is it a red flag if a team has a group text?

by Alison Green on February 27, 2025

A reader writes:

Do you think it’s a red flag when a team in a smaller company immediately drops you into a group text on your personal phone upon hiring?

The context is that I’m very happy in my mid-level position at my very not-toxic Fortune 100 company. I like the work and the people and while I wouldn’t hang out with a few of these folks for recreational coffee, we’re Work Friends. I’ve worked for smaller companies and have found them to always be cliquey and toxic and in each other’s business. Like high-stakes high school, where instead of losing head cheerleader, you lose your job.

For me the common denominator red flag was that my toxic jobs had group chats. “We all get along” and “lols” and morning affirmation texts and more.

My mother came from big time corporate America and is now working for small time companies. The last one she was at was so toxic and went so far south I legally can’t say what happened. She told me that from day one at her current job, she’s been in group texts with the “team.” More “morning guys!” etc. I’m not going to diss my mom’s new job because she’s so happy to be out of the other place, but I’m seeing signs already and I’m curious if you and/or the readers think group chats/texts are a red flag!

I don’t think teams with group chats are inherently a red flag.

I do think that when a team is dysfunctional, a group chat can often be something that reinforces that — because it’s used in ways that trample people’s boundaries (like unwelcome work texts during your off hours, or an expectation that you’ll participate in endless socializing that doesn’t interest you or actively distracts you, or a team that expects everyone to be “like family” in problematic ways). But that’s generally a reflection of other problematic norms on the team, not something fundamental to the group texts themselves.

There are healthy, functional teams that have group chats! In those cases, I might theorize that they’re more likely to pop up in specific use cases, like when the work is emotionally difficult and the group chat is a place to blow off steam, or if all of the team is in a younger (read: going out) stage of life, or similar. But that’s not exclusively the case either.

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{ 171 comments }

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  1. I'm A Little Teapot*

    I have a group text with coworkers. It’s where those of us who live in a specific geographic region can share big traffic issues. It’s rarely used, and when it is it’s things like “there’s a semi that jack-knifed and the entire highway is shut down” (that was not a fun commute home). And while my company isn’t perfect, it’s also not toxic.

    1. Nola*

      Yeah we have a group text for our office of about 30. It’s useful for big traffic updates, building updates, and weather updates. Things that come up suddenly and people may not see if they don’t check email in the morning or are in the car already. It’s helpful.

      If you’re in a toxic workplace, you’re in a toxic workplace. That has nothing to do with the size of the company or the group text.

      1. Ace in the Hole*

        I was about to say I’ve never worked at a place with a group chat until I read your comment… I’d totally forgotten about it since we only use it on rare occasions when people need an urgent alert outside work hours.

        For example the last time we used it was to let people know not to show up for their shift because we’d evacuated for a tsunami warning.

      2. Don’t text and drive*

        If you are in a car, you should not be reading group chat messages (assuming you’re the driver of course).

        1. Armchair analyst*

          Some phones and/or cars are set up to read the messages out loud to the driver (and the rest of the car, if applicable)

        2. Anomalous*

          Your phone can read them to you via text-to-speech. This is easy and hands-free with Apple CarPlay (“Hey Siri, read my messages.”), and I assume Android Auto has a similar feature.

    2. CeeDoo*

      We have one in our math department for stuff like school closures and jeans days. It has 26 members. We have a smaller one for those 9 or so of us who tend to go to lunch together on inservice days. Both are only used for the function they were created for. We don’t talk badly about anyone or leave them off the list. I mess up the gc because I have an android, but that’s our only issue.

      1. Nomic*

        I used to have that problem. I switched from Android Messenger to Google Messenger and that fixed almost all of the issues (I can name groups now, etc. etc., just like Apple apparently does).

      2. Iyana of Narthalai*

        We’re similar- we use Slack for almost everything but have a group chat for time sensitive things that people might not see if they’re not yet working and therefore not checking Slack. So “I’m getting muffins on the way in, anyone want one?” Or “I’ll be 15 minutes late to our meeting.” Otherwise the chat is silent.

