Now, more than four million daily users on Slack wear their status on their sleeves. Before, if a check-in email from a supervisor rattled an employee’s phone, they might have a short grace period in which to reply and seem plugged in. When instant-messaging systems like Slack and HipChat began carving away at email’s supremacy in the workplace, they brought with them new ways for bosses to check up on their workers. If that expectation does arise, however, the added convenience could bring with it a new burden for Slack-bound employees. And unless everyone in a group is expected to regularly update their work status, a name without a status emoji could signal anything.

When people choose wacky emojis, it scrambles the meaning of the status-update system. The company chose straightforward emoji for its five default statuses: in a meeting ( ), commuting ( ), out sick ( ), vacationing ( ), and working remotely ( ). For a feature like this to work as Slack apparently intended, it requires wide buy-in.

Slack away message