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In a Nutshell
Angry face emojis significantly reduce how competent and professional a sender appears, no matter the message content.
Positive emojis help only when they match positive or neutral messages, but don’t outperform plain text.
Messages without emojis are seen as the most professional overall.
Women judged negative messages from female coworkers more harshly than men did; this effect didn’t apply to male senders.
The Hidden Impact of Emojis at Work
Billions of workplace messages are sent daily on platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, often sprinkled with emojis to convey tone. But research from the University of Ottawa suggests those small icons can have outsized effects on how colleagues perceive you.
While emojis can compensate for the lack of nonverbal cues in digital communication, they can also backfire. According to the study, the wrong emoji—especially an angry one—can undermine how competent and professional you appear, even if your message is perfectly reasonable.
Inside the Study
Researchers Erin L. Courtice, Megan Lawrence, Charles A. Collin, and Isabelle Boutet conducted an experiment with 243 undergraduate participants (average age ~21).
Participants read short workplace-style messages labeled as positive, negative, or neutral. Each message was paired with either:
a grinning face emoji,
an angry face emoji,
or no emoji at all.
They then rated the sender’s emotional tone, competence, and professional appropriateness.
What the Results Show
1. Angry emojis hurt—consistently
Adding an angry face reduced perceived competence across all message types. Even when the emoji matched a negative message, it still lowered ratings. When paired with positive or neutral text, the mismatch made impressions even worse.
2. Positive emojis don’t add much
A grinning emoji improved perceptions compared to an angry one—but didn’t outperform plain text. When mismatched with negative messages, it also backfired.
3. No emoji = most professional
Messages without emojis ranked highest in professional appropriateness. Grinning emojis came close behind, while angry emojis ranked last in every scenario.
A Gender Effect Emerges
Men and women generally responded similarly—except in one key area.
Women participants judged negative messages from female coworkers more harshly than men did. This pattern didn’t apply to messages from male coworkers.
Researchers link this to the “double bind” women often face at work: being assertive can hurt likability, while being warm can reduce perceived competence. Although the effect size was small, it aligns with broader findings about gender dynamics in professional settings.
What This Means for Workplace Communication
The takeaway is straightforward:
Emojis aren’t harmless decoration—they shape perception.
Angry emojis are particularly risky and consistently damaging.
Positive emojis are safe when used appropriately, but don’t boost your image.
Skipping emojis altogether is the safest and most professional choice.
In short, the biggest mistake isn’t avoiding emojis—it’s using the wrong one.
Study Limitations
The findings should be interpreted with caution:
Participants were all young students, not experienced professionals.
The setting was hypothetical, not a real workplace.
Only two emojis were tested.
Non-English speakers and nonbinary participants were excluded.
Publication Details
“Emojis at Work: The Effects of Emoji Use on Perceptions of Competence and Appropriateness”
Collabra: Psychology, Volume 12, Issue 1 (2026)
DOI: 10.1525/collabra.147309