    4. Hush42*

      Yep. My team has a group chat and we pretty much immediately add new people to it. But it’s almost exclusively used for pet pictures and updates if the weather or traffic is bad.

      1. She-roHere*

        Same here. In addition to pet pics and bad weather/traffic, our group chat is used for other mundane messages that would be overkill for email such as wishing each other a happy birthday.

    5. Banana Pyjamas*

      Yeah, ours was for late/absent only. I’m honestly side-eying pet pics and holiday wishes. The only exception in our office was to wish each other luck on certification exams, and I think that’s really as far as work chats should go. Traffic, weather, attendance and job related seem fine, everything else seems out of place to me.

      1. angyanon*

        Ha, I wish I worked somewhere where wishing each other luck on certification exams was an okay use of the work chat. Our pet-pics-and-holiday-wishes crowd acts like spending time on eww, certification exams means you’re some soulless work robot.

    6. Beth*

      This seems really reasonable to me. I wouldn’t want to be part of a really chatty work groupchat, where people are venting about work or scheduling social plans or sharing a lot of memes and pet pics and things. Those can be lovely things, but I don’t want notifications on my personal phone about them. But I’d be part of a groupchat like this, where there’s a very practical reason for it to exist and it’s left quiet in other circumstances. And I wouldn’t call a chattier group ‘toxic’ just for having a group chat–people are allowed to have different preferences! I’d only be concerned if there was a lot of drama over me opting out of the chat.

      1. AnReAr*

        Same, even though my (tiny) department’s definition of work related is pretty wide. We’ve used it to ask work questions, notify of things that will affect other shifts, events our intern is participating in if we want to support them or wish them luck (we work closely with students and schools from the community so it’s a little expected to attend some of their public events even if our intern isn’t involved), and once when a new local shop semi-related to our work opened up. But we really only use it once or twice a month at most. I’d say we’re all work friends but definitely not out of work friends so it’s the right amount of group texting to me.

        Honestly the daily affirmations alone are a yellow flag for me, but I’m extremely introverted and those always make me feel like I’m being pressured to do some performative cheerfulness back. Even without my knee jerk reaction to positive affirmations a daily text that isn’t work related (in the main work group chat, not an opt in one made for the purpose of non work stuff) still feels boundary pushing.

    7. Spero*

      Seconding that my team of 5 also has a group chat which is used almost exclusively for traffic issues and when I need to let my team I have an unexpected sick day! Also when we have off site lunch or something like that, because one of us always manages to get lost!

    8. Glitsy Gus*

      Same. Also at jobs where folks often have reasons to be away from their desks, it’s easier to just text the team, “On the third floor, may be 5 minutes late to X meeting.” or “Donuts in the breakroom!” Slack has replaced this in my current job, but our team channel is, effectively, a group text.

      I have had the toxic version too, but I agree it isn’t an innate red flag.

  2. Alton Brown's Evil Twin*

    Is a group text chain on personal phone numbers inherently different from a private Slack group? Is there an extra sneakiness or we-don’t-trust-IT element?

    1. Allegra*

      I can think of situations where a group text would have been useful in workplaces that didn’t have Slack (independent retail), or where a text would be seen when a Slack wouldn’t (like saying not to come in because the building’s heating is out) because I don’t get Slack notifications when it’s not my active work hours.

      1. Jessen*

        At my job it’s done over the phone because it’s often used for things like “hey my internet just went out” or “kid threw up this morning, I’m at the doctors someone please tell the boss I won’t be in.” It’s not usual to have access to Teams (what our workplace uses) on your phone, so people can’t send or receive messages unless they log into their work laptop.

        1. PlainJane*

          Our group text is like this as well. We aren’t supposed to have Teams on our personal phones for security and union/hourly reasons, so the group text is mostly “hey my Internet went down” or “anyone else having VPN problems this morning?” We also use it when we’re traveling to our central admin location or meeting up somewhere. We mostly work remote and it’s just one more way to keep in touch.
          To the LW, I actually think it’s a good sign they added you right away, because it means you’ll be included in the next important or timely messages.

