Dear All,

Thanks to everyone who attended the communications brainstorming session I moderated earlier this week. As a reminder, the question was which emojis we should include in next week’s message to employees impacted by our restructuring program. Here’s a brief recap of what we discussed:

Option 1: 😞 [Disappointed Face]

Potential Use: “We’re sorry to inform you that your position has been impacted 😞.”

Pros: Shows our commitment to authenticity and tells employees loud and clear that “we hear you!”

Cons: A bit on the nose. Maybe even expected?

Questions Asked:

  • “Have we considered doing two disappointed faces 😞😞? Repetition might help it feel less blasé.” – Reed W., Junior Communications Strategist
  • “Wait, why exactly are we putting emojis in this email?” – Ben G., Director of Payroll

Option 2: 😭 [Loudly Crying Face]

Potential Use: “Our company is not in the financial position to offer you severance 😭.”

Pros: To the point, grounded in reality

Cons: Might influence employees to cry on and potentially damage their company-issued laptops

Question Asked:

  • “Have we considered using AI to tailor emojis to employee demographics like age? Because I’m pretty sure my teenage daughter said this one is cringe now.” – Kiana S., Internal Communications Specialist

Option 3: 🤑 [Money-Mouth Face]

Potential Use: “This difficult decision is not a reflection of your performance. It is purely driven by turbulent economic headwinds facing our industry and their monetary 🤑 impacts on shareholders.”

Pros: Effectively communicates our money-saving considerations.

Cons: Effectively communicates our money-saving considerations.

Question Asked:

  • “Has anyone from Legal been informed of this? Am I really the only one here who thinks this might be a bad decision?” – Ben G., Director of Payroll (again…)

Option 4: 👿 [Angry Face with Horns]

Potential Use: “We understand this information may be upsetting 👿. As such, we will continue to offer you access to our comprehensive employee assistance program (EAP) for three business days.”

Pros: Matches our company’s color palette

Cons: Our faith-based employee resource groups have expressed aversions to devil iconography in the past (e.g., last year’s naughty or nice Christmas toy drive logo)

Questions Asked:

  • “Let’s not boil the ocean. What if we put an angel emoji 👼🏼 next to it too, just to cover our bases?” – Frank T., Sr. Manager, Employee Engagement
  • “This isn’t a question, I just wanted to say that I love Frank’s suggestion.” – Sydney G., AVP, Executive Storytelling

Option 5: 🤪 [Zany Face]

Potential Use: “Please note that the recent indictment of our CEO for embezzlement 🤪 is entirely unrelated to this restructuring program.”

Pros: Humor may help lighten the mood

Cons: Conflicts with our branding guidelines (tongue is askew)

Question Asked:

  • “A zany face emoji will not ‘lighten the mood’ when people are panicking about how they’ll be able to feed their families on unemployment!” – Ben G., Director of Payroll (🙄)

Option 6: 🤗 [Smiling Face with Open Hands]

Potential Use: “SUBJECT LINE: An Important Update Regarding Your Employment 🤗”

Pros: Cute

Cons: Might be too effective? We don’t want anyone to get too attached given the circumstances.

Question(s) Asked:

  • “Seriously, whose freaking idea was this?” – Ben G., Director of Payroll
  • “Why am I being asked to leave?” – Ben G., Director of Payroll (👋)

Action Items:

Please vote on which emojis to include. I’ll be sending around a semi-anonymous form shortly. I’ll circulate the final draft with Legal (TBD on who, as the entire department will be impacted). Can someone remove Ben from future communications brainstorms?

All best,
Tammy 💅😜👸🏻
Assistant Director, HR Communications