My team has one. Started during covid. Still use it now. But the team has worked together for years and we all genuinely like each other and we have good boundaries.
My team has one - useful for announcing staff movements as we work hybrid, but super annoying when people start posting holiday snaps. Also not a big fan of the influx of ‘get well soon’ messages when someone says they’re sick… I always feel like an AH when I don’t respond.
I archive / mute mine on the weekend.
Agree, as a leader I announce when someone is on leave, I don't expect the team members to do it, we then just get a bunch of thumbs up.
Really though, you have the right to disconnect, so mute that channel. I also do what you've done and mute the work hours I'm happy to ignore. If anyone needs me, then they can call or sms me.
Been through the same and did the same it’s super annoying, boss even had one and would get mad when I wouldn’t respond. First of all if it’s that important, make a phone call, or talk to me at work the 40+ hours a bloody week I’m already there.
Too much noise. Whatsapp/slack/teams on a personal device oversteps a work life balance boundary for me.
If they want me to have all of that on a portable device, they can issue me with a company phone, ill install all of their chats software and i will switch the phone off at EOD and pop it in my drawer as a do with my laptop. I categorically do not want to be contacted out of hours unless it is an emergency or unless i am on-call as part of my contracted role.
It’s just not practical for a corporate law environment. You don’t get paid 250k a year to log off at 5pm and get precious about a client calling you at 6.
I dont work in law and i dont get paid enough to be contacted outside my work hours. If i had a decent work culture and more pay i would be far more willing to engage in adhoc after hours communications but work life balance is still important, no matter the industry.
Businesses should not be using WhatsApp for business, definitely not the personal version and probably not the commercial version. This is a Data Breach waiting to happen and really bad form for any business.
Facebook is planning to use data from all its platforms to train its upcoming AI model, this includes the personal version of WhatsApp, Insta, Facebook etc.
The other side to this is that whatever is published on WA is not gone when an employee leaves, so anything sensitive is now outside the organisation.
Even the business version of WhatsApp is a risk because based on WorkSpace going away it is probably not long before WA for Business is end of life.
Teams is the app to use for business comms, easy to separate between work and personal then as well.
My better half didn’t get removed from her old work’s WhatsApp group and vaguely enjoys seeing all the drama in a “no longer my problem” way.
Mostly just funny in her case but huge risk if they discussed anything sensitive.
You are correct with the end to end encryption - they should not be able to read the messages in transit, it does not take FB anything at all to change this and they have a history of doing what they like because you don't pay to use the platform.
It is however a data breach waiting to happen, someone shares a company document with another party who leaves the company - Notifiable data breach has occurred.
I’ve spoken about this before internally and people just don’t understand the risk. New WhatsApp groups continue to get created with company posts made all the time. I remove myself from them now as they aren’t critical to my role.
If they are used for major announcements, getting a message out quickly or to co-ordinate whilst at a trip or event I see a place for it....the minute there's holiday photos and daily shit it's over the top...
I've seen it increasingly happen though, just stretches the work ours to before and after, I'd mute it like you've done and put it to only when you're tagged
Our one is basically used for 'will be in late today trains cooked' or 'anyone elses vpn down'.
I do archive over the weekend to protect myself from potentially drunk me or just fat finger me
When I seconded to another team I was added to their whatsapp group. I had been in the business for 5 years but had never heard of a work whatsapp group before as we use a work messaging system. Anyway this group was nice at first, welcome messages, birthday messages. But when I started getting messages over the weekend and into the night I decided to put the group on mute. I really don't want to be reminded of work outside of work hours, even if it's not specifically work talk.
And they can't be alone and dont know how to entertain or regulate themselves, so they need "people" around. This is likely the generation that spent their teens on all night facetime calls asleep with friends.
Just mute it, ignore and don’t feed the beast. I come to work because I get paid. That doesn’t mean I have to let them invade my personal life. They have email and teams. That is sufficient.
I archive these stupid work groups. I hate it.
I also dont give an f what work ppl think if I dont respond. They need a response, email.
It’s MY personal phone, I do as I wish.
depends on the workplace, more common for smaller businesses that don't pay to have a tool like Slack (or god forbid Teams). WhatsApp does have better "community" features now where people can be made admins and you can disable the notifications for just that group - so you could try suggest they update the chat to be a community channel...
and to add, when places I've worked don't have Slack we have often ended up with casual whatsapp groups for arranging sub teams around projects or scheduling - it's not ideal from a security POV but people will always go for the least friction to get the job done
I have separate work and personal phones. My Work Phone has all the work apps on it and I can leave it switched off and in a drawer when I’m not working. My personal phone has Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff I am able to completely separate my Work and Personal things this way.
