The ultimate guide to Slack etiquette

Slack has undeniably disrupted how we communicate at work. The Slack-ification of workplace communication has infused offices with rapid messaging, emoji-filled out-of-office signals, and quick video “huddles.” But with these new tools has come an uncharted sea of communication best practices.

Across industries, Slack’s footprint is massive. More than 100,000 organizations use the platform to connect, including 77 of the Fortune 100 companies, according to internal data. It’s also effectively unseated other communication methodologies. A 2015 Time feature called Slack the “email killer” and since then it has expanded. “Now Slack is more than an email killer. It’s a social network in disguise,” wrote Jared Newman for Fast Company in 2020. 

With Slack’s growing dominance among communication tools, a new workbook of best practices needs to be agreed upon in order to ensure that it does not become a hotbed for harassment, bullying, and less sinister transgressions like off-hour messaging. 

But building that Slack code of conduct may be more fraught than expected. Fast Company spoke with several workplace experts, HR officials, and everyday Slack users to build an ultimate guide to Slack etiquette—and to better understand what is still up for debate.

How formal should you be on Slack?

The promise of messaging platforms like Slack is quicker, more effective communication. Per company data, Slack boosts worker productivity by 30%. That’s likely due to the rapid immediacy of Slack messages, frequently unburdened by the verbose formalities of an email.

But just how different should your Slack messages be from your emails? While experts agree that all messages should be respectful of the work environment, experts disagree on just how far that strays from emailing. Chris Johnson, a career expert at personal finance firm SoFi, finds the ability to be more informal on Slack a benefit of the platform. 

“​​Slack is a great tool because it is relatively informal in comparison to email,” Johnson says. “[It is] a little more upbeat and lighthearted, and there is space for team-building and more fun activities.”

Others are more skeptical. Lauren Winans, CEO of HR consulting firm Next Level Benefits, cautions against thinking of Slack as wholly separate from the formalities of email. “It’s a professional setting, just like email is, and any of these conversations can be pulled and viewed anytime,” she says. Indeed, while Slack messages may feel like a private DM, they can be accessed by your company’s Slack administrators. 

Should you DM a colleague directly?

In addition to this formality debate is the question of “side slacking,” or messaging coworkers individually outside of major channels. These solo messages can take a variety of forms: Work-related questions, light-hearted banter, or even the occasional gossip. 

Content marketer Jess Cooper has been using Slack since 2019, both for in-house and freelance positions. For those working from home, Cooper argues that “side slacking” offers greater connection between employees. 

“If you work in a hybrid and remote environment, it’s inevitable that you’re going to click with a few of your coworkers, and you’re going to send memes,” Cooper says. “As long as you keep it appropriate and respectful, we all need to blow off some steam.”

But the practice can be controversial. Companies like Photoroom have instituted “No DM” policies, mandating that all conversations be held in multi-person channels. HR consultant Kate Walker is wary of individual Slack messaging. 

“​​I don’t think it’s really intended for one-on-one because that could create a problem in which others are being left off the communication chain,” Walker says. “If you have a quick question, maybe pick up the phone.” 

Who dictates Slack standards?

This all brings up a question of authority: Who chooses what is appropriate for a Slack message to include? Across the experts polled for this guide, the results were mixed: Some said HR departments, some said managers, and some argued for a case-by-case basis. 

Eric Cormier is an HR veteran, currently working at the workplace services company Insperity. He advocates for clear and specific policies on how Slack should be used in the workplace. 

“People forget it’s a work tool,” Cormier says. “Setting those parameters is key to making sure that people are not abusing it. It could be: Here’s what the communication style is. Here’s the frequency. Here’s what we’re expecting for responses.”

As a result of unclear expectations, employees are getting into trouble. Messages sent over Slack can include bullying and harassment, or plain unprofessional responses that are reported to HR. Back in 2022, Twitter fired an employee for being critical of the company over Slack. 

Whether these messages happen because of Slack’s existence—or whether the infractions would occur anyway—is up for debate. For their part, Slack’s developers are more interested in building out user functions to promote positive work than patrolling the negative. 

“We can’t preemptively stop people from saying things it’s never going to be okay to say because we don’t read your messages,” says Olivia Grace, Slack’s senior director of product. “It’s hopefully the case that HR teams at different given companies using Slack are respondent and provide an open environment.” 

Grace also gives the example of Slack’s emoji menu. While they downgrade the positioning of suggestive emojis, such as the eggplant or peach, they won’t stop users from using them entirely. 

