81% of workers struggle to convey emotion in digital communications. So it's no wonder that emoticons are rising at work. If you still think emoticons or emoji are NSFW, these compelling statistics will make you think again.

1. 37% 35% 28%
75% of workers would be willing to
use emoji more at work.
Emoji could be the key to helping workers
convey emotion in digital communication.
Think Emoticons are
NSFW? Think Again.
Workers are turning to emoticons
to more clearly express themselves
in digital communication.
...there’s little change in
how they’re used during or
outside of work hours.
want a more casual
platform (like mobile
messaging)
want others to
do it first
want a larger variety
of emoticons
Emoji use
at work
Emoji use
at home
81%
of workers struggle
to convey emotion
in professional digital
communications
25%
Agreement
27%
Gratitude
27%
Excitement
28%
Happiness
35%
Urgency
39%
Disappointment
Frustration
57%
What Workers
Aren’t Saying
Despite countless digital communication tools
for work, there’s still something missing from the
conversation: the tone, inflection and non-verbal
cues that help us convey emotion.
!
Negative emotions are
the most difficult.
71%
There’s no one-size-fits-all
approach to using emoticons in
digital communications.
More than a quarter of workers who are willing to use emoji
more at work wish there was a wider variety of options.
Men and women prefer
different emoticons to
express themselves at work.
Workers choose emoticons most often to express
positive emotions in professional communications.
3%
3%
3%
7%
16%
64%
Women are more likely
than men to use happy
face emoticons
cotap.com
Men are more likely
than women to use
thumbs up
This survey was conducted by Kelton Global between March 21st and April 1st, 2014 among 1,015 employed Americans ages 18 and over who own a smartphone, using an e-mail invitation and an online survey. The margin of error is +/- 3.1%.
Percentages of workers who send emoticons in the workplace.
Emoji for the win!
Though they’ve yet to
be fully adopted in work
communications...
76%
Welcome to the future of work communication.
The thumbs up emoticon
is used more than twice
as much in professional
communication than in
personal communication.
Nearly 1/2 of these workers don’t feel emotionally connected at work.
Emoji use
outside of
work hours
Emoji use during
work hours
But they have a few requests ;)
Emotions these workers struggle to express digitally
Maybe some of these would be
a good start?
88% 75%