Thumbs up on emojis at work

Signing off an email with an emoji is likely to score you a thumbs up or smiley face from your colleagues, according to new research – but it’s best to avoid the winking face.

Nearly a third (29 per cent) of the more than 2000 New Zealanders surveyed for the 2degrees ‘‘Good Chat’’ Emoji Study said their perception of people changed when they used emojis at work.

Of those, 59 per cent said they saw people as being warmer and friendlier when they used emojis in workplace communications.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents had received an emoji from a workmate and 41 per cent had been sent one by a boss or manager.

An emoji is a graphic that can be used in electronic messages to convey meaning. However, their meaning can sometimes be misinterpreted.

Half of those surveyed admitted to accidentally using an emoji in the wrong context, with the faux pas landing 17 per cent of them in trouble. There appeared to be a generational difference in their usage too – 94 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds and 86 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds said they used emojis every day, compared to just over half (51 per cent) of people aged 55 to 64.

Older people were more likely to perceive the use of emojis in the workplace as unprofessional.

Victoria University Wellington professor of linguistics Miriam Meyerhoff said emojis could be used to help communicate tone, which was harder to do in writing.

However, the fact that 55 per cent of respondents said they sent emojis in the workplace only if they knew the person well enough showed people were aware of the potential of them being misread.

Jarrod Haar, professor of human resource management at AUT and deputy director of New Zealand Work Research Institute, said the biggest risk of using emojis at work was likely being seen as a fool. ‘‘It might even undermine a serious email/ message if you sign off that way. Or you might get the reputation of being ‘immature’ or a joker.’’