Should you use emoji at work?^[1]

Communication preferences can vary for a variety of reasons including the generational cohort that you belong to. There can be five generations in your workplace, with each tending to have their own communications preferences and styles.

• Traditionalists, or the Silent Generation, were born before 1946 and make up about 2% of the workforce in the U.S. They tend to prefer a greater degree of formality in both written and verbal communication.
• Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, make up about 25% of the workforce. They will often prefer a phone call or meeting rather than have a back and forth exchange over email.
• Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, make up around 33% of the workforce. They were the first cohort to enter the workplace as email became widely adopted so they tend to prefer communicating via email.
• Millennials who were born between 1981 and 1996 make up the largest segment of the workforce at 35%. They are digital natives having started their use of the Internet at an early age. They like communication to be efficient and responsive so they prefer instant messaging over email.
• The youngest cohort, Gen Z, born after 1996, make up just 5% of the workforce. These workers don’t remember a time when the Internet did not exist and heavily use smartphones. However, while managers believe that Gen Z workers prefer instant messaging, 83% of Gen Z workers report they would like to interact with managers in person.

In general, older people tend to prefer a greater degree of formality in the workplace but you should also consider the culture of your organization to set a tone for your communication style. If you notice liberal use of emoji in your organization’s Slack messaging, it is safe to assume that the organization has embraced a more casual, graphically expressive communication style. However, if your boss only sends you text-only emails with a formal salutation, “Dear Mr./Ms. X,” you should mirror that style and reply in a similarly formal way.

It’s a good idea to think about the person that you are communicating with and how to communicate in a way that the intended recipient is most likely to consume the information that you want  to communicate. If their preference is email, leaving a voicemail won’t be as effective.