Survey Shows Emojis Have Invaded the Workplace

"Sorry for the inconvenience *insert frowning emoji*, but I am out of the office today."

There's a joke on the Internet about how humans began communicating with drawings, moved to actual words, and have now found themselves back at the drawing board. Emojis are a fun way to communicate and I find them to be useful when I want to make someone laugh in a text message or with a comment on social media. I don't believe they are professional nor should they be used in the workplace.

There are others who would disagree with me.

A recent survey by Customer Thermometer has found that the average person sends about 34 emojis a day in texts, social media, and in their work correspondence. In fact, 22 percent of people use emojis in their work emails. It sound strange, but there are employers who might actually encourage it.

Customer Thermometer says they can keep the peace by "enhancing employee engagement, speeding interactions and reducing conflict."

In other words, written word can sometimes be misunderstood. I have a friend who is a college professor and I seem to remember her telling me that students sometimes think a teacher is mad at them if they don't use exclamation points after their sentences. I'm sure co-workers can feel the same way. Now, I could argue that work is business and not personal, but I'll stick to the facts.

More than half of the people surveyed say that emojis have helped them avoid conflict in the office. Surprisingly, men are more likely to send an emoji than women. On that same coin, women appreciate emojis in emails more than men. 87 percent say they make the content friendlier.

It should come as no surprise that 16-24 year-olds send the most emojis out of any other age group.