10 Best Workplace Approved Emojis And How To Use Them

Forbes

a day ago

Emojis have become part of the way we work. Not as a distraction, but as a signal. A reaction. A tiny tool to close the gap between what we write and how we feel. Once confined to texting or casual chatter, they now appear in project updates, meeting chats and even leadership messaging.
The shift didn't happen overnight, but somewhere along the rise of chat platforms — and the rapid move to hybrid and remote work — the emoji became more than just acceptable. It became part of the new language of work.
When we lost the hallway check-ins, facial expressions and casual context of physical presence, we reached for other cues. Slack, Teams, Zoom and WhatsApp didn't just offer new channels — they introduced new norms. One of those norms was the emoji. No longer a decorative flourish, it served a purpose: softening tone, adding clarity, signaling approval or even creating moments of emotional connection.
How Chat Platforms Made Emojis Essential
It's no coincidence that emoji use became more widespread as work shifted from email to chat-based tools. According to Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index, the average knowledge worker now receives 153 Teams messages per day — compared to 117 emails. In a workday that rarely ends, with interruptions arriving every two minutes, emojis are often the fastest, clearest way to show alignment, appreciation or intent.
Slack didn't just allow emojis. It encouraged them. Reactions like 👏, ✅, 🔥, or 👀 became embedded in the workflow. Microsoft Teams followed, building reactions into calls and messages. Over time, these platforms helped shape a tone that felt more human — even in conversations that had no voice or face attached.
In some remote and hybrid environments, emoji use is more than just tone — it's a signal of engagement. A University of Michigan study on digital burnout found that employees who regularly used emojis in remote communication were less likely to disengage or leave their team, possibly because emojis allowed them to maintain emotional presence in fast-moving, distributed settings. On GitHub, a 2023 analysis showed that issues tagged with emojis received faster responses and higher participation, suggesting that in open-source or asynchronous environments, emojis can increase clarity, humanize requests, and reduce friction in task handoffs.
Which Emojis Are Considered Safe in Professional Settings?
In this environment, certain emojis have become so common in professional use that they feel like part of the UI. The ✅ that confirms a task is done. The 🙏 that softens a thank-you. The 🚀 that celebrates a launch. These aren't used for personality — they're used for clarity.
Others have followed suit: 🙂 for tone, 👏 for recognition, 📌 to highlight, 💡 to suggest an idea, 🧠 to acknowledge insight, 📣 to flag an announcement and 🎯 to mark a shared goal. These symbols work because they're easy to interpret, functional across platforms and widely accepted in tools like Slack, Teams and Zoom chat.
Used well, they add tone to short messages and serve as emotional punctuation in fast-moving threads. Used poorly — or excessively — they create confusion or noise. Still, the biggest risk often isn't the emoji itself. It's the context.
Is It Professional to Use Emojis in Emails?
The line between casual and unprofessional isn't fixed — it depends on the medium. In chat platforms, emojis feel native. They help build culture and connection, especially in distributed teams. In email, the rules shift. The medium carries more permanence and formality, and emojis don't always translate the same way.
A 2020 internal communication study by Hult International Business School found that 95% of workers considered emoji use acceptable in team chats, but far fewer used them in emails, citing tone and professionalism concerns. That gap reflects how different tools carry different expectations — even when talking to the same audience. Inboxes are crowded, and tone is harder to manage. What's meant as friendly can easily come across as awkward, flippant, or unclear.
That's not to say emojis have no place in email. A 🙏 in a thank-you thread among colleagues. A ✅ in a subject line. Even a subtle emoji in a sign-off — 'Thanks 🙂' — can add warmth if there's already rapport. In contrast, using them in cold outreach, formal updates or mixed-hierarchy threads still carries risk. When in doubt, clarity wins.
How Can You Tell If an Emoji Is Appropriate?
Emoji use at work is never just a personal choice. It's a cultural cue. A thumbs-up might feel like encouragement to one person and passive-aggressive to another. Rhetorician Dr. Scott Varda of Baylor University notes that even popular emojis like the 👍 can mean very different things to different age groups — ranging from 'good job' to sarcastic or dismissive, depending on the sender's generation.
That's why the best guidance isn't a list of approved emojis. It's awareness. Watch how others communicate. Mirror the tone of your team. Pay attention to hierarchy, audience and platform. In short, match the environment — not yourself.
If the relationship and tone allow for it, a well-placed emoji in your sign-off can humanize your message. 'Thanks 🙂' or 'Let's do this 🚀' can reinforce positivity and presence. Just don't let the emoji replace your words — and never let it stand in for professionalism.
Bottom line, emojis aren't unprofessional. Misusing them is. In the blur of notifications, late-night messages and asynchronous teamwork, a well-placed emoji can offer clarity, build connection or reinforce trust. But it only works if it's understood. One emoji, used well, can say more than a paragraph. Five? That's noise.
So yes, there are workplace-approved emojis. But the ones that work don't just reflect how you feel — they reflect that you understand how the workplace feels now.