Avoid emojis while on the job, Israeli study recommends

A new study from Tel Aviv University finds that using emojis at work signals less power and authority.

“The researchers find that employees who use pictures and emojis in their emails or Zoom profiles, or even company pictorial logos on t-shirts, are perceived as less powerful than those who use words,” according to a TAU press release.

The study examines the responses of American participants to verbal and pictorial messages in different contexts.

“The results were clear-cut: In all experiments the respondents attributed more power to the person who chose a verbal vs. a visual representation of the message,” the press release says.

“Today we are all accustomed to communicating with pictures, and the social networks make it both easy and fun. Our findings, however, raise a red flag: in some situations, especially in a work or business environment, this practice may be costly, because it signals low power. Our advice: think twice before sending a picture or emoji to people in your organization, or in any other context in which you wish to be perceived as powerful.”