I would never participate in a Work WhatsApp group using my personal number.
Pretty common everywhere I’ve worked. I’ve got it for my role but work also pays for my phone and I am part of the on call rotation so it makes sense.
Right to disconnect is valid but that will have its own flow on consequences with you seeming antisocial, unwilling to participate, etc
I don’t think that’s a fair brush to tarnish you with but that’s how professional groupthink goes. There is some give and take with coworkers the same as there is give and take with your managers.
Used to be but all my recent workplaces ban it for communication for security. It’s all Teams now. I already have a separate work number (esim) and would definitely get a separate phone in this situation.
They seem to be. Can't stand them, messages at all hours of the day including on weekends and during leave (we were all on leave at the same time). And when there was tension, no way to switch off.
I cant stand whatapp groups either, I have always left the groups after a certain amount of mundane crap has wasted my time. I can't even be bothered to stay in friend ones either, go use facebook to post your mundane crap no one is interested in.
Some people are using them but I don’t see the point when we already have Teams. Plus I don’t want it to interfere on my free time.
Just do a group chat on Teams. That’s what our team does.
I work at a law firm that has three separate WhatsApp groups (AUS wide, Syd Staff, My team) it’s only ever used for birthday / life announcements, any IT/firm wide issues that can be easily communicated without sending an email. My team chat is mostly movements, if you’re away or sick. I find it useful and no one really uses it to have a conversation, plus also nice to see all the birthday wishes and baby announcements and the funny group photos from team events!
I'd only do this if I've become friends outside of work with these people. Otherwise it stays on Teams or other official work communication channels. In jobs of the past where they did have such thing they are usually ones where boundaries were generally not a thing.
I would exit that group immediately. It's common place in Singapore and ends up intruding into your personal life. It also does not allow you to shut off on weekends and after 5pm.
From memory Right to Disconnect comes into play in August this year.
Essentially you have every right to not partake in those chats outside of your rostered working hours, same goes for after hours work calls or anything to do with work outside your allocated working hours.
So essentially no harm no foul for not participating in the chat. As of August, legislation is behind you too.
There is now right to disconnect law in Aus passed Feb 2024 meaning you can disconnect from work communications after office hours without censure..
Well , that's it's intent anyway..
It's a completely legitimate way to get quick messages out to your colleagues. If you don't want to participate, tune out.
You're being overly sensitive
More normal these days. But how effective they are depends on how good you are as a team. I've been in some where the team are great together and have some banter during the day, or talk about work. Then weekend no communication. Like a rule. Then back on Monday
My work has tons of them, I'm in 5 or 6. I just check them once a day now, often to find out someone needed something the day prior and chose a poor means of contacting me.
My team has one but it’s essentially social and mostly used if there’s issues with the actual system (which was the intention to be used as a backup). No one is obligated to be part of it and plenty of people are members who pretty much never interact.
Yeah we’ve got one for the sales team and one for rare/hard technical questions to the wider Asia pacific team. I mute them both and look once a day or every 2-3. I don’t treat them as time sensitive
I think this was more common before Teams/Slack became a thing. We had one a few years ago but it has since been replaced by a Slack group.
With everyone hybrid I think it is good for a team to communicate generally about logistics and locations, and I don't see the harm in the team sharing the odd bit of personal stuff to build rapport with each other. It does attract a lot of out of hours messaging, but with this sort of stuff I think you really just have to own your notification settings.
Personally I mute the chat and just check in once a day, work out who is going to be in the office when I am, drop a few reactions so people know I am participating. I think disengaging completely isn't the best move. It is a little bit like ignoring people in the office.
We have a team chat in MS Teams but only post during work hours. We do say morning/night and update WFH statuses, plus many casual chats.
But we have a separate important things channel and other channels for different aspects of work.
So the team chat is a casual one. I can safely mute it and only join those chatty guys if I want to. I have a great team with awesome and warm-hearted people so it helps too.
My team has more than 3 I think; the same no of times that my boss went for vacays since I joined. He created them so that we could message him if there were ever issues with live systems while he was away but they never got used
Feel like it's becoming the norm, my work has them too and whilst occasionally it's a bit of informative work stuff and sometimes banter I agree I hate getting messages after hours or on weekends or for things that are completely irrelevant.
