You know what emojis are, right? They’re the little icons like a smiling face used in text communication, a new global digital language if you will. They are becoming increasingly popular, emojis even have their own day (it’s today, happy World Emoji Day, July 17th!) and an atrocious movie that we hope never gets a sequel.

But what about using them in an office environment is it okay or should they be banned? Should it be company policy not to use them?

Thanks to a varied survey via Survey Monkey we have a small bit of data to go on. It turns out Nearly half (46%) of young adults—18-29 years old—think emojis are work-appropriate while only 28% think they’re inappropriate to use. That percentage drops dramatically when you look at professionals who are 45 years or older with only 14% saying its use at work is inappropriate.

For external communication and depending on the type of business you are, a corporate tone may be required which means a smiley face emoji is probably not the best course of action, especially if you don’t have a relationship with the person who is receiving the text communication.

Here in the Low Cost Office we believe they can be extremely beneficial as it might further emphasise a task or even help set the correct tone that otherwise wouldn’t come across in text. What do you think? Do you agree with the statistics? Does your office have a company ban on emojis? Should they?