Yuka KatoAn emoji doesn’t usually say a thousand words, but it can help convey an idea or encapsulate your feelings in a limited space. And emojis can create a sense of complicity or togetherness, as the spike in emoji use at the start of lockdown illustrated. These are all precious commodities in business.
But the lockdown also left a legacy of increased passive-aggression in work emails — or so American workers perceived it. And the ambiguous nature of the emoji is part of this legacy. Emojis are not a failsafe way of communicating: like any language or medium, they are vulnerable to mistakes, misunderstandings or cultural misalignment.
In the workplace, you might risk appearing unprofessional, overfamiliar, cringe or, worst of all, sending the wrong message. The smiley face (🙂), for example, can come across as passive-aggressive: “It looks dead in the eyes,” Gen-Z media relations specialist Alyssa Velez told the Washington Post.
So, how do you strike a balance? By observing the current consensus around emoji use at work. With this in mind, the Mailsuite team worked with Censuswide to survey 2,013 U.S. office workers about how they use and perceive emojis in work emails: when emojis are appropriate, which ones to use and what they really convey.
Key Findings
- Thumbs up (👍) is the most used emoji in the American workplace, and 54% of workers have used it.
- 56% of those who use emojis at work say it’s “to be friendly” — the most common reason for using emojis in work emails. However, 26% of recipients agree that emojis make an email “unprofessional.”
- A small percentage of those surveyed (6%) admitted to using emojis in work emails “to be passive-aggressive.”
- 65% of workers find it acceptable to send emojis to a client they’ve known a long time, but just 26% think it’s appropriate with new clients.
- Gen Z and Millennial Americans are generally more likely to find it acceptable to use emojis in work emails to colleagues, customers and managers compared to their Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts.
👍, 🙂 and 👌Are Officially the Most Used Emojis in Work Emails
First, we asked more than 2,000 U.S.-based workers which emojis they use most in emails. All but four of the top 12 are face emojis, but the most common of all is the Thumbs up (👍), which is the only emoji to be used by more than half (54%) of the workforce.
Gen Z uses Thumbs up more than any other generation, despite reports that Zoomers (age 12-27) find it passive-aggressive: “I use it all the time for a quick ‘yes I’m on it’ and such for work,” science writer Monisha Ravisetti, “on the cusp of Gen Z leaning into Gen Y,” told CNET.
However, the same casual vibe that makes the Thumbs up either quick and light or passive-aggressive can also prove a liability in more formal discussions. Canadian farmer Chris Achter was left with an $82,000 bill after he responded with a 👍 to a text message containing a sales contract for a shipment of grain. It was one of over 200 legal cases to involve emojis or emoticons last year.
Achter claimed that his 👍 signaled receipt of the contract, not agreement with it. When grain prices soared and Achter failed to fulfill the order, his clients took him to court, where Achter’s counsel argued that “allowing a simple 👍 emoji to signify identity and acceptance would open up the flood gates to allow all sorts of cases coming forward asking for interpretations as to what various different emojis mean — for example what does a 👊 emoji mean or a 🤝 emoji mean, etc.”
56% of Americans Use Emojis in Work Emails To Be Friendly
Next, we asked U.S. workers about the purpose of their emoji. More than half (56%) claimed to use emojis in work emails “To be friendly,” while two-fifths (41%) use emojis “To soften communication.”
Harvard Business Review likewise identifies the emotional value of emojis as an “alternative to physical cues.” Used internally, emojis can reveal insights into team morale, build empathy and even help set a company outlook — for example, to help maintain positivity and mutual support during hard times.
Perhaps more surprisingly, some 6% of professionals admit to using emojis “To be passive-aggressive” in work emails. In a development the New York Times has dubbed “Slack rage,” remote workers are expressing the anger they might previously have vented to a confidante by the watercooler by responding to provocative emails and instant messages with ambiguous or outright insulting emoji combinations.
“I come from a traditional workplace, and when you have a conflict with someone you pop by their office and say, ‘Can we go for a walk?’” therapist Brad Smallwood told the Times. “For a lot of people, that’s not a reality anymore.” To avoid falling into the trap, sometimes picking up the phone (or connecting over Zoom) can help take the wind out of escalating tensions.
26% of Americans Perceive Colleagues Who Use Emojis in Work Emails as Unprofessional
We know that a majority of Americans use emoji in work emails to be friendlier. But is this how they’re seen? To a reasonable degree, yes. Some 43% of workers find colleagues who use emojis to be more friendly — not quite matching the 56% of senders who are trying to be friendlier.
This statistic exemplifies our finding that the response to emojis at work is generally positive, with over 30% believing that emojis add personality, fun and/or approachability to an email. Indeed, three of the five emoji use cases Grammarly recommends involve greetings and goodbyes: in other words, use emojis to establish a friendly tone but keep the business talk textual.