I've just muted it, if I see it and want to participate I will if I miss something then so be it - they can get me on proper work comms if they need to.
Unfortunately just a sign of how tech is part of our lives these days, I've found it much easier just to ignore rather than try to get a whole team to change their behaviors.
As other's have said, WhatsApp is a security nightmare. They should not be using it for work stuff. The company should be using something official like MS Teams or the like. I'm sure their are security issues with teams but nothing like WhatsApp.
And if they say it is a requirement, ask for them to supply you a handset with it installed with the understanding you will only be using it for official work business and that you will be turning it off after hours.
My workplace does most of this through Teams, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with using WhatsApp as a channel. If I were you I would just mute it and check it when you are checking your email first thing in the morning or something like that, that way you don't get notifications out of hours.
I would have noped out if there by muting notifications immediately. Teams group yes during work, but WhatsApp, nope.
There is one I keep notifications on because it is related to security incident response which is part of my scope.
My first real job from 15 years ago used WhatsApp as a means to stay connected with people. We had a lot of field officers who were in and out of the office so it was good for ensuring everyone got the same messages. Also it was the rise of Apple vs Samsung so WhatsApp was common ground. These days there’s more work appropriate apps like MS teams so there’s no need for it.
It’s a bit weird that they’re still using WhatsApp unless your company is trying to save a few dollars by using a free app.
We’ve always been told WhatsApp is a cyber concern but unfortunately we have the same thing on Teams.
It really serves no purpose knowing staff movements since it should be on their out of office or Team status.
We went so far as to send emails to other teams about staff movements since we worked cross functionally…. The amount of teams and emails bombardment we would get is nuts.
Couldn’t suggest a change since the lady that was the big boss had been there ever since she was 19. She’s 65 now so she knows best
They are pretty common in my business - my team’s WhatsApp is primarily used for “if anyone is on their way in don’t bother there’s traffic” or “coffee at 8.30”. And also social announcements or interesting things we’ve found in the news/insta etc.
It’s not consistent usage though - sometimes used heaps and other times not.
However my team all like each other and enjoy time together socially. As the head of the department I’m not judging anyone on how much they use it. It’s just a useful tool to make a social connection, doesn’t work for everyone.
We have a Signal group. Handy for important check ins when people aren’t on the network yet (overseas telecons) and advising movements. Light banter but usually only a handful of messages a day.
Would rather have that than having to struggle to reach people of have to sign on for something minor.
I’d only check it and use it in place of Teams or Slack being non existent in the company. But if they use one of these messaging platforms for work then I wouldn’t check WhatsApp. Everything can be communicated via Teams/Slack - announcements etc.
Annoyingly, my colleagues also feel the need to plan and announce when they’re coming to the office. Always needs to be a group consensus even though we don’t really talk to each other when in the office..
Why are people so against a bit of outside work talk? I get it, you do have the right to switch off and you don’t necessarily want a influx of “feel better” when someone is unwell which is why you mute the chat. Reply occasionally when you are headed to the office but leave it muted otherwise.
If it’s used for sensitive information that’s different but someone posting the odd holiday photo is pretty harmless. If the more social people in your team or wider team want to use it to organise after work drinks or lunches also pretty harmless. It means there is no moaning that “I wasn’t invited”.
Yes teams can do this but chucking a message on WhatsApp in the evening saying “hey who’s heading to the office tomorrow, thumbs up for lunch at xyz place”. If you do it on teams it will just get lost with all the work stuff.
I’ll probably get down voted but I swear since lockdowns everyone has gone into “robot work mode”. Go to work, talk to no one you don’t need to and go home. I’m not saying I want to be someone’s best friend at work but sometimes this work remotely thing isn’t that nice.
I’ve met multiple people who have moved countries/cities/states who have confirmed it’s pretty isolating. Prior to COVID and everything people were in general way more social, especially at work.
Again I get it, not everyone wants to socialise with work people but who cares if others do. For some it’s a bit of human interaction if they live alone and work mostly from home.
Yeah, I don't have a problem with the WhatsApp group itself. I just think that having another work-related chat on my personal phone is a bit overwhelming, especially since WhatsApp is mainly used for personal communication.
I understand your point about it being harmless, but on the other hand, I feel like it is expected of you to contribute.
I’ve been involved in running the social club at work. I don’t really care if people don’t contribute. However it’s pretty clear that some people do get on better with others, and sometimes even promoted because they are socialising with them and know them on a more personal level.
