to the side an the mouth is turned down) were the top two passive-aggressive emojis. Yes, an emoji can be passive-aggressive, or at least it can feel that way to the person who receives it.
Given all this potential for misunderstanding, you might conclude that the best thing to do is avoid emojis altogether. And there's nothing wrong with that approach. Nearly anything you might say with an emoji could be said just as well or better using words.
But if you like emojis and don't want to give them up, there are some situations where, I believe, using emojis is fine--and maybe even better than writing out text.
A large number of Inc. readers receive a daily text from me with a micro-challenge, inspiration, or thought-provoking question. They can respond to me by text, so I frequently find myself texting with people I don't know at all. I often use emojis with people who've used them with me. Responding to an emoji with a bunch of words can feel overly formal and standoffish, and I always prefer to communicate with others in ways that are most natural for them. But I never use emojis unless the other person has sent one first because some people hate them and if the person you're messaging with has never used one, they might fall into that category.
In Slack, people who are on vacation have a palm tree emoji next to their names. Domino's pioneered using emojis to order pizza. Various grocery store chains allow shoppers to order groceries using emojis, which can be a lifesaver if there's a language barrier involved.
Increasingly, emojis are used to convey very specific meanings in businesses and workplaces. That kind of thing can be a low-key way to experiment with emojis in your own business, and as a business leader, you can start the trend. For example, if someone messages you while you're on the phone, you can send back a telephone emoji and "I'm on a call." After a few times, the telephone emoji will be enough to get the idea across, and your employees and peers may follow your lead and start using it the same way.
The most risk-free and non-controversial way to use an emoji is when expressing praise, agreement, or gratitude. Clapping hands to express approval, the 100 emoji to express agreement, and folded hands for gratitude are all commonly used and pretty much universally understood. The thumbs up emoji is widely understood to mean approval or agreement as well, but in some Middle Eastern cultures it bears the same meaning that a middle finger does, so consider your audience before using that one.
Aside from cross-cultural issues like these, most positive emojis are easy to understand and unlikely to cause misunderstanding or offense. So if you'd like to try out emojis in work communications, positive emojis may the best place to start.
And if you'd like to know more about my daily texts, here's some more information about them and a special invitation to an extended free trial. With or without emojis, I'd love to have you join our text community.
A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta
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Should You Use Emojis at Work? Here's What Your Colleagues and Customers Really Think
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14.12.2023
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Have you ever sent a work email, text, or other message with an emoji in it? Chances are you have. The word generation company WordList Finder recently surveyed 1,028 people who work from home about their emoji use. More than 70 percent reported that they use emojis in work communications at least some of the time, and 8 percent said they do it all the time.
But even though most people use emojis at work, many seem to have mixed feelings about them. In the survey, 44 percent of respondents said they thought the use of emojis in work communications was unprofessional.
What the heck is going on here? For one thing, a lot depends........
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