    2. Not Tom, Just Petty*

      I don’t think it is inherently different. I think they are both prone to the same toxic “clique” dynamic that OP fears for her moms. I think that people who will create a clique slack channel will not think, “We should move this to private cells because of IT.” They will think that their
      “private Slack channel” is very much their kingdom to rule. It just goes with the self centered, oblivious, hegemonic workplace clique that these people create.
      People can have functional private group cell chats. People can have functional private work Slack channels.
      I don’t think it’s causation v correlation. Private group chats don’t make toxic workplaces. Crappy people make toxic workplaces. Crappy people use private chat software to be crappy, but that is not the chat’s fault.

    3. Strive to Excel*

      At a guess, there’s crossover between workplaces with personal group chats and those workplaces without significant IT and device resources. I don’t have a work phone and am not expected to do work on my personal device, but my manager has my personal number for things like “power is out, no point in coming into the office today” or “an RV has broken down on the access road to work”. It’s useful to have a non-laptop means of communication.

    4. atalanta0jess*

      OH, 100%. There’s also the “I’m about to say something that would be BAD to put in the wrong teams thread.” That’s the main reason I ever switch to texting a coworker instead of teamsing them.

    5. Bibliothecarial*

      We aren’t allowed to access our work Slack off the clock or out of the building, so we have a group text for 2 very important subjects. 1, if there is a snow emergency so we are closed/reducing hours. 2, if the boss is buying breakfast :). For everything else we use the official channels.

    6. fhqwhgads*

      If everyone has slack on their phone, I’d say nope, not inherently different at all. But then it’d be an odd choice to go with text instead of slack. If the reason it’s text on private numbers instead of slack is because not everyone puts slack on their phone, then it is different – and more invasive – even if there is no sneakiness or get-around-IT-intentionally-not-work-platforms.

    7. Insert Clever Name Here*

      If I want to send a Teams message to my coworkers, I have to log in using 2FA and for my coworkers to get the notification, they also have to be logged in. Unless I’m already logged in (which I only am during the workday if I’ve already used Teams that day on my phone, which I don’t every day), it’s faster for me to send a group text. Usually that’s to everyone’s work cell though.

    8. Beth*

      It’s probably better for commute alerts, since a lot of people’s CarPlay (or whatever the android system is) will read texts out but won’t pick up slack messages.

    9. Lizcase*

      yes. very much so to me. anywhere that immediately expects me to be using my personal phone for work is suspect in a way that having a private slack on the company workspace is not. especially when there is no expectation to read or respond to slack during one’s off hours.

  3. nerak*

    IDK if it’s a red flag, but I’d be muting that chat pretty much immediately if I felt like I couldn’t leave it without causing a stir. The notifications on group chats on my phone drive me nuts (even on vibrate), and I prefer to go back through them and see if there’s anything “important” when I have a minute instead of having my phone blow up with constant vibration notifications.

    1. Spider Plant Mom*

      It was a glorious day when notification settings allowed me to set specific conversations or groups to notify on Silent regardless of my overall phone setting. I can still see the preview in the notification panel but I’m not constantly distracted by a vibrating phone when others are going off on some tangent.

      1. Ally McBeal*

        Amen. Sometimes my book club chat blows up while I’m at work, and I love my friends but I can’t be distracted like that, so they go on mute until I get home in the evenings.

    2. Fluffy Fish*

      Yeah a couple times a colleague has tried to start a group chat on personal phones. I like everyone I work with but in the nicest of possible ways, when I’m not at work I really don’t want to talk to you.

      But that’s me and I know not everyone draws hard lines between work and personal.

      Not a red flag, just not for me.

      I would say that if not being able to leave without causing a stir would be a red flag. But in that case its not the groups chats existence, its the reaction that would be the red flag.

    3. BethDH*

      Ours gets used about once a month, but I really wish you could turn off notifications for reactions to texts. I don’t need a bunch of buzzing as people confirm they saw a notice. People are great about the text part and only text absolutely essential and time sensitive things but then I get alerts for thumbs-up responses.

      1. juliebulie*

        Yes. It actually took me a while to figure out what was happening. “I don’t see anything new!” Oh but there is a tiny thumbs-up next to my last text. Didn’t need to know that.