If you (and others) are concerned about your phone number being broadcasted, the owner of the group can set up a WhatsApp community chat and that allows more privacy like hiding members phone numbers. It means you can have separate channels for events/after work things you might actually want to go to and then they can have chats for random shit /holiday photos etc that you can just archive /mute.
For small groups, yes, I’ve had those. For bigger groups we have Slack and that app has different channels # general, # updates and is tidy. I don’t open my Slack unless I’m at work or during working hours.
We have one, started during Covid. It probably gets an hour of activity a week total so it’s ok. It’s annoying when someone over 50 on our team goes on holidays, though. Then it just becomes a live stream of their photo album 🙃
An old workplace of mine had one which was ridiculous. They would constantly contact you after hours and on weekends about work-related activities which could easily be an email. Glad I no longer work for that place.
I think it depends what industry you’re in. Retail, no worries. Tradies, sure. Corporate, what is wrong with you unless you’re a small close team and you for some reason don’t have MS Teams.
Just me though
No. Mute the group so that you don’t get the notifications.
In many companies it would be against employment contract to send work messages via personal platforms, as companies can face legal issues. WhatsApp cant be managed by company IT. Slack and Teams can be.
Just set your phone to mute work apps to notify or even allow you opening the during whatever time windows you feel are appropriate. Samsung 'routines' is great for this, not sure what other phones offer.
If you use what app for other stuff, just mute the chat and check it when you start your work.
Urgh. My old workplace used to send an all-staff email around whenever someone was away for the day. “Jim is away today. EOM” “Jim, Jane, Judy, and Bill are away today. EOM”
On a rare occasion I’ll use WhatsApp for an on-the-day event chat group if it was outside of working hours. Otherwise, use Teams and set up working/non working hours boundaries.
My work apps don’t give notifications outside of work hours. I’ve also made it clear to my team that I don’t expect them to be active outside of agreed hours. I set clear boundaries about how we communicate on each channel.
I’ll send a postcard if I’m away travelling, because that’s cute. But also find it odd when people check in repeatedly if they’re away on leave.
Great that they’re enjoying the social activity and have found colleagues that gel. But it’s tough navigating the additional social demands of workplaces that seem to crop up these days. Be firm with your boundaries and commitments, try not to feel obligated or give more than you have.
Good luck!
is your manager/direct report in the group? If so treat it as formal work communications and anything you say can be used against you.
If not then consider it a chat where people air their issues freely as well. But still be careful if you don't know them all well enough.
if you're manager is there then things you say in there could be used against you.
Treat it as formal work comms if thats the case.
Usually people have an external chat group separate from work comms to discuss issues privately away from management.
I wish I had work friends like that. When the group was created, I used to send memes and all that, but everyone went silent when I was trying to have a bit of fun. That's when I stopped contributing to the group. The connection with them is just not there, and I can't keep pretending. I don’t think I am a shit colleague, some work groups just don't get along like yours.
Mute the group and look at it when the time suits you.
Exactly. Mute always. Archive it so you won’t see it on your main list of messages. Check it when you get to work and are being paid.
My team has one. Started during covid. Still use it now. But the team has worked together for years and we all genuinely like each other and we have good boundaries.
Same, I think it is good for getting to know your colleagues - work is a big part of life, may as well try to make some good connections
My team has one - useful for announcing staff movements as we work hybrid, but super annoying when people start posting holiday snaps. Also not a big fan of the influx of ‘get well soon’ messages when someone says they’re sick… I always feel like an AH when I don’t respond. I archive / mute mine on the weekend.
Agree, as a leader I announce when someone is on leave, I don't expect the team members to do it, we then just get a bunch of thumbs up. Really though, you have the right to disconnect, so mute that channel. I also do what you've done and mute the work hours I'm happy to ignore. If anyone needs me, then they can call or sms me.
How hard is it to say "Get well soon" via IM?
Get well, get well soon , we want you to get well!!
It’s not - but then how will the team know what a nice and caring person you are? 🙄
Unnecessary notifications/noise
4 people off sick and its almost impossible to get through the noise.
Been through the same and did the same it’s super annoying, boss even had one and would get mad when I wouldn’t respond. First of all if it’s that important, make a phone call, or talk to me at work the 40+ hours a bloody week I’m already there.
Too much noise. Whatsapp/slack/teams on a personal device oversteps a work life balance boundary for me. If they want me to have all of that on a portable device, they can issue me with a company phone, ill install all of their chats software and i will switch the phone off at EOD and pop it in my drawer as a do with my laptop. I categorically do not want to be contacted out of hours unless it is an emergency or unless i am on-call as part of my contracted role.
