Advertisement
Canada markets open in 7 hours 54 minutes
  • S&P/TSX

    21,837.18
    -12.02 (-0.06%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,149.42
    +32.33 (+0.63%)
     
  • DOW

    38,790.43
    +75.63 (+0.20%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7377
    -0.0012 (-0.16%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.57
    -0.15 (-0.18%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    88,314.61
    -4,977.59 (-5.34%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,161.50
    -2.80 (-0.13%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,024.74
    -14.58 (-0.72%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.3400
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ futures

    18,183.25
    -48.25 (-0.26%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    14.33
    -0.08 (-0.56%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,722.55
    -4.87 (-0.06%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    39,900.92
    +160.52 (+0.40%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6785
    -0.0007 (-0.10%)
     

Keep those emoticons out of the office

Emoticons and emojis have no place in the modern workplace, according to a study by staffing firm OfficeTeam.

Nearly four out of five senior managers say it’s unprofessional to include those little yellow happy faces and thumbs-up emojis in work communications, though our suspicion is that number would have been divided had there been a “disgusted by emoticon use” category. Mind you, 19 per cent – likely the sort of managers often referred to around the watercooler as “hip” and “with-it” – say that it’s okay in some circumstances. Office workers seem to be on a different page with 36 per cent saying they use them sometimes.

“Emoticons should not be anywhere in the business world, it’s not professional,” says Carey McBeth, a Vancouver-based business and lifestyle etiquette expert. “As much as you want to be light and fun, it’s actually very unbecoming to the person who is writing that email.”

ADVERTISEMENT

She points out that while the way we communicate is obviously evolving thanks to text messaging and social media, the old rules surrounding mail correspondence still apply.

“If you’re going to go super casual, you might lose opportunities,” she says. “This is a challenge we’re seeing right now with the millennials, I hear this all time – ‘I can’t hire them because they’re too causal’ – there’s still people that want that traditional method of communication.”

So how do you keep your email communication game on point? McBeth walked us through the goods.

Salutations

“Keep it extremely professional from the beginning,” she says. “You always want to use that person’s name.”

Once you’ve established a bit of a rapport, it’s okay to let loose a little and drop the “hello” but your email should still be kept as professional as possible because it is, again, formal communication.

Use the subject line for what it’s intended

“‘Hey’ isn’t going to get an email opened,” says McBeth. “Using a subject line to inform is really critical to email etiquette.”

This is especially true given the volume of emails exchanged between people. It’s even worse if you don’t know the recipient and you’re trying to get their attention.

Read the email aloud

“You can’t express tone in an email,” she says. The same goes for humour, often it can get lost in translation.

“Before you send any email, read it back to yourself out loud with zero fluctuation in your voice, completely monotone, because that is how it’s going to come across to the person on the other end,” she says. “Unless you know the recipient very well, humour should not be put in an email in a professional setting.”

Know your audience

If it’s someone you don’t know, McBeth recommends doing a little research before reaching out.

“It’s really easy to go to LinkedIn, find the age and demographic of someone,” she says.

It also helps to be cautious of any cultural differences that could hinder communication.

“We’re multicultural (in Canada) so different cultures rank differently between high context and low context – the Japanese being a high context culture, things are very formal (whereas) German culture, they’ll get to a point very quickly,” she says. “There is so much room for miscommunication through email.”

So until the day we communicate exclusively in yellow smileys, get that finger off the work computer’s semi-colon.

“You can state your excitement with an exclamation mark as opposed to using a little winky face,” says McBeth. “Emoticons are not professional, period.”