    1. Slow Gin Lizz*

      Yup. This is very much a “your mileage may vary” type of thing. A work group text chain being a flag is along the same lines as “what you can read from communication with a job prospect when you are looking for a job” – that is, anything can mean anything and what it actually means depends entirely on the situation.

  5. I WORKED on a Hellmouth*

    My new job has a group text! I’m not crazy about it, but it’s pretty inoffensive. It’s mostly just an endless round of “good morning!” (our start times are staggered, which is why I’m not crazy about it–I don’t wanna think about work before I have to be there, but it’s not a huge aggravation or anything) and sometimes bland pleasantries or weather complaints at the start of the day, but otherwise it only gets used if someone is out in the field and has a question or needs assistance with something. It’s pretty innocuous.

    1. Sloanicota*

      I *hated* when my old office started a text chat because we already had email and slack – it’s like, how many different places do you want me to check for messages when I’m joining a meeting and nobody else is on? (this is why they call me a geriatric millennial, lol).

      1. Sloanicota*

        However, it did make more sense once I realized all my coworkers were using slack and email on their phones anyway. So they were looking at one device, whereas I was stepping away from my laptop to go look at my phone in my purse. And the reason I keep my phone in my purse is my dumb*ss friends already text me all day haha.

        2. I WORKED on a Hellmouth*

          Ha! The hallmark of geriatric millennials–we don’t want to answer the phone OR check our texts, lol.

    2. Elizabeth West*

      I don’t really like having work peeps on my personal phone. Bosses are always in my contacts just in case I can’t make it in for some reason (or I can’t log in), and they’re usually in my Emergency contacts group in case of sudden onset hit-by-a-bus syndrome. I’ve never really been buddy-buddy with any coworkers. If we friend each other on social media, it’s usually after both of us have left the job.

  6. Duke Flapjack*

    My company has a service tech chat but that pretty much consists of our dispatcher and manager asking if anybody can take an emergency service call. That’s a *little* different than here I think.

  7. Correlation is not causation*

    I don’t think this is a red flag. We have a team chat that is pretty much used for ‘I’m starting at a meeting so I’ll be in at…’ or ‘kids are sick, I’m working from home if you need me’

    There is occasional social talk, but mostly it’s used to keep track of each other, and it’s very useful.

    That said – when I started I was asked if I would like to be on the text chat, I wasn’t automatically added, that might be the difference.

    1. FricketyFrack*

      This is exactly how ours functions. There are only 5 of us, so it doesn’t get too out of hand, and if they’re chatting in the evening and I mute it because I go to bed early, no one is upset by that. I would hate if we didn’t have a group chat, tbh, because it would be a lot more of a hassle to communicate via email or in individual texts when everyone pretty much needs to be aware of what the others are up to.

    2. Allonge*

      This – we have ‘I am having trouble connecting to the meeting’, ‘I have a thing in the morning, will be in later than usual’ and the emergency-style ‘is VPN acting up for everyone?’.

      Also we have a Eurovision live comment. That’s fun.

      Totally independent of this, my manager is Toxic TM. The text group predates her and please all that is holy will outlast her.

      1. Longtime Reader*

        Same. I work at a smallish nonprofit (14 staff) and we share the building with three other orgs. We dont use slack or teams so stuff like “ ED is running late, push staff mtg by 15 mins” or “internet is down” make sense on text for us.

    3. flora_poste*

      We have a team chat for the three of us in the same office, and a team chat with the three of us plus the other team member who works in a different location. Same as you, they’re mostly used for coordination, info-sharing, occasional social. Not mandatory, but I literally cannot imagine doing my job without these communication channels.

      I work a lot with external partners working the same role on various issues, so am in about 20 other group chats about the various issues (again for coordination/info-sharing. Pretty much never social). Again, not mandatory, but make my work so much easier.

      And I’m on group chats with various combinations of these people for more purely social purposes – organising drinks after a touch joint meeting, or to share something funny/intresting related to a conversation a few of us had. These ebb and flow. Very very much not mandatory, and the combinations shift quite often, but for the most part all add some joy and comradery to a tough job.

