Emoji etiquette in the workplace: The good, the bad and the downright inappropriate

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Emojis are everywhere nowadays. When words fail us or we want to lighten the mood, very often we turn to emojis. In fact even in a professional work setting, 71% of respondents in Perkbox's latest survey feel emojis should be encouraged.

Polling 1000 UK workers, the research found that the ‘thumbs up’ emoji came top as the best way to convey a ‘well done’ (51%), followed by the ‘OK’ (16%), ‘starry eyes’ (13%), ‘smiley face’ (11%) and ‘raised hands’ emoji (10%).

When it came to what emoji was the biggest compliment – in first place was the ‘party popper’ emoji, followed by ‘raised hands’, ‘bicep’, ‘thumbs up’, ‘clap’ and somewhat surprisingly the ‘star’ in final place.

However, more than one in four employee says they still prefer to receive praise the ‘old school way’ through a written email.

Of those who said they prefer an informal chat using emoji (49%), 27% believe it should only apply if the recipient is a Millennial or younger, with one in five of the respondents saying this group believes emojis are more heartfelt. 

“With emojis being an integral part of communication for younger generations, it’s only normal that over time they become more commonly used in the workplace,” said Maddie Pozlevic, employee experience lead at Perkbox.

When asked what emojis are inappropriate in an office setting, top of the pile was a 'kissing mark', chosen by 64% of respondents, two people kissing, which came second (53%) , followed by 'heart eyes' (50%). the 'asleep' emoji (38%) and 'rolling eyes' (27%).