However, it’s not all positive. Over one quarter (26%) of work email recipients find emoji use unprofessional, and a significant number believe emoji use is irritating or reflects poorly on the sender.
Experts suggest that you “read the room” when starting a new job or professional relationship: think twice before adding emojis to emails, and if in doubt, don’t shoot first. The British Council provides a useful list of absolute no-nos, grouped as Formal communications, Sensitive topics, First-time communications and Cultural differences.
Which Work Contacts Do Americans Send Emojis To?
For this section, we unpacked our emoji use statistics to reveal which categories of contact America’s workers are actually sending emojis to, broken down by generation. In every category, we found that the younger generation, the more likely they were to use emojis in work emails.
The single biggest sender-recipient dynamic we found is between Gen-Z senders and their co-workers. Some 83% of Zoomers say they send emojis to company colleagues of a similar rank. Even Baby Boomers use emojis at a high rate (71%) among co-workers. However, this can confuse younger generations: “It can be disheartening and sometimes annoying,” 25-year-old Molly Foulkes told the Washington Post. “Are they following up? When should I?”
Emoji use quickly drops off when addressing emails to clients and customers (below). Some 36-56% of workers send emojis to customers, although customers only use them at a rate of 33.4%. While the rules may be looser for marketing emails, in one-on-one comms with clients, it is advisable to follow their lead.
You might think that “follow their lead” is also good advice when writing to management. However, while just 30% of Americans have received emojis from middle managers (below), 48% have sent them to middle managers. Junior professionals face a dilemma when writing to management: the recipients may have less time to read emails and appreciate brevity but also hold their employees to tighter standards of formality — particularly if the managers are of more senior generations.
Employees are less likely to use emojis with senior managers (below) than middle managers — but the tail-off is markedly higher among senior generations, whereas Gen Z is only a little less likely to send emojis to senior (53%) than middle management (59%).
“Be succinct,” when writing to management, advises Greg Adelson, Chief Operating Officer at Jack Henry & Associate. “I prefer bullets to long sentences and include proper spacing to make it easier to read. Provide clear subject lines and explicit directions for actionable items so the group and/or individuals receiving the email understand what to do.
Prospective clients are the group that Gen Z is least likely to send emojis to. However, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers are more likely to use emojis with prospects than with senior management.
One study found that emojis “enhance information processing and add tone” to social media ads and customer reviews for tourist destinations but didn’t necessarily improve the recipient’s impression of the message being sold. In other words, emojis may be a great tool for expressing an idea — but the idea needs to be clear and attractive in the first place.
The Work Scenarios Americans Consider Acceptable to Send Emojis
Finally, we gauged the appropriateness of using emojis in three work scenarios — as U.S.-based workers see it. Again, in each scenario, the acceptability of using emojis is higher with each younger generation.
In fact, when writing to a client the sender has known a long time, 82% of Zoomers feel it’s appropriate to use emojis, while that figure falls to 60% for Gen X and 58% for Baby Boomers. With a long-term client, the relationship can be more complex — and a sense of friendly informality a boon. In this case, emojis “are part of a bigger set of cues that will establish the tone of your exchanges,” suggests the BBC’s David Robson. “[W]hether they feel formal or informal, enthusiastic or bored.”
The scenario in which Americans are least likely to use emojis is “When telling a colleague they have done something wrong.” This would appear to be one scenario where setting the emotional tone (e.g., reminder vs. reprimand) is most useful. “[W]hen we’re in person, I might say, ‘What are you doing?!’ Well, that’s clear for my intonation that you’re doing something wrong,” says linguist Valerie Fridland. “But if I say, ‘Hey, what cha doin’?’ that’s clear from my tone of voice that I’m just like, ‘What’s going on? Let’s hang out.’”
However, since emojis can be so ambiguous — a 👍 could mean anything from “that’ll do” to “great job,” genuinely or sarcastically — text might be safer when a colleague has done something wrong. And given the range of emotions that can arise when discussing a professional mistake, text can also come across as too lenient or too strong. In which case, maybe it’s time to pick up the phone.
Generation Emoji
Emojis have become part of the fabric of professional life. Not only are they not likely to go away, but the language of emojis is also likely to become richer and more complex.
Slack has long allowed you to add personalized emojis to instant messages, and soon, Apple will offer the chance to generate custom “Genmoji” on iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. It may only be a matter of time until the major email providers integrate custom AI-generated emojis into their composing toolbars.
It is up to America’s workers — young and old alike — to maintain a sophisticated contextual skillset for emoji use alongside the latest Unicode update.
Methodology
In conjunction with Censuswide, we surveyed 2,013 office workers based in the U.S. on their usage and perceptions of emojis in work emails.
