We are annoyed by WhatsApp in the workplace

On a good day, if I don't look at my phone for an hour, there can be up to eighty messages in the Amayzine editorial app. Never a dull moment in this family. Topic ideas, juicy stuff, delays with public transport, the ‘Go NOW to RTL 4!!' messages; everything gets blasted on the app. It's easy, it's convenient, and above all, it's fun, but we still find it annoying, as research shows.

Tele2 surveyed over 1500 employers and employees between the ages of 18 and 65, and what turns out? 46 percent of people would prefer to leave all business WhatsApp groups immediately. Despite the fact that WhatsApp it is popular in the workplace, the app – due to a lack of behavioral rules – causes friction among colleagues. What do colleagues find most annoying?

1. Colleagues who share everything outside of working hours in the work app group.
2. Being followed by colleagues who respond to everything and always have the last word.
3. And also colleagues who communicate with a lot of capital letters (WHOOPS, THAT’S ME) and exclamation marks.

Actually, we find a lot more annoying. That one cat video late at night, that off-color joke, vacation updates full of exclamation marks (’It’s so much fun here!!!‘), an extensive account of a cold or worse: a message on the weekend from that colleague who just can't stop going full throttle about work. Despite the fact that 43 percent of working Netherlands regularly 'mutes' the notifications, almost one third of us is even longing for an out of office reply on the app. Of the employers, 57 percent even hopes to leave the group. So, think three times before you send something in that app group from now on. Maybe a bit more filtering is handy. AND THEN I’LL TRY TO CUT BACK ON THOSE CAPITAL LETTERS, COLLEAGUES. SORRY.

Source: Tele2.

46 percent of people would prefer to leave all business WhatsApp groups immediately.