Emojis In Workplace Banter | Conversation Media x Workspace

Up until a couple of years ago seeing emojis in your work inbox was as unlikely as not swearing after you struck your toe on something.

The past two years have been a roller coaster for everyone living in this blue ball we call earth.

Oh! The stories we would tell our coming generations.

But the stories aside, I believe it has been a time of hardship, learning, leisure, and a journey of other mixed experiences and emotions.

And we expressed these emotions mostly online. And more with conversation media (GIFS, Stickers, Emojis, BitMojis) than we did with words.

Our dependency on technology grew as it would have been in the next 5 years has this worldwide pandemic left us alone.

And who can forget the biggest change in the lives of working professionals?

Work From Home!!

With all our abbreviations like EOD, TBT, MOM, and the whole work dynamic changed we realize that work is nothing that it used to be 2 years ago.

Work has changed and with it changed our work conversations.

Emojis In Work Conversations

Conversation Media forms (such as emojis, stickers, and GIFs) have been a part of the marketing world for the better half of the last decade.

But are emojis in workplace a good choice?

If you would have thought about it a couple of years ago then maybe not.

Emojis for example have become quite integrate part of workplace banter. They are more of a need than a want at this point.

They are kind of a lifehack that makes our life easier.

In the past 2 years, How many times have you sent Happy Birthday greetings without one of these emojis?

They help us emote complex emotions that are lost when conveyed by only words. They even lead to misunderstandings.

This might be a reason why the use of conversation media forms saw a rise during the pandemic.

People used 36% more emojis in 2020 than were used in 2019. And 15% of this growth took place during the lockdown.

In the past year, our colleagues have seen our emojis more than they saw our face.

Platforms like slack and even Whatsapp are used for both Watercooler gossip and Shoptalk.

Speaking of Slack, a business communication platform, used by businesses and extracurricular groups has shined through by making group communication flawless with its understanding features.

So being a platform where business communications take place frequently let's try and understand how slack is using its creative genius using Conversation Media.

Slack Emojis Pack Telling The Tale Of Changing WorkPlace Dynamics

On June 3rd Slack released a set of emojis. The emojis capture the changing work landscape and a shift from largely in-office workplaces to remote or hybrid schedules.

The emojis are designed by &Walsh founder Jessica Walsh. The cute, cheeky and personable emojis are a reflection of how the dynamics of the workplace has changed.

The global pandemic - COVID-19 has changed the nature of work.

image courtesy - &Walsh

It started with people asking "when will things get back to normal" to finding peace and accepting "the new normal" and even enjoying it.

Companies tried their own ways to cope up with the changing dynamics.

Adjusting. Introspecting. Readjusting.

These innovative emojis that reflect working in modern times is Slack's way to keep the conversations of its 12 million daily active users and 156,000 subscribed organizations fresh and relatable.

Not all Slack emojis in the new emoji pack are related to work but just our lives in general.

We saw how some companies mistook "work from home" with "work 24/7". These companies were called out by employees.

Creator Walsh’s personal favourite “me time” face mask emoji encourages people to take a break.

Walsh also said that her team uses emojis to communicate all the time, and the ones in this pack were emojis they wished existed.

“We thought [they] would make remote communication easier,” says Walsh. “We wanted to include fun ways for team members to feel more connected to their work and each other, even while working from home.” Jessica Walsh.

As a Slack user it does makes so much sense to see these colourful emojis that I can use with my colleagues.

At the risk of sounding redundant "Conversation Media is no less than a life hack". It has intertwined with our life in a way that we do not even seem to notice its role in our daily lives.