The Unsettled Question of Slack Etiquette for Modern Workplaces
There’s no denying that Slack has fundamentally upended how teams connect and communicate at work. The “Slack-ification” of workplace interaction has reshaped daily office life, bringing with it quick-fire back-and-forth messaging, emoji-labeled out-of-office statuses, and impromptu short video huddles that have replaced formal meetings for many routine check-ins. But for all the convenience these new tools bring, they have also left teams navigating entirely uncharted territory when it comes to shared communication best practices.
Slack’s reach across every industry is massive. Internal company data confirms more than 100,000 organizations worldwide use the platform for team connection, including 77 of the 100 companies on the Fortune 100 list. It has also effectively unseated many older, traditional communication methods as the go-to for daily work interaction. As early as 2015, outlets were already labeling Slack the “email killer,” and the platform has only expanded its functionality far beyond that initial description in the years since. “Now Slack is more than an email killer. It’s a social network in disguise,” journalist Jared Newman wrote for Fast Company in 2020, a description that rings even truer today.
As Slack continues to cement its dominance as the leading workplace communication tool, teams and leaders have recognized the urgent need for a shared set of agreed-upon best practices. Without clear norms, the platform can easily become a hotbed for harm: everything from overt harassment and bullying to less malicious but still disruptive missteps, like sending non-urgent messages to colleagues outside of work hours. That said, building a universal code of conduct for Slack use has proven far more fraught and contentious than many initially expected.
To create the ultimate guide to Slack etiquette — and to unpack which norms still remain open for debate across workplaces — Fast Company spoke with a range of sources: workplace culture experts, human resources leaders, and everyday Slack users from across industries.