How to huddle on Slack

In her position, Grace has worked on many of Slack’s more innovative features. She’s had her hands on Huddles, Clips, Canvas, Lists, and Slack’s forthcoming Templates tool. These tools invite new ways to collaborate with coworkers—and new standards of decorum. 

Huddles is one of the newer tools added to the platform. In 2021, Huddles was launched and in 2022 the feature added video. Its recency means that Huddle etiquette is still shifting, as workplaces continue to define just when and how you can call a colleague. For Arianny Mercedes, founder of career and workplace consultancy Revamped, unannounced Huddles are a pet peeve. 

In her previous HR positions, Mercedes remembers receiving these “random” calls from upper management. 

“Calling through a huddle without notice seems a bit abrasive,” Mercedes says. “You don’t know, I could be talking to my leader or I could be prepping a presentation for my next meeting. But because this call just came so abruptly, that disturbed my workflow.”

But SoFi’s Johnson, who previously worked in management, prefers a more lenient approach to unplanned Huddles. 

“Defer to the company and what their expectations are,” Johnson says, before providing a caveat. “As someone who’s been in management, if I’m making a last-minute request, and I know someone is working remotely, I do not have the expectation that they are or they’re going to be fully ready to go camera on.”

This debate is consistent with what Grace has heard: After rolling out the product, they had criticism that Huddles were disruptive, but also that they weren’t disruptive enough and users wouldn’t see the notification. She emphasizes Slack’s mediating features, including a “be there soon” option and clear rejoining buttons for when users need to take a break. 

Slack status best practices

Slack’s status feature is another tool that workplaces are still establishing best practices around. Some statuses are clear cut, like when a worker is out of office. While others are more dependent on the company and the individual. Does every employee need to update their Slack when eating lunch, or even when they change tasks?

For some, self-regulating status updates can ensure that work is done effectively. “Deep work,” or a sustained work effort on individual tasks, is crucial to maintaining good standing. Statuses can allow you to access that time away from messaging, as SoFi’s Johnson argues. 

“Respecting other people’s status is a great way to prevent overwhelm,” Johnson says. “In today’s day and age, when people are readily available thanks to [Slack], it may feel like you need to be on all the talks. We have to remember there’s work that has to be done.” 

But the updates can become extreme. Not every task needs to beget a new status, and sometimes these statuses are oversimplifying. Maybe an employee is walking their dog, but is still able to respond to messages; won’t that dog emoji turn away their coworkers? 

“​​A lot of us are multitaskers, and we ebb and flow between different things,” says Winans of Next Level Benefits. “I could give advice on keeping that status up-to-date, but I certainly don’t practice what I preach.” 

Grace similarly acknowledges this debate. She points out that Slack considers status to be an “indicator of expectation of response,” and that “team-level agreements are the important first step into mitigating some of the worst status use.”

Evolving Slack etiquette

Beyond the informality of messaging and Huddle procedures, the field of Slack etiquette is expansive and ever-evolving. So I asked all six workplace experts about the Slack behavior that is frustrating them the most.

For instance, Winans says she is often frustrated by off-hour Slacking. She argues that messages sent outside of work hours are rarely so important as to warrant a response—and if they are, Slack may not be the best venue for them. “It might be better to have the phone call if it’s that urgent,” she says. 

Revamped’s Mercedes and HR consultant Walker say many teams do not yet know how to best organize Slack groups and channels.

Meanwhile, Walker warns against the “rabbit holes” that Slack enables, going deep with just a few people and leaving many walled out of the channel. 

SoFi’s Johnson and Insperity’s Cormier say their teams are focused on keeping excess messages down. Johnson advocates for “mentioning” workers with an @ only when completely necessary, as the incessant pings can be “frustrating and distracting.” Cormier advocates for keeping a close eye on statuses: If a worker says they’re busy, don’t hound them with notification. 

Content marketer Cooper reflected on her experience with sharing feedback over Slack. “Positivity belongs in public Slack channels and negativity doesn’t,” she says, before specifying that even criticism via DM is often poorly communicated. Ultimately, feedback may be best received face-to-face, argues Cooper. 

Best practices with workplace technology are fluid; even the stodgy email is being recalibrated as Gen Z enters the workforce. Still, Slack decorum seems especially unformed, given the level of debate and disagreement among these workplace experts. This lack of consensus makes company-specific policies and Slack best practices even more crucial.