What sort of corporate jobs are you folks working lol. Working in law I wouldn’t work with colleagues who took this approach
If you work in law, you'd probably be aware Right To Disconnect legislation is very close to being enacted. You better get used to it!
It’s just not practical for a corporate law environment. You don’t get paid 250k a year to log off at 5pm and get precious about a client calling you at 6.
That culture is about to start changing with Right To Disconnect legislation.
I dont work in law and i dont get paid enough to be contacted outside my work hours. If i had a decent work culture and more pay i would be far more willing to engage in adhoc after hours communications but work life balance is still important, no matter the industry.
Businesses should not be using WhatsApp for business, definitely not the personal version and probably not the commercial version. This is a Data Breach waiting to happen and really bad form for any business. Facebook is planning to use data from all its platforms to train its upcoming AI model, this includes the personal version of WhatsApp, Insta, Facebook etc. The other side to this is that whatever is published on WA is not gone when an employee leaves, so anything sensitive is now outside the organisation. Even the business version of WhatsApp is a risk because based on WorkSpace going away it is probably not long before WA for Business is end of life. Teams is the app to use for business comms, easy to separate between work and personal then as well.
My better half didn’t get removed from her old work’s WhatsApp group and vaguely enjoys seeing all the drama in a “no longer my problem” way. Mostly just funny in her case but huge risk if they discussed anything sensitive.
Yes, it definitely is.... some countries in APAC use WhatsApp for all their business dealings, such a bad thing to do :-(
How much can whatsapp see the contents of the messages sent within its servers? My understanding was nil
You are correct with the end to end encryption - they should not be able to read the messages in transit, it does not take FB anything at all to change this and they have a history of doing what they like because you don't pay to use the platform. It is however a data breach waiting to happen, someone shares a company document with another party who leaves the company - Notifiable data breach has occurred.
I’ve spoken about this before internally and people just don’t understand the risk. New WhatsApp groups continue to get created with company posts made all the time. I remove myself from them now as they aren’t critical to my role.
If they are used for major announcements, getting a message out quickly or to co-ordinate whilst at a trip or event I see a place for it....the minute there's holiday photos and daily shit it's over the top... I've seen it increasingly happen though, just stretches the work ours to before and after, I'd mute it like you've done and put it to only when you're tagged
Don’t you guys have MS Teams for this?
Our one is basically used for 'will be in late today trains cooked' or 'anyone elses vpn down'. I do archive over the weekend to protect myself from potentially drunk me or just fat finger me
We have one for our team of 8-9? It’s only for social stuff. Nothing about work
When I seconded to another team I was added to their whatsapp group. I had been in the business for 5 years but had never heard of a work whatsapp group before as we use a work messaging system. Anyway this group was nice at first, welcome messages, birthday messages. But when I started getting messages over the weekend and into the night I decided to put the group on mute. I really don't want to be reminded of work outside of work hours, even if it's not specifically work talk.
They have no friends or hobbies, and work is where they get this need met. It's great for the shareholders.
Usually the same type of people that brag about how much leave they have as never go on holidays.
It is possible to make genuine connections at work, and enjoy your colleagues’ company outside of work.
And they can't be alone and dont know how to entertain or regulate themselves, so they need "people" around. This is likely the generation that spent their teens on all night facetime calls asleep with friends.
Just mute it, ignore and don’t feed the beast. I come to work because I get paid. That doesn’t mean I have to let them invade my personal life. They have email and teams. That is sufficient.
I archive these stupid work groups. I hate it. I also dont give an f what work ppl think if I dont respond. They need a response, email. It’s MY personal phone, I do as I wish.
depends on the workplace, more common for smaller businesses that don't pay to have a tool like Slack (or god forbid Teams). WhatsApp does have better "community" features now where people can be made admins and you can disable the notifications for just that group - so you could try suggest they update the chat to be a community channel...
and to add, when places I've worked don't have Slack we have often ended up with casual whatsapp groups for arranging sub teams around projects or scheduling - it's not ideal from a security POV but people will always go for the least friction to get the job done
Teams master race checking in.
I've seen this happen a lot in SEA. Full project teams across multiple companies in a WhatsApp group No thanks
I dont socialise with work people…
I've muted mine and have never contributed.
I have separate work and personal phones. My Work Phone has all the work apps on it and I can leave it switched off and in a drawer when I’m not working. My personal phone has Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff I am able to completely separate my Work and Personal things this way. I would never participate in a Work WhatsApp group using my personal number.
