The new normal has made Slack an even bigger giant for team messaging. So much so that Salesforce dropped $28 billion to annex the platform. While that’s a slick media move, it probably won’t do much for Salesforce’s core mission as a sales and martech provider. However, it also won’t hurt Slack’s booming reputation as a hybrid work lynchpin. What actually might hurt Slack’s leadership in that space is the fast-growing competition it’s getting from other team messaging and collaboration apps that span everything from unified communications companies to expanding video conferencing suites, especially Microsoft Teams and Zoom Meetings. In response, I sat down with Jaime DeLanghe, Slack’s Director of Product Management to discuss the hidden features the company feels will best help managers and employees in a remote work scenario.
DeLanghe pointed out a number of features that she feels aren’t popular with customers because most simply don’t know about them. These mainly revolve around deeper collaboration, expanded use of inclusive emoji, and better time management. all of which are currently available in Slack. To help customers use these features, DeLanghe walked us through five of them covering not only what they are but how to use them.
Make Meetings Mobile
Slack may be a text-based messaging system, but it also supports both voice and video calls with any person with whom you’ve engaged on a direct message thread. Text-to-video or voice is now a fairly common feature in competing apps, but nobody has made it easier than Slack. Slack has made sure this feature works not only in its desktop web client but on its smartphone apps, too. That means users can not only attend meetings on their phones, they can follow along if the meeting organizer decides to switch to a different form of communication.
“We always supported audio calls on the app, but if you needed to switch to video, it was impossible to do,” DeLanghe explained. With its last feature release, Slack now supports quick switches between audio and video calls without losing the conversation, something that’s important when a call is easier or more effective than a chain of texts. It also lets users share their screen or present it to the person with whom they’re chatting.
You’ll find this feature on Slack’s Standard, Plus, and Enterprise Grid plans. Calls can have a maximum of 15 participants, but video conversations are usually more effective for smaller groups. And for home workers who need to distance themselves from their desks from time to time, having this functionality available on their mobile devices can be a real boon.
You can move between Slack’s different communication modes, including voice and video, by clicking on the user name of the person with whom you’re chatting. A drop-down menu will let you select which medium you want to use to keep the conversation going.
Integrate External Team Members Into Slack
Slack may have its roots as a closed messaging system, but for distributed and hybrid teams it now offers Slack Connect. This feature lets managers and admins invite external parties into select channels. That’s much easier for widespread project management situations as well as an effective way to consolidate communications.
“You can connect with [external workers] using Slack Connect and just have all of your communication in one place,” said DeLanghe. “Your team doesn’t have to switch between email and Slack, so can stay on top of everything in one spot instead of having to switch between different tools.”
This feature is separate from Slack’s recent release related to customers DMing with people from other companies. That was controversial because of potential abuse and harassment, so the company later decided to pull it back. Slack Connect is better controlled by IT, which means it’s a safer bet when collaborating with external workers.
Getting Slack Connect up and running means creating a dedicated channel, sending an invitation to your external partners, waiting for them to accept the invitation, and finally getting admin approval to enable access. Once they’re in, partners can converse freely, share updates, and even documents or files.
Set Custom Do Not Disturb Schedules
Custom do-not-disturb schedules might seem minor, but they’re a serious challenge for many folks now working from home. Simply having an off-Slack indicator isn’t helpful for teammates or managers wondering where you’re at in the middle of the day. Having a clear way of communicating that you’re handling a sudden home situation like picking up kids from school or receiving deliveries would be very helpful here. “Maybe you need to go see the doctor, or are doing home school Zoom Meetings,” DeLanghe said. “You can now set a schedule that shows why you’re not available for a chat at that time.”
DeLanghe explained that while Slack has always had the ability to set working hours, it wasn’t an easily accessible feature for many users. “Now, you can set a custom DnD schedule so everybody else sees that you’re on Do Not Disturb, knows that you’re away, and why.” Slack notifications are auto-silenced during DnD scheduled times.
You can set default DnD hours by clicking the workspace name in Slack. Then select Settings & Administrations and click Workspace settings. Scroll down to Do Not Disturb and click Expand. Select the default hours when you won’t be available and the description and save.
Use Emoji to Humanize Communications
It might seem frivolous, but just think about how often you and your employees use emojis when communicating in a DM. You’ll quickly realize that they’re an important part of any text chat and their use has grown exponentially since the start of the pandemic. DeLanghe said Slack’s customer feedback has shown that users believe emojis to be one of the best ways to get your point across quickly.
“In the past year, we released a few different emoji packs [for hybrid work]. While you have always been able to customize emoji in Slack, we know that [many users] may not know how to do this,” DeLanghe continued.
Slack’s new Remote Work emoji pack has specific icons depicting common remote work realities. These include bad internet or broken Wi-Fi connections, needing to attend to children, stepping out to prepare food, being busy on a video call, and various others that can replace typical Away From Keyboard or AFK messages.
You can find the Remote Work emoji pack in any Slack message window by clicking on the smiley emoji icon and selecting them from the list. It is also possible to scroll or type in the search feature for specific emoji. DeLanghe says Slack will continue to roll out emoji packs that reflect remote work situations.
Use Reacji to Gauge Employee Sentiment
Because it’s all about communicating in real-time, many businesses use Slack as an ad hoc feedback mechanism. That can help them keep tabs on how employees are feeling during the pandemic and whether work-from-home policies are working the way they intended. It’s also useful for running quick polls for specific groups and channels.
You can tap into the capability using Slack’s reacji. A Reacji is when you add an emoji to a message to indicate emotion, share context, or trigger a specific action within a discussion.
You’ve probably seen colleagues make a point that resonates with other team members, who agree by adding a clapping emoji, or a 100 emoji meaning they’re in full agreement with the original statement. Reacji’s don’t just add weight to a statement or post, additional reactions are counted as consolidated reactions, so they offer a quick way for remote workers to confirm agreement or dissent.
Say your company initiates a new pay raise for remote workers and the manager posts this news in a Slack channel. Maybe 50 employees show their approval by choosing the thumbs-up Reacji while 35 employees use the frowning face Reacji to show that they didn’t like the idea. This gives the manager a very fast and dynamic insight into how his decision is being received.
“You can also select from different skin tones for Reacji like the high five, or the solidarity fist, which not only adds a deeper personal touch, but it also reflects the diversity of team more accurately,” DeLanghe added.
Dig Deeper for Better Remote Work Resources
While only some of the features described above are new in Slack’s last feature release, DeLanghe said that many Slack customers are unaware they exist. Since they’re directly able to improve remote work communications, the company wants to be sure to promote them to its customers as much as possible. DeLanghe also promises the company will continue to add more hybrid work features in the near future.
