Workplace communication atlas
Your ultimate guide to effective communication at work, whether you're talking to colleagues, senior leaders, external partners, customers, and more.
What is the workplace communication atlas?
The world of work is changing at a dizzying pace. With the rise of remote working, the trailblazing of accessible AI, and never-ending social media trends, our workplaces are evolving faster than ever before in human history. Among many other fascinating findings, The Adaptavist Group's Digital Etiquette report: Mind the generational gap revealed that 43% of workers find misinterpreting tone or context their biggest challenge at work, 33% are confused by the use of emojis and slang, and 33% have differing expectations around response times. We wanted to examine these communication difficulties further and see what other misunderstandings workers experience around written and spoken communication.
We surveyed 1,000 people in professional roles in the UK on various topics to discover their communication preferences, misunderstandings, and expectations. With our findings, we wanted to create a guide to steer workers towards better understanding each other to boost collaboration. The workplace communication atlas maps out conversational preferences, how emojis are used at work, common terms and acronyms, how AI can aid cooperation, and more for diverse teams. Whether you're just starting your career or have decades of experience behind you, this guide to written and spoken communication will see you set sail to enhanced relationships for you and your colleagues, partners, customers, and more.
AI use at work
AI, or more precisely large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Rovo Chat, have been headlining the technology conversation since their first public release. The workplace is no exception, with public opinion mixed about their use in businesses.
While there are drawbacks to removing the human brain from specific processes, it's undeniable that AI has created massive productivity gains and minimised human errors. Our survey wanted to discover if and how workers were using LLMs and other AI tools for communication. Perhaps surprisingly, we uncovered that 72% are happy for colleagues to use AI tools to reply to their messages. Here are some practical uses for AI in workplace communication.
Creating summaries
Received a long, important email, and you're really short of time to read it? Use AI to summarise the main points and actions to make the email easier to absorb.
Translating jargon
Never be baffled by jargon again. Our survey found that 54% of workers would use AI to translate confusing workplace slang and jargon, so you don't have to waste time getting someone to clarify what they mean. To make life even easier, we've also included a guide for some of the most common below.
Checking grammar and spelling
It's easy to make a typo or even miss a word that can hinder understanding. Using AI as a sense check is an effortless way to ensure everything is spelt correctly and grammatically sound. 43% of respondents reported that they would use AI for help with grammar and spelling.
Conflict resolution
Sometimes, it's too tempting to reply to a frustrating message in the heat of a particularly emotional moment. Take a breath and let AI give you a helping robot hand. It can spot potential conflicts in text and write a response to de-escalate the situation and prevent collaboration from wilting.
Workplace message assistant
As the Workplace communication atlas survey revealed 46% of workers find misinterpreting tone or context their largest obstacle (mirroring the same data in our Digital Etiquette: Mind the generational gap report at 43%), using an LLM can be useful to adapt your messages for different recipients. The tone will change depending on if you're talking to a close colleague, your CEO, or an external partner. Our most recent Digital Etiquette report examined the different preferences of each generation, proving that the tone of your message can also change depending on the recipients' age(s).
Using Amazon Bedrock, we’ve created a simple AI tool that can be used to translate between different tones of voice. As you can see below, an AI-powered tool to help you alter your tone can alter your formality, and help you speak in the best way for different audiences, formalities, and formats. Explore with some pre-built prompts, or enter your own business-speak.
Want to learn more about how you can use AI tools in your workplace? Check out Narus from Kolekti, part of The Adaptavist Group.
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AI is convenient in so many ways that it's tempting to use it for all your communication, especially if you're less confident. However, it's crucial that nobody develops an over-reliance on this handy technology. As remarkable as it is, it can miss out on the infinite subtleties of human emotional cues. It could also hinder us from developing our own communication skills further.
Plus, communication is all about reaching a target audience, and if you have a personal connection to them, you'll know them better than any AI possibly could and are likely more clued into the type of communication they'll respond best to.
For more recommendations for successfully adopting AI into your business practices—including Atlassian's Rovo and Atlassian Intelligence—read this Adaptavist blog.