  8. Jennifer Strange*

    I have no problem with group chat (though if every morning is inundated with “Good morning” greetings that would be annoying, but not toxic). Depending on the job, having a text chat can be helpful (for example, when I worked in fundraising being able to ping someone quickly was really important). That said, I would hope any group chat that is more social than work is confined to slack or something similar, not their phone.

    1. Jennifer Strange*

      I should add: even if it’s for work information, unless it’s something you may need to be able to access on the move, something like slack would still be a better choice.

    2. Beth*

      My very small (under 10 people) firm has a group chat on Teams, which is VERY useful. We also occasionally use group texts, sparingly, without anything awful so far. I value both and am very glad that all my co-workers seem to have good boundaries on the use.

      We’re in south Florida, and part of our hurricane response policy is that we all HAVE to have the ability to reach everyone by cell phone text — if the weather hits the fan, we have to tell everyone NOT to come to the office, stay home, stay safe, work normal hours remotely as feasible if you have power and internet, and check in occasionally so we know you’re safe. This is part of our Business Continuity Plan. It works, largely because nobody abuses it.

      1. UKDancer*

        Yes we have a Teams chat for our team of people in the company. It’s mainly work, people talking about meetings etc. There’s a separate chat for social issues which is more “I’ve been to Tenerife and brought in cake” and “I’ve forgotten my phone charger, can anyone lend me one” type messages.

        We have a text group but it’s not really used much. It’s mainly in case there’s an issue such as a major incident bringing the IT system down or something like a major terrorist incident (like the 7/7 bombings). It’s part of the contingency plans we have in place but it’s barely used. People prefer the Teams chat every time.

  9. Working Girl*

    I have to disagree. I think communication should take place through official channels such as company e-mail or Slack channels. Group chats leave people out, gang up on certain people, etc. Not necessarily a red flag, but very difficult to work in an environment where people are referencing things discussed in a group chat that you’re not a part of. It’s esp. difficult when a manager is the ring leader. I think group chats are unprofessional and have destroyed the workplace.

    1. Jennifer Strange*

      It sounds like in this case everyone is added automatically, so no one is being left out. In terms of leaving people out, ganging up on certain people, and referencing discussed in a chat others weren’t a part of, these things have existed since long before group chats. Even today, those things can exist in email and slack channels (the two “official channels” you say communication should take place through).

      1. Landry*

        Yeah, it’s pretty easy to send emails only to certain people and get a chain going, or create invitation-only Slack channels for a certain handful.

    2. I'm just here for the cats!!*

      But what about if you are not ON those channels. having a group text for things like emergencies or last minute changes is good. Not everyone has their email or slack/teams on their phones.
      Take for example if the office building is unexpectedly closed so everyone has to pivot (do you work from home if you can? Do employees get the day off, etc). If someone is traveling an hour into the office and then gets there only to find out they got an email saying to stay home because theirs a water main leak and the building is closed. Well that employee is going to be angry that all they got was an email. There’s other times a text can be more useful than other means. For example, if part of the team works elsewhere and theres last minute change, it could be helpful to send a text, especially if they are unable to check their emails.
      It’s only a red flag if the chats are excessive with lots of good mornings, etc.

      1. Landry*

        Yeah, my team has a group chat but it’s used sparingly, usually just people checking in after a weather disaster which might hamper internet and other communications, a surprise office closure, etc.

        I do know that some other folks in my department have ongoing Teams chats that are limited to maybe three or four people. From what I’ve heard, they are pretty gossipy, although the participants like to frame it as more of a moral support type of thing. It’s a little cliquish but I don’t think it’s affecting anybody’s work or anything.

      2. Festively Dressed Earl*

        At my last job we were explicitly NOT supposed to access Teams from our personal phones.

      3. anonymous anteater*

        Yeah, for us texting is mainly used when you have to reach someone who isn’t at their computer, including people who don’t have office jobs and don’t check their email that much. And it’s easier with some more senior colleagues who are good with text, but can’t figure out slack/chat (and that’s totally fine because they bring other things to the table), and don’t have it on their phone anyway. On the other hand, their cell phone is often a company device, so not an issue of circumventing anything.

