'Choose emojis carefully': Workplaces urged to establish usage policies

COMPANIES can no longer afford to ignore the use of emojis in the workplace, and should take steps to update their social media policies.

- THEOLIN TEMBO

This was some of the main takeaways from a webinar titled: “Beyond the smile: Emojis, communication and misinterpretation in the modern workplace”, which was presented by forensic and legal linguist and researcher Dr Zakeera Docrat, and legal firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH).

Docrat previously took the stand at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing into sexual harassment complaints against Judge President Selby Mbenenge. The webinar explained the interpretations of emojis and how companies should be proactive in creating policies around their use.

Docrat started the webinar with a presentation touching on some of the aspects she explained during the Mbenenge trial, and how her expertise stretched to forensic and legal linguistics and the semiotics of law linguistics.

Concerning the semiotics of law, during the trial, Docrat explained how advantageous it was to interpret socio-linguistics, as emojis are nonverbal and don't transfer tone or accent, but must be interpreted in the specific context they are discussed.

During the webinar, Docrat explained that emojis can be interpreted in a sequence. Docrat explained how a set of eyes could be interpreted as “pervy eyes”, a hug emoji interpreted as warmth, while a yellow emoji with a tongue out and closed eyes could depict want or desire, or could be interpreted as “delicious”.