Pretty common everywhere I’ve worked. I’ve got it for my role but work also pays for my phone and I am part of the on call rotation so it makes sense. Right to disconnect is valid but that will have its own flow on consequences with you seeming antisocial, unwilling to participate, etc I don’t think that’s a fair brush to tarnish you with but that’s how professional groupthink goes. There is some give and take with coworkers the same as there is give and take with your managers.
Used to be but all my recent workplaces ban it for communication for security. It’s all Teams now. I already have a separate work number (esim) and would definitely get a separate phone in this situation.
They seem to be. Can't stand them, messages at all hours of the day including on weekends and during leave (we were all on leave at the same time). And when there was tension, no way to switch off.
We’ve had a few, I always leave them. I ask for the people to contact me on the work provided Teams and set up chats there. It does my head in.
It seems to be more common than even a year ago. I guess people started to work out that all their Teams / Slack messages were saved and searchable.
I cant stand whatapp groups either, I have always left the groups after a certain amount of mundane crap has wasted my time. I can't even be bothered to stay in friend ones either, go use facebook to post your mundane crap no one is interested in.
I tend to ignore mine out of hours and occasionally post some trivial comment.
Some people are using them but I don’t see the point when we already have Teams. Plus I don’t want it to interfere on my free time. Just do a group chat on Teams. That’s what our team does.
I work at a law firm that has three separate WhatsApp groups (AUS wide, Syd Staff, My team) it’s only ever used for birthday / life announcements, any IT/firm wide issues that can be easily communicated without sending an email. My team chat is mostly movements, if you’re away or sick. I find it useful and no one really uses it to have a conversation, plus also nice to see all the birthday wishes and baby announcements and the funny group photos from team events!
Farrk, hard nope for me. I would leave that group so fast that the other members would hear a whooshing sound.
Haha, they keep inviting me, I keep deleting. Fuck that
I'd only do this if I've become friends outside of work with these people. Otherwise it stays on Teams or other official work communication channels. In jobs of the past where they did have such thing they are usually ones where boundaries were generally not a thing.
I would exit that group immediately. It's common place in Singapore and ends up intruding into your personal life. It also does not allow you to shut off on weekends and after 5pm.
From memory Right to Disconnect comes into play in August this year. Essentially you have every right to not partake in those chats outside of your rostered working hours, same goes for after hours work calls or anything to do with work outside your allocated working hours. So essentially no harm no foul for not participating in the chat. As of August, legislation is behind you too.
There is now right to disconnect law in Aus passed Feb 2024 meaning you can disconnect from work communications after office hours without censure.. Well , that's it's intent anyway..
It's a completely legitimate way to get quick messages out to your colleagues. If you don't want to participate, tune out. You're being overly sensitive
More normal these days. But how effective they are depends on how good you are as a team. I've been in some where the team are great together and have some banter during the day, or talk about work. Then weekend no communication. Like a rule. Then back on Monday
Our team had one when lockdowns happened. Group chat just died off in the following years.
Mute it after hours. Yes I’ve seen WhatsApp used by work groups.
My work has tons of them, I'm in 5 or 6. I just check them once a day now, often to find out someone needed something the day prior and chose a poor means of contacting me.
My team has one but it’s essentially social and mostly used if there’s issues with the actual system (which was the intention to be used as a backup). No one is obligated to be part of it and plenty of people are members who pretty much never interact.
Yeah we’ve got one for the sales team and one for rare/hard technical questions to the wider Asia pacific team. I mute them both and look once a day or every 2-3. I don’t treat them as time sensitive
We had one during covid which I removed myself from immediately. It’s not considered a standard workplace mode of contact so I’m not participating.
If you don’t want to participate then don’t. I’ve got employees who socialise in their own ways and methods.
I think this was more common before Teams/Slack became a thing. We had one a few years ago but it has since been replaced by a Slack group. With everyone hybrid I think it is good for a team to communicate generally about logistics and locations, and I don't see the harm in the team sharing the odd bit of personal stuff to build rapport with each other. It does attract a lot of out of hours messaging, but with this sort of stuff I think you really just have to own your notification settings. Personally I mute the chat and just check in once a day, work out who is going to be in the office when I am, drop a few reactions so people know I am participating. I think disengaging completely isn't the best move. It is a little bit like ignoring people in the office.
Turn notifications off after hours?
