There is a saying that goes: ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. With this in mind, doesn’t that mean that emojis can save plenty of time when trying to get the message across. We are all familiar with the concept of emojis. They are a quirky and fun way to communicate with friends and families. But should you ever add them in a professional message to your boss? Be it to lessen the tension between you two or simply to add a sense of warmth, is using emoji something to proceed or avoid?
Over the years, the use of emojis in a professional setting has slowly become more acceptable. In general, there are three purposes of putting emojis in a text: to express positive vibes, to mark jokes, as well as to either strengthen or soften statements that could be misread as reprimanding. Especially in the era of Covid-19, emojis can serve as a decent replacement for the absence of body language and subtle context; the lack thereof can lead to potential miscommunication.
Adobe recently conducted a survey on how emojis play a role in digital communication. Beyond making conversation fun, Adobe finds that emoji use at work actually brings big benefits for talent retention, collaboration, and communication. Majority (66 percent) of global emoji users like it when people use emoji in professional settings, meaning that exchanging emojis among colleagues is becoming more common.
The adobe survey also remarks that the use of emojis in professional settings is getting more and more acceptable. Needless to say, there needs to be some consideration in using emojis to a higher level of coworkers as mentioned earlier. The use of emojis for professional settings is tolerable, be it among coworkers or to bosses, as long as no harm is ever intended in its use.
