Emoji problems at work
Pictographic characters can lead to confusion, lawyers say
SAN FRANCISCO— Gone are the days when workplace exchanges were confined to conference rooms, meetings and the proverbial water cooler.
More than ever, businesses are turning to instant messaging apps such as Slack, Hipchat and Skype to facilitate communication and collaboration. As this informal communication becomes the norm, so too do the tiny pictographic characters known as emoji.
Emoji have become so ubiquitous they have even been turned into a movie. But lawyers are increasingly encouraging companies to keep them out of their workplaces, cautioning that what a given emoji means can change depending on the context and culture in which they’re used.
Devised as a way to clarify the tone or emotion of a message, emoji can also muddle meaning and lead to workplace misunderstandings that legal experts worry could soon get someone sued.
That’s why Michelle Lee Flores, a partner at Cozen O’Connor’s Los Angeles office, is devising an online seminar addressing emoji in the workplace — how to use them, how not to use them and why you should never, ever send someone an eggplant.
“My advice when it comes to using (emoji) is always the same: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” Flores said.
The idea of inviting clients to listen to an hour-long session on emoji may seem unusual, though several attorneys said they incorporate slides about emoji into sexual harassment and discrimination presentations.
The Unicode Consortium, the body charged with deciding what characters should be added to the universally accepted emoji lexicon, is also tasked with defining emoji. Online, they offer insights and definitions into each of the more than 2,600 emoji. Some emoji — like smile and thumbs up symbol — have fairly ubiquitous definitions, “happiness” and “indicating approval,” according to Unicode. Others are not so simple. The so-called oncoming fist emoji can be seen as an angry punch or a congratulatory fist-bump. The winking face emoji can be seen as humorous or flirtatious.
This year, 69 new characters will be added to the emoji library. For lawyers, that’s 69 new emoji to worry about.
According to data from the Unicode Consortium, the red heart emoji, smiley face with hearts for eyes and “face with tears of joy” emoji are among the most popular and commonly used.
But none of these should be used at work, according to Flores.
“I don’t recommend using emoji at work at all, but if you do, I would stick to a traditional happy face. Just a happy face, not a rosy-cheeked one or winky-faced one,” she said. “If you want to do a thumbs-up or some gesture that’s universally understood, use the generic yellow or the skin colour that’s closest to your own skin colour.”