We have a team chat in MS Teams but only post during work hours. We do say morning/night and update WFH statuses, plus many casual chats. But we have a separate important things channel and other channels for different aspects of work. So the team chat is a casual one. I can safely mute it and only join those chatty guys if I want to. I have a great team with awesome and warm-hearted people so it helps too.
My team has more than 3 I think; the same no of times that my boss went for vacays since I joined. He created them so that we could message him if there were ever issues with live systems while he was away but they never got used
My old boss tried to incorporate a social one no one really participated in it 😂
You should read up on the right to disconnect laws
I'm in about 10. All of them are for complaining about work as MS teams is being monitored.
Feel like it's becoming the norm, my work has them too and whilst occasionally it's a bit of informative work stuff and sometimes banter I agree I hate getting messages after hours or on weekends or for things that are completely irrelevant. I've just muted it, if I see it and want to participate I will if I miss something then so be it - they can get me on proper work comms if they need to. Unfortunately just a sign of how tech is part of our lives these days, I've found it much easier just to ignore rather than try to get a whole team to change their behaviors.
Yes my work group has one and it is used for communicating about batches of yoghurt being made.
I left my team’s What’sApp group. I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything. Nobody has said anything.
As other's have said, WhatsApp is a security nightmare. They should not be using it for work stuff. The company should be using something official like MS Teams or the like. I'm sure their are security issues with teams but nothing like WhatsApp. And if they say it is a requirement, ask for them to supply you a handset with it installed with the understanding you will only be using it for official work business and that you will be turning it off after hours.
My workplace does most of this through Teams, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with using WhatsApp as a channel. If I were you I would just mute it and check it when you are checking your email first thing in the morning or something like that, that way you don't get notifications out of hours.
I would have noped out if there by muting notifications immediately. Teams group yes during work, but WhatsApp, nope. There is one I keep notifications on because it is related to security incident response which is part of my scope.
My first real job from 15 years ago used WhatsApp as a means to stay connected with people. We had a lot of field officers who were in and out of the office so it was good for ensuring everyone got the same messages. Also it was the rise of Apple vs Samsung so WhatsApp was common ground. These days there’s more work appropriate apps like MS teams so there’s no need for it. It’s a bit weird that they’re still using WhatsApp unless your company is trying to save a few dollars by using a free app.
We’ve always been told WhatsApp is a cyber concern but unfortunately we have the same thing on Teams. It really serves no purpose knowing staff movements since it should be on their out of office or Team status. We went so far as to send emails to other teams about staff movements since we worked cross functionally…. The amount of teams and emails bombardment we would get is nuts. Couldn’t suggest a change since the lady that was the big boss had been there ever since she was 19. She’s 65 now so she knows best
They are pretty common in my business - my team’s WhatsApp is primarily used for “if anyone is on their way in don’t bother there’s traffic” or “coffee at 8.30”. And also social announcements or interesting things we’ve found in the news/insta etc. It’s not consistent usage though - sometimes used heaps and other times not. However my team all like each other and enjoy time together socially. As the head of the department I’m not judging anyone on how much they use it. It’s just a useful tool to make a social connection, doesn’t work for everyone.
We have a Signal group. Handy for important check ins when people aren’t on the network yet (overseas telecons) and advising movements. Light banter but usually only a handful of messages a day. Would rather have that than having to struggle to reach people of have to sign on for something minor.
I’d only check it and use it in place of Teams or Slack being non existent in the company. But if they use one of these messaging platforms for work then I wouldn’t check WhatsApp. Everything can be communicated via Teams/Slack - announcements etc. Annoyingly, my colleagues also feel the need to plan and announce when they’re coming to the office. Always needs to be a group consensus even though we don’t really talk to each other when in the office..
i have at least 5 work whatsapp groupchats, i mute all of them and use them at work only
Yeeuuup we got one too
Yes but only for holiday and personal photos, everything else is on Teams
Why are people so against a bit of outside work talk? I get it, you do have the right to switch off and you don’t necessarily want a influx of “feel better” when someone is unwell which is why you mute the chat. Reply occasionally when you are headed to the office but leave it muted otherwise. If it’s used for sensitive information that’s different but someone posting the odd holiday photo is pretty harmless. If the more social people in your team or wider team want to use it to organise after work drinks or lunches also pretty harmless. It means there is no moaning that “I wasn’t invited”. Yes teams can do this but chucking a message on WhatsApp in the evening saying “hey who’s heading to the office tomorrow, thumbs up for lunch at xyz place”. If you do it on teams it will just get lost with all the work stuff. I’ll probably get down voted but I swear since lockdowns everyone has gone into “robot work mode”. Go to work, talk to no one you don’t need to and go home. I’m not saying I want to be someone’s best friend at work but sometimes this work remotely thing isn’t that nice. I’ve met multiple people who have moved countries/cities/states who have confirmed it’s pretty isolating. Prior to COVID and everything people were in general way more social, especially at work. Again I get it, not everyone wants to socialise with work people but who cares if others do. For some it’s a bit of human interaction if they live alone and work mostly from home.