Communication preferences
Every business recognises the benefits of excellent communication for improved efficiency, productivity, and collaboration. The modern office uses various communication methods that serve different purposes—face-to-face, email, telephone, direct messaging, video calls, and project management tools, to name just a few. Naturally, some workers favour one more than others, and this can cause confusion and misunderstandings.
Our survey asked respondents to select their preferred workplace communication tools, and found:
In questions about workplace communication overall, our survey discovered that:
Email has been around for a long time now and is not getting overshadowed by newer technologies. It remains the most favoured communication tool by the vast majority (84%). The second most popular method is instant messaging, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, followed by video calls. To help remove uncertainty, organisations should advise their employees on when to use different communication tools.
- Email is most commonly used for formal, detailed messaging or when written documentation is needed. It is useful for communication that requires an official record, such as announcements, meeting notes, or client updates.
- Instant messaging apps are best suited for short informal chats and when the user requires a quick response. They can be invaluable for coordinating and delegating tasks, reiterating information, and clarifying communication.
- Video call preference highlights the recent rise of remote and hybrid working. This format is handy for meetings that benefit from visual clues and informing people about more complex information. These meetings could include training, brainstorming sessions, presentations, one-on-one check-ins, and anything that involves screen-sharing.
Here are some recommendations for clear, concise messages for any type of communication:
Be direct
Start with your main point and follow it with supporting information. This ensures recipients quickly understand your message's purpose.
Use plain language
Avoid jargon and complex words to reduce the risk of misinterpretation and make messages quicker to understand.
Use lists
Improve readability with bullet points and numbered lists. These formats can also aid skim-reading for those short on time.
Proofread
Always re-read your message for spelling, grammar, clarity, and tone to ensure it's simple to understand. This can be made easier using a writing assist tool, like Grammarly, or using AI to check.
Emoji use
Emojis have impacted online messaging in our personal lives, including social media, emails, direct messaging, comments, and forums. They're convenient for emphasising tone and emotion, which can be lost in the fog of text-based communication. Unsurprisingly, these endearing visual expressions have seeped into some businesses. Our survey revealed that 79% of workers use emojis in work emails. They're also associated with warmth and friendliness, and our data revealed that 52% think 🙂 emojis make a message sound more friendly.
However, 26% have experienced misunderstandings at work because of emojis. For instance, people often understand the thumbs up 👍 emoji to show acknowledgement or agreement. However, younger generations often associate it with sarcasm and it has a disagreeable connotation. Not only are there different generational interpretations of emojis, but they can also vary their meaning in different regions or cultures. If you work across these different audiences, consider how easy your emoji-laden message is to understand. Also, social media can affect an emoji's meaning, and the survey found that 84% of workers admitted social media trends influence their language at work. Ponder this if you're aware of an emoji going viral.
Additionally, we use them as a shorthand for reactions in instant messaging apps and on comments. While 32% of workers enjoy using emojis for reactions instead of a text response, another 23% consider it lazy or rude, and a further 15% think these reactions are unclear or confusing. It's worth learning your team's feelings about emoji reactions to eliminate any feelings of frustration.
👍
Acknowledgement or agreement, but Gen Z may use it sarcastically.
🙂
Friendly or positive tone.
👏
Appreciation or congratulations.
🤔
Contemplation or consideration.
🙏
Making a request or showing gratitude.
🙌
Giving thanks or celebrating success.
💯
Excellence or 100% in agreement.
❤️
Showing love, support, or care.
Despite users' good intentions behind emojis, there are times when they can be inappropriate. You should avoid them when relaying sensitive information, as well as official letters, reports, and other formal communications. When you're first meeting with clients, business partners, and stakeholders, it's best to avoid emojis and maintain a formal tone.
