Slack as a Virtual Office: Researching the relationships between employee communication and engagement on internal social media platforms

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Wray, Charlotte

• Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate how internal social media platforms impact employee engagement at remote work organisations.
  Design/Methodology/Approach – This research is based on a case study of Shopify employees and their usage of Slack. Data regarding Slack usage and engagement was collected through a series of interviews and solicited diary entries.
  Findings – At Shopify, Slack is used as both a communication and work tool to share knowledge, facilitate conversations, and collaborate virtually. For remote employees, this led to both positive and negative impacts on engagement.
  Research limitations/implications – The findings of this research reveal many ways remote employees use Slack, extending upon existing employee communication research. However, the results regarding Slack’s impact on engagement lacked specificity. The researchers’ employment at Shopify and the small sample size further impacted data collection and analysis.
  Practical implications – Remote work organisations need to consider the dual purpose of internal social media platforms when implementing such a tool.
  Originality/Value – This research contributes to the growing phenomenon of remote work by providing a case study of how internal social media platforms contribute to employee engagement. The findings of this paper offer insight into how remote work organisations can implement similar tools.

• Date created

  2023-08-14

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Remote Work
  • Internal Social Media
  • Slack
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Communication

• Type of Item

  Research Material

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-skap-kx15

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International