WhatsApp at work: The dangers and pitfalls of using the app with colleagues

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “WhatsApp and Slack can be great tools, but organisations need to define what they’re for, and what behaviour is expected of users,” says Claire Warner, founder of workplace culture consultancy Lift. The concept of a “work WhatsApp” remains flimsy; if you take a colleague’s mobile number to plan an after-work drink, and then go on to chat about work, is it considered an official communications channel? “WhatsApp is generally for personal use, I don’t know of any official business contracts that exist with them,” says HR expert David Rice of People Managing People. Disappearing messages were also added in 2020; only available for image sharing, they’re unfortunately easy to use accidentally, since the “1” icon you’d tap sits right beside “send”.