Common terms and acronyms
Summarising phrases and acronyms are anchored in virtually all businesses and industries. They're fantastic at saving time, but they may also exclude those not yet in the know. We've charted the most common ones to help you navigate the choppy waters of assumed knowledge.
| Abbreviation or term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| B2B | Business to business; a business whose customers are other businesses. |
| B2C | Business to customer; a business whose customers are individual consumers. |
| Blue sky thinking | Creative brainstorming with no limits. |
| Brain dump | Any and all ideas on a topic that come to mind. |
| COB | Close of business; the end of the business day. |
| EOD | End of day. |
| EOP | End of play; another way to say end of day. |
| EOW | End of week. |
| ETA | Estimated time of arrival. |
| FAO | For the attention of [name]. |
| FWIW | For what it's worth. |
| FYI | For your information. |
| KPI | Key performance indicators. |
| MoM | Month-over-month (often for comparison purposes). |
| Move the needle | Positively make noticeable change. |
| IAM | In a meeting. |
| IMO | In my opinion. |
| IP | Intellectual property. |
| LMK | Let me know. |
| Low-hanging fruit | Easy opportunities/easy wins. |
| NSFW | Not safe for work (usually meaning explicit content). |
| On the back burner | Put aside for a later date. |
| OOO | Out of office. |
| ROI | Return on investment. |
| SMART | Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound (usually in relation to goals or targets). |
| SOW | Statement of work. |
| Starter for ten | An issue to be tackled first. |
| TL;DR | Too long; didn't read. |
| Touch base | Making contact. |
| TOS | Terms of service. |
| WFA | Work from anywhere. |
| WFH | Work from home. |
| WIP | Work in progress. |
| YoY | Year-over-year. |
| YTD | Year-to-date. |
As each industry, company, and department can have its own abbreviations, acronyms, and jargon, many organisations find it helpful to have a company-wide glossary covering them in a public space, such as in a shared drive or on your intranet. This is especially helpful for new recruits to integrate into their teams faster and eliminates the need to ask their colleagues for definitions constantly. There are even tools that you can do all the work for this and make it easier for your team—Atlassian Intelligence has a handy feature that will define company-specific terms, abbreviations, acronyms, and project names on Confluence pages.
Response times
How often have you expected an immediate response for something urgent from a colleague who takes their time, or had a teammate chase you over and over for something that isn't urgent? 45% of workers said that different response time expectations were their most common misunderstanding, the second highest voted option. 29% expect a response within an hour, while 21% think someone should reply in a day or quicker. These differences can build resentment and friction between colleagues, slowing collaboration efforts. Fortunately, the solutions to this issue are very straightforward.
Provide response time guidelines
It can be helpful to provide rough guidelines for response times on different platforms. For example, perhaps email replies should be sent within 24 hours, and direct messaging should be within 3 hours.
Tell the recipient
Our research shows that only 5% expect an immediate response, so if you're expecting one, you may not get it unless you ask for a rapid reply. In your initial message, tell your recipient whether a task is urgent or not a priority. This gives them an idea of what you expect and lets them arrange their priorities appropriately. If the recipient can't answer within the expected time, they should let the requester know, and together, they can decide on an alternative plan.
Use status updates
Sometimes, people can't respond because they're unavailable. Some instant messaging apps give users the option to set a status. If someone is in a meeting, they should set their status to 'away' or 'in a meeting', so other users can see they are not immediately available. Similarly, if someone is out for a day or longer, they should set their email preferences to 'out of office'. If someone sends them an email, they'll receive an automatic reply telling them how long the recipient is away, when they can expect an answer, or an alternative person to contact.
Encourage open communication
This has so many benefits beyond response time expectations that every organisation should do it. For this topic though, open judgement-free dialogue empowers people to report when they can't meet someone's expectations and promotes empathy, honesty, and solidarity among teams. Here, managers should lead by example, so their team feels they can do it too.
In conclusion
Communication needs to be flexible and inclusive to get the most out of your team. It's essential to consider your audience, encourage honesty and transparency, and communicate often—both positive and negative. Communication strategy isn't a set-and-forget process. It's likely to adapt constantly and should be reassessed in light of new apps, technologies, trends, and work practices. Scope out your team's individual preferences and try to accommodate them, ensuring everyone feels included and empowered to follow your organisation's north star.