      4. PP*

        Um, just sent emails to people’s work address, with a subject line that communicates the real urgency and topic.

        2. New Jack Karyn*

          I don’t have work email on my phone, and I do sometimes need to connect with my coworkers when I’m away from my desk.

      5. Michael*

        I work in an industry where having professional apps on your personal phone is totally forbidden fort security reasons. We have a WhatsApp chat for our team that’s used if there’s something to communicate outside of work hours. Usually it’s about traffic, or who’s buying the milk for the office. Or sometimes it’s a happy birthday message.

        We are specifically NOT allowed to contact each other about work problems on evenings and weekends. The managers are very strict at enforcing that, both for security and work/life balance reasons.

    3. Ellis Bell*

      There’s definitely an argument for leaving communication on official channels only, but I think it depends on context and usage. I’ve seen it be both disastrous and essential, even within the same workplace. So, I am in a healthy workplace group chat that is used very professionally, is actually more inclusive and considerate than email, and messaging only happens during the workday. (A team of teachers and TAs who have to contact each other across the building in real-time, and a lot of the TAs don’t want to download emails onto their phone because senior leaders email people around the clock). Every now and then you’ll get something more social, like “Have a great break, everyone!” In contrast, the canteen staff just had their group chat shut down by the headteacher because it was horribly NSFW, messages at all hours, and the lines got very blurred. They also don’t need a messaging system because they’re all in one location within earshot of each other.

    5. old curmudgeon*

      I don’t own (or want) a cell phone. If my employer suddenly started requiring people to participate in group text chats on personal cell phones, I’d either be out of the loop or out of a job.

    6. Mark This Confidential And Leave It Laying Around*

      I work in a place where there are reporting and FOIA considerations, so I won’t let anyone text me on my personal phone. Because if Legal wants my work phone, fine, no problem, I got to tech and request another one. But my personal phone? Oh hell no. So we can all say good morning?

    7. Fructose*

      100% with you on this – these groups *can* be exclusionary and cause more harm than good in the long run. I think it’s one of those kinda grey areas at the moment because it’s a fairly new thing and on personal cells but I wouldn’t be surprised if down the line some kind of HR policy about groups like this. It sounds heavy-handed and I hate that you have to legislate every little thing these days but I’ve left a job before because I was consistently excluded from these group chats. On a human level I get it that maybe they don’t want to include everyone, and maybe they shouldn’t have to, but you do you quickly descend into mean girls territory when certain people or types of people are excluded from these groups. At least if it’s on Slack or work cell phones there’s some element of professional standards and responsibility to include.

    8. SMP*

      There is a personal group chat for my team at work. I am not included. This is good because I suspect it is mainly used to complain about our work and other team members. I don’t want to be part of that.

    9. Cheap Ass Hellmouth*

      That’s a little dramatic. My team has a group chat, started by the program director, precisely to communicate with us when we *don’t* have our work devices–the office is closed for weather, etc. That’s about it, and it hasn’t destroyed our workplace yet.

    10. PP*

      Yeah, I think that’s overstepping to do that on one’s cell phone. Rather they should just email the new employee at their official work email, with information on official Slack or similar channels — not phone text string!!! – – and include for each what they are, who is part of them, what their purpose it.

  10. LadyAmalthea*

    We had one that was most active during Covid Work From Home measures and it was kind of handy. Some chat of the light, pleasant office chat variety, and a lot of checking to see if everyone else was also having IT issues.

    1. I WORKED on a Hellmouth*

      Yeah, I’m pretty sure my new office’s group text is a holdover from when Covid kept everyone in the unit home. I think it just never stopped being used.

  11. Retail Dalliance*

    When I taught 6th grade, our team had a group chat (I was the history teacher, there was math, science, english etc) and we mostly used it to share hilarious anecdotes about the kids. Best use of the group chat was when a particularly unhinged student sent an email to the science teacher that simply said “prepare your ASS!!!!!!” I think I had tears streaming down my face hahaha

      1. New Jack Karyn*

        This really depends on the kid. 999 times out of a thousand, it’s just a tween being extra.

