Emojis rule as survey finds 88 per cent of workers use on the job

Fingerprint For Success chief executive Michelle Duval.

So here’s a statistic to think on as we prepare to celebrate World Emoji Day on Monday: 88 per cent of us are regularly using the icons in our professional work, not just for fun but because we reckon they increase productivity and collaboration.

It’s a staggering figure for those of us who still worry about posting a grimacing face when you really meant to send a smiley, but the fix is in: the emoji is here to stay and wondering why we need images rather than words to communicate at work is just wasted emotion, so to speak.

The emoji has been around since the 1990s, but the rise of ­remote work since 2020 and the development of asynchronous ­operations via messaging and shared documentation platforms has led to an explosion of their use in professional contexts. It’s just so technically easy to post on the run these days.

Baby Boomers, according to ­research out on Saturday from workplace technology company F4S (that stands for Fingerprint For Success) are still happier using emojis in private communication, but everyone else just sees the little figure as an efficient and more ­accurate tool than words.

As the name suggests, it’s about emotions and feelings, and as company culture has become more human-centric, it’s not surprising the cartoons are in vogue. So much so that the F4S survey ­reveals that of 2000 people surveyed online in 94 countries, only 2 per cent of us own up to never using emojis at all.

According to F4S chief executive Michelle Duval, it’s time for managers to take the emoji seriously, not just as a side-bar to work, but as a positive way to build culture, especially for workers outside the office.

“It’s about connections and team dynamics,” she says. “Hybrid and ‘remote first’ workers found emojis very useful for connection, whereas in the office, people found emojis most useful for productivity and 86 per cent believe they improved collaboration.”

F4S combined the survey ­responses with other material it has collected on workers’ motivations to find that those most likely to use emojis on a daily basis are “tech-loving early adopters who like to move fast”.

In contrast, “those who don’t like using emojis and have a very low frequency of emoji use are highly reflective people who are very precise and concrete and specific with their language choices”.

Duval says Baby Boomers use emojis in emails at work, while younger people are using them inside instant messaging at the ­office, almost as a punctuation tool to speed communication. A thumbs-up sign is so much faster it seems than typing, “that’s fine” or “OK”. As well, Duval says, the emoji can help convey the tone of a message, adding context and ­nuance to the words.

She says the research suggests the big users are digital natives who have grown up using emojis as kids; it’s only natural that they take the “language” with them into the workplace.

And the times suit: one of the reasons emojis are ubiquitous is that we increasingly using digital chat platforms like Slack or Google Docs for asynchronous work. That’s a radical change from constructing Word documents which we emailed to each other.

Says Duval: “It’s a really fast way. If I’m reviewing one of my team’s documents at work, if I just put a thumbs up, they can keep moving. Whereas if I have to write my formal, properly structured reply …”

There’s surprising agreement among all levels and ages of workers when it comes to the most popular emojis – the thumbs up, or down, the smiley and laughing faces.

Managers also favour the two hands clapping to signal support – one of the icons that has a clear meaning in contrast to some (look up the peach on the net) that can get everyone into strife.

Some research suggests younger workers reject the smiley face when it comes from the boss, ­because it is seen as patronising, so Baby Boomers keen to build street cred via the emoji need to take care, it seems.

The F4S research found that of all 94 countries, Australia uses emojis the most at work, ahead of New Zealand, South Africa, The Philippines, Indonesia and the US.

In a Harvard Business Review article in May last year, Tomoko Yokoi and Jennifer Jordan argued that emojis can give bosses a good read on the mental health of their remote workers.

“Leaders have often relied on physical cues, such as facial ­expressions and body language, to gauge and communicate emotions or intent,” they wrote.

“But doing so is more difficult in the remote workplace, where facial expressions and physical gestures are difficult to both read and convey.”

They documented the growing use of emojis in the virtual workplace as an alternative to relying on physical cues.

Examples include: at Danske Bank, a Danish banking and ­financial services company, employees who join remote meetings share an emoji to let everyone else “get a sense of each other’s mood”.

Fair enough, but it’s a long way from the days when moods were left at the office door and employees expected each other to get on with the day – at least until a coffee break.

The HBR article also suggested that “emotions are contagious” and can be amplified by using the technology of the digital space.

“One senior leader at a global consumer products company explained that he uses emojis and GIFs to help motivate his team members and colleagues: ‘I use them as pick-me-ups to energise and to drive positive moods and behaviours within my team’.”

No harm in that, although surely there’s a risk that, like breaking out the pizzas at 5pm on a Friday, sending out a mass emoji message might be seen as lip-service to the real challenges of keeping workers engaged and respected? Still, it seems there’s no way back in a speedy world where composing a sentence in response to a colleague is seen as wasting precious time.

Happy Emoji Day.