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How communications tools change the workplace

What makes email, Slack or other communication apps successful?

A worker at the telegraph office receives a telegram over the phone and transcribes it on a typewriter in 1932.
A worker at the telegraph office receives a telegram over the phone and transcribes it on a typewriter in 1932.
Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

It may be the weekend, but around the world, people are still tapped into their work lives, getting emails, chats, texts or calls that draw them back into the weekly grind. 

New messaging apps and email services pop up left and right, migrating from the startup world into mainstream offices everywhere. As the way people communicate at work changes, so does the workplace — tools like email, Slack and Gchat enable a constant stream of messaging and leaves some overwhelmed.  

Recently, there’s been some backlash against the popular messaging app Slack, which many offices use to communicate with real time chats, gifs and emojis. As workplaces look at their best options for communication, a lot factors weigh in: work-life balance, generational communications differences, number of employees, ability to navigate multiple time-zones and work styles.  

Susan LaMotte, founder of Exaqueo HR, joined Marketplace Weekend to explain who prefers what kind of communications and why, and to take a look at how workplace interaction might take place in the future.

To listen to the full interview, tune in using the audio player above. 

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