Chinese Employee Fired for Replying With OK Emoji to Her Boss

• A female Chinese employee has been fired for using the OK emoji in their group chat.
• According to the manager, the use of emoji shows a lack of discipline.

Over the years, emojis have become a regular part of our online conversations. They’re fun to use and they add color to our messages, all the while helping us convey in a small picture what we would otherwise say using one or more words.

But is it appropriate to use emojis in a workplace setting? One female employee in a bar in Changsha, China recently made headlines after getting fired from her job after using an OK emoji as she replied to her manager’s WeChat instant message.

A woman in China recently lost her job for using the OK emoji.

Much to her shock and surprise, her manager responded negatively to her use of emoji, labeling it a lack of discipline, and telling her:

“You should use text to reply to the message if you have received it, don’t you know the rules? Is this your acknowledgement of receipt?”

Soon thereafter, she was asked to get in touch with the HR department and tender her resignation.

In an interview, the employee, who refuses to reveal her identity, shared this is definitely a “real case” and her resignation is now under process. And while she thinks its a ridiculous scenario, she said she “didn’t retaliate” at all.

The OK emoji is NOT OK at all, according to her manager!

The manager later made an announcement to their group chat that effective immediately, they will use the word ‘Roger’ as a response to the messages.

Eventually, the story went viral on popular Chinese social networking site Weibo and netizens poured in an overwhelming amount of support for the fired employee, with many pointing out that the management obviously went too far in this case.

Some even pointed out that good managers should be open about the idea of having a variety of personalities and communication styles among their workers.