Three out of four office workers now feel like they need to use emojis at work, according to Statista's research on workplace communication. But almost nobody stops to ask what that emoji is actually doing once it lands in an inbox, a Slack thread, or a client email.
That's the gap Stacy Jo Dixon from Statista has been studying, and it's the gap this episode sits inside: not whether emojis belong in business, but what they're quietly signalling about generation, culture, gender, and judgment every time someone hits send.
In this episode we work through what the data actually shows, and where it gets complicated. Why older professionals default to the thumbs up, while younger ones have developed what Stacy calls emoji literacy. And why the same emoji that reads as friendly in one country can land as an insult in another culture, and what any of this means for a brand's voice once it starts showing up in pixels instead of words. It's a more surprising conversation than the stat sheet suggests.
Listen For
03:49 Which emojis should you never use in the workplace?
05:49 What is emoji literacy and why does it matter at work?
08:10 Can the thumbs-up emoji be offensive across cultures?
12:40 When should you use emojis with executives, bosses, or clients?
14:13 Should companies create workplace emoji policies?
Guest: Stacy Jo Dixon, Statista
LinkedIn |IG | Website | Emoji usage – statistics & facts |Off the Charts Podcast (hosted by Stacy): YouTube | Off the Charts Podcast (hosted by Stacy): Spotify
Doug Downs
Substack | Website | LinkedIn
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