You’ve likely spent the past year focusing on the faces of your coworkers. Though you’ve been apart, they fill your monitor on Zoom. But as everyone wrestles with presenting a professional demeanor while clad in pajama bottoms, they let their real emotions out elsewhere. That place is sometimes collaboration hub Slack—where feelings take the form of emoji.
Slack asked OnePoll to survey users in the US, UK, France, and Germany about how they’ve connected with colleagues while using the service. A solid 69% said that using emoji has made them feel closer to those they work with. (See the full infographic below.)
A common emotion of the past year has been a laugh-because-you-want-to-cry sort of feeling—and appropriately, the face with tears of joy has been shared the most (42%). A sincere heart holds second place, at 40%, and more encouragement has come in the form of a thumbs up (34%). There was some shared workplace laughter, with the rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emoji (27%), smiling face with heart eyes (25%), and blushing face with smiling eyes (24%). It’s not surprising that some people felt the need to raise up some prayer hands (23%). And there was encouragement to be found in the smiling face (22%), grinning face (22%), and clapping hands (21%).
With vaccines rolling out, people might start returning to offices in the next few months. Which after more than a year at home, could result in many confused faces, both in Slack emoji and in real life.