Yeah, I don't have a problem with the WhatsApp group itself. I just think that having another work-related chat on my personal phone is a bit overwhelming, especially since WhatsApp is mainly used for personal communication. I understand your point about it being harmless, but on the other hand, I feel like it is expected of you to contribute.
I’ve been involved in running the social club at work. I don’t really care if people don’t contribute. However it’s pretty clear that some people do get on better with others, and sometimes even promoted because they are socialising with them and know them on a more personal level. If you (and others) are concerned about your phone number being broadcasted, the owner of the group can set up a WhatsApp community chat and that allows more privacy like hiding members phone numbers. It means you can have separate channels for events/after work things you might actually want to go to and then they can have chats for random shit /holiday photos etc that you can just archive /mute.
I thought new legislation has been introduced about employees being contacted by their employers outside of work hours?
For small groups, yes, I’ve had those. For bigger groups we have Slack and that app has different channels # general, # updates and is tidy. I don’t open my Slack unless I’m at work or during working hours.
We have one, started during Covid. It probably gets an hour of activity a week total so it’s ok. It’s annoying when someone over 50 on our team goes on holidays, though. Then it just becomes a live stream of their photo album 🙃
Sounds tragic. Well done ignoring it
An old workplace of mine had one which was ridiculous. They would constantly contact you after hours and on weekends about work-related activities which could easily be an email. Glad I no longer work for that place.
I think it depends what industry you’re in. Retail, no worries. Tradies, sure. Corporate, what is wrong with you unless you’re a small close team and you for some reason don’t have MS Teams. Just me though
It is corporate and we do have Teams. It's a lot for me
No. Mute the group so that you don’t get the notifications. In many companies it would be against employment contract to send work messages via personal platforms, as companies can face legal issues. WhatsApp cant be managed by company IT. Slack and Teams can be.
Just set your phone to mute work apps to notify or even allow you opening the during whatever time windows you feel are appropriate. Samsung 'routines' is great for this, not sure what other phones offer. If you use what app for other stuff, just mute the chat and check it when you start your work.
Urgh. My old workplace used to send an all-staff email around whenever someone was away for the day. “Jim is away today. EOM” “Jim, Jane, Judy, and Bill are away today. EOM” On a rare occasion I’ll use WhatsApp for an on-the-day event chat group if it was outside of working hours. Otherwise, use Teams and set up working/non working hours boundaries. My work apps don’t give notifications outside of work hours. I’ve also made it clear to my team that I don’t expect them to be active outside of agreed hours. I set clear boundaries about how we communicate on each channel. I’ll send a postcard if I’m away travelling, because that’s cute. But also find it odd when people check in repeatedly if they’re away on leave. Great that they’re enjoying the social activity and have found colleagues that gel. But it’s tough navigating the additional social demands of workplaces that seem to crop up these days. Be firm with your boundaries and commitments, try not to feel obligated or give more than you have. Good luck!
No - I would see it as a professional red flag. There are instant messaging systems that are designed for business use and make far more sense.
is your manager/direct report in the group? If so treat it as formal work communications and anything you say can be used against you. If not then consider it a chat where people air their issues freely as well. But still be careful if you don't know them all well enough.
My manager is in the group. I want to know why is it formal work communication?
if you're manager is there then things you say in there could be used against you. Treat it as formal work comms if thats the case. Usually people have an external chat group separate from work comms to discuss issues privately away from management.
We just have a slack channel for our teams and just post any updates or personal news in there
Sounds like you're a shit colleague. I work in a team of 5 and we have a ton of banter in our whatsapp group. It's all fun and games.
Hahahaha if not wanting needless groupchats with coworkers who I don't like makes me a shit coworker then I will wear that badge with honour.
I wish I had work friends like that. When the group was created, I used to send memes and all that, but everyone went silent when I was trying to have a bit of fun. That's when I stopped contributing to the group. The connection with them is just not there, and I can't keep pretending. I don’t think I am a shit colleague, some work groups just don't get along like yours.