The Great Emoji Divide: Generational differences in NZ workplaces

That 💦 emoji you used when talking about heading to the beach? Your Gen Z colleague may have read it differently.

Since emerging in the late 1990s, emojis have infiltrated every part of human life – socially and professionally.  Welcome to the modern workplace, where communication is faster, looser, and increasingly open to interpretation.

Platforms like Slack, Teams, and WhatsApp make them unavoidable, and they’re increasingly doing the heavy lifting when it comes to tone, nuance, and building rapport that plain text lacks.

But here’s the catch: not everyone is speaking the same digital language.

As a marketing agency that specialises in communicating – whether internally, through public relations, brand development, social media marketing (you name it!) – we took it upon ourselves to investigate.

One emoji, multiple meanings.

The meaning of emojis has evolved rapidly, particularly among younger generations who reshape digital language in real time.

Emojis that were once able to be taken at face value, can carry wildly different interpretations, often sexually suggestive or sarcastic depending on who’s reading it.

And these examples are far from niche. They’re everyday misunderstandings happening in inboxes and chat threads across New Zealand.

Emojis are evolving quickly, particularly among younger generations who are actively reshaping digital language in real time. Meanwhile, older generations tend to stick with original meanings.

The result? Messages that land very differently from how they were intended

Emojis aren’t the problem – misunderstanding is.

So, should I be using emojis at work? With such a scope for misinterpretation, it would be fair to ask why we bother taking that risk.  

The short answer is yes, but carefully.

Communication has always relied on shared context – tone, body language, facial expression – and as more interactions move online: wording, punctuation, and emojis.

Used thoughtfully, emojis humanise conversations, add clarity, and even speed things up, with 58% of employees globally saying emojis help communicate nuance with fewer words.

The risk comes when that shared understanding doesn’t exist. A quick reaction, a one-word reply, or a single emoji can leave just enough room for doubt – especially across generations.

Awareness is everything. Who you’re talking to, your relationship, and the context all shape how an emoji lands.

How to use emojis professionally.

Emojis aren’t going away, and businesses are already using them strategically – from internal culture to social media.

And internally, we can be a bit more relaxed – what’s an emoji between colleagues? Your workplace culture is a safer space to explore that (we even have custom emojis featuring members of our team!).

The key to everyday use? If you’re unsure, or particularly if you’re speaking with someone in a more official capacity – mirror, don’t lead. If they send emojis, you can too. If they don’t, hold back. This simple approach helps avoid missteps without overthinking every icon.

Ultimately, emojis are most effective when used thoughtfully, not just habitually. So, before you hit send, take a second look. That tiny icon could be doing some heavier lifting than you think 😉

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• Communications
• Mana News