like, let’s say i’m talking to my boss or a coworker through email!! and i type those emojis, like “u” or “:3” (those text emojis), would that be considered a bad idea?? i would use them because i would want people to know how i’m feeling through text and also because i think not using text emojis feels a bit empty, it maybe even makes the message sound rude or angry!! but i could not use emojis if it’s not a good thing
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Only :) or :( are considered acceptable. And only in an informal context with work colleagues, never with anyone more than 1 step removed from you (meaning it might be ok with your supervisor if that’s the kind of relationship you have, but never with your boss’ boss). I don’t make the social rules, don’t @ me.
I only ever use :) myself. Can’t think of a work email where :( seems appropriate.
Another HR meeting at 9 :(
I have a tendency to give off a very unprofessional :| during these meetings, but that’s reserved for IRL only.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Was the email subject of my last resignation.
Aaaaaaagh I quit my job two weeks ago, what a wasted opportunity
Probably only your office could answer that and we don’t know them.
Never on external emails though.
Emoji = picture Emoticon= text
In my experience the only ones that don’t look weird in a work email are:
:) :( ;)
Anything else is going to be seen as weird and superfluous. u :3 would be a hard no for myself, and I know it would get me weird attention that I wouldn’t want.
This very much depends on your industry, workplace, and coworkers.
Please don’t wink in a work context
Nah GTFO of here with that. I’ll follow my bosses lead, and wink. Context is everything of course, but if your workplace is so toxic that a winking emoticon sets off drama then I really feel sorry for you.
Quite the opposite, my workplace is pretty fun and we definitely don’t need to couch jokes in emotions for safety. Maybe this is the same thing that requires people these days to use sarcasm tags.
On Email? Never. Through messaging like microsoft teams with a coworker you already know? Sure. With your boss? Maybe not, but that depends on your boss. It’s pretty normal for work messages to be more bland, though.
I’m a boss I message my boss and my subordinates emojis and gifs all the time
But it still depends on the industry, the company culture, and the individual people. At my job, I can use emojis with basically anyone under the VP level, even my boss’s boss.
[Non-serious answer]
No, only stupid reaction GIFs are allowed at my company. If an emotion doesn’t involve sending multiple megabytes of data to every member in the conversation, it’s not worth expressing.
Note: Standards are higher for secretarial and HR staff. At least 20% of the gifs must have Minions in them.
Emails are permanent records. Your focus seems to be on how they sound to the initial recipient.
My concern is how they sound to the person reading them six months or two years later. What I have found is that the longer the delay between having written the email and it being read, the more pissed off the reader is when they are reading it. If the problem is big enough that they need to come back to me two years later, the reader is probably not going to appreciate the lighthearted jests I originally included.
My work emails with colleagues are brusque and formulaic. I don’t include enough content to even begin to guess at mood or emotional state.
I’m not saying you should use email this way. I’m saying that I have little use for adjectives, articles, and my recipients rarely have need for a scroll wheel. I can’t imagine ever using either an emoticon or an emoji in a work email.
I am not above the occasional :) with most of my coworkers, however anything more exotic than that would require a comfort level that I have with… none of them, really.
I’ve no idea what those emojis represent…
That said, if you wish to be understood, then you might consider expressing yourself with language that’s clearly understood.
Emojis in professional emails are very uncommon. Consider explaining how you feel with words instead. If chatting, then consider image emojis or only the most commonly understood simple text emojis. Uncommon or more recently developed emojis are more likely to be misunderstood and/or considered immature.
It’s generally considered unprofessional, although depending on the environment.
always follow your boss’s example.
generally speaking, I’d leave the emojis out. for one thing, there’s people who don’t know what they mean, or they maybe will just read into it wrong because they hate you. I remember sending an email to a coworker when I came back from a vacation and the general gist of it was “thanks for helping [this annoying client],” literally just a quick email to thank them and let them know that I was back. Yeah. with the way they went screaming to the boss, you’d have thought I told them to go fuck themselves with a rusty holedigger.
it’s bad enough when everything is in plain language. putting it in emoticons…? yeah. you’re asking for trouble.
And… What did the boss say?
Dunno.
Boss doesn’t criticize or give “corrections” in the open.
Knowing her probably told the other guy to stop being a drama queen.
¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
This is my go to teams response when I told someone what was going to happen if they didn’t listen to me, then it happens and they come back to me to complain or ask for advice.
This is a question of, what agency do you have over your communications and what kind of communication would express a character trait of yours that you would like to be attributed to you.
If you have high agency, and using emojis expresses genuineness or what you would prefer to be expressed, go for it.
I swear in meetings, drink at lunches, and generally wear my feelings on my sleeve. This works for me because I have useful feedback on projects, clearly define choices effected by policy and what have you. I say those unsaid things, and either it’s novel contribution or it’s falling on the sword of the things people don’t want to say. This is fine for consultation. It does piss off colleagues when I just do what I want, to effect some result or uncover some relevant fact that I assume is required.
If you have low agency, and/or you feel that informal communications would be detrimental, find a communication strategy that lets you express some individuality, novelty in some other way.
First focus on expressing yourself in words as clearly as possible. If you’re writing to someone very familiar, an occasional emoji is ok. Using them too much to show how you’re feeling makes it appear as though your feelings are more important than the content
