WhatsApp’s increasing popularity (1.5 billion active users at the end of 2017) means it is being used more and more in a work environment, as well as for personal messaging.
Group messaging can be useful in a work environment – the informality can be more accessible and supportive, and thereby potentially more productive than the more formal tone that email tends to engender. Easy sharing of documents and photos is also useful when many are not constantly at a fixed desk.
But while informal workplace chats can be informative, they are also risky. Users may find themselves overloaded by the volume of messages, and excluded if they cannot keep up. Productivity may well suffer as users put their efforts into monitoring the flow of messages rather than focusing on tasks at hand.
Confusion can stem from the fact that most see WhatsApp as a personal or leisure service, and a professional approach isn’t necessarily carried over when the same service is used in the workplace. The vast majority do not start out using WhatsApp as a tool for business.
WhatsApp’s core features can be both good and bad at work. Delivery and read receipts can be handy to ensure someone has received and furthermore actually read a message, but this is also intrusive. Especially as we all struggle to maintain a sensible work/life balance in the current era of constant communication. In this scenario, the power is in the hands of the sender, and this can be exploited in a workplace hierarchy. (It is important to note that these features can be disabled per user, but does this hamstring the service somewhat?)
The expectation of when employees are actually working and available to communicate does vary across industries and organisations. The immediacy of WhatsApp can also be an issue in this aspect, as it quickly makes a grey area of working hours and when someone should be available.
Legally speaking, WhatsApp provides scope for breaching employer guidelines and data protection laws. And in light of this, immediately becomes another medium for organisations to monitor. Many banks, including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, have banned WhatsApp and other IM communication tools on work mobile devices for exactly these reasons.
In the end, it comes down to the culture of an organisation and what practices are fostered. Many breaches are down to human error rather than technological – therefore one could argue that such risks are still present regardless of the services/tools being utilised. If WhatsApp can benefit you then make use of it. Just bear in mind and protect against the potential pitfalls, especially in regards to data protection and expectations of users.
We recommend using a different service in order to distinguish between work and personal activities. There are many excellent tools available to facilitate instant communications and remote working, including:
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Yammer
- Skype for Business
- Google Hangouts
- Cisco Spark
- Hive
- Fuze
- Glip
- HipChat
- Jabber
- Salesforce Chatter
The tool that will serve you best is likely something that is available via or integrates with your existing platform(s). For example, if you use Office 365, then Microsoft already provides services as part of this which could work (e.g. Yammer and Skype for Business).
To learn more about workplace communications, team platforms and data protection considerations when using these, please be in touch with us via [email protected].