  12. Samoth*

    The team I’m on has a group text as well, happy to report that there’s no issues here. It’s mostly used for when someone has an internet outage (we all are WFH), and occasionally when someone has a cute baby picture or pet picture or vacation pictures or something they’ll use that to share them to the team at large.

    1. Random Tech Worker*

      Where I live there have been a number of weather related power outages over the last few months and a group text would’ve been very helpful in those situations.

  13. Nix*

    I have several group chats at work, but I’m a teacher, so we can’t be planning happy hours over official channels. And sometimes I need to get info to my department quickly; I think it’s about being minimal about using it

  14. Lady Lessa*

    We have a group text, but the 3 of us use it mainly for keeping us on the same page about absences, delays etc.

    I find it very convenient to find out if some is going to be late while I am driving in. (Phone blue toothed to car, which will read the message to me.)

  15. Sloanicota*

    I would actually take this as a red flag unless it was clear why we couldn’t use slack/gchat/teams/some professional version of this. Why private texts? Why my cell phone, a non-work-device? Is it a field job or a job where a lot of people are away from their desks? It’s just asking people to blur the lines by sending memes or other stuff, probably outside of work.

    1. Caramel & Cheddar*

      This is where I’m landing. I know there are lots of workplaces where staff don’t have access to apps like that, so a text-based group might make sense (e.g. a restaurant where the kitchen staff uses WhatsApp) but if we all sit in front of a computer all day, put all your chat stuff on Teams. I don’t want this kind of thing in my texts.

    2. Mid*

      I’d say yellow flag at minimum. Does it mean people have boundary issues? That the company isn’t investing in proper technology to communicate? That people don’t trust management not to snoop on their chats?

      My workplace has lots of different group chats…all on our office messaging program. Some have more personal, friendly chatter on them. You can access it from your phone if you want. I don’t think anyone but HR has my cell number. I have a work number that forwards to my personal phone if needed. I also *hate* group texts with a burning passion, especially since reacting to messages became a thing (because if the group chat is mixed iPhone/Android, all message reactions become texts in the chat.)

      But yeah, while I like my coworkers, we aren’t really friends, and I don’t really want personal texts from them. Work related chats stay on work programs.

    3. pennyforum*

      My office in incredibly tight on outside tech connecting to our network, like you can’t log in to outlook emails from an unauthorised (non-company) device tight.

      We have a group whatsapp for our 4 person department entirely used to advise wifi/electricity issues preventing us logging in when wfh and a separate one shared with 2 other departments managed by our grandboss for comms on issues when work networks are down or the office is closed for H&S reasons.

      But the office culture is very get in, get paid, get out, in general.

    4. juliebulie*

      A lot of professionals (I don’t know what proportion) would never, ever send memes to a coworker on any platform. Or perhaps I’ve just been extremely lucky. I would definitely have to nope out immediately, because memes really annoy me, perhaps out of proportion to how much they should.

      1. Don’t text and drive*

        “memes really annoy me, perhaps out of proportion to how much they should.”

        Sounds about right

    5. Joron Twiner*

      I don’t think it’s inherently bad for workers to have a means of communication that can’t be easily/legally accessed by their bosses or HR. If your team is spread out geographically or some are remote, so in person conversations are harder, and you want to discuss things like working conditions, it makes sense to not put that in a channel that can be searched by the company.

      It could also be a way for you to network or ask for references after leaving the company without relying on LinkedIn or remembering to collect people’s personal emails when you leave.

      1. Pepper*

        If people want some possible real privacy and electronic security, then they need do actual research for options.

  16. Tea Monk*

    We have a group text for our team but I mute it on weekends because I don’t care about paperwork during Sunday dinner. I think our boss finds it easier to text ” we all need to go to the Alpaca training” once instead of 5 times.

  17. ER*

    I have a group chat with my coworkers that we call NMA: No Managers Allowed. We are all women; management is all men. The group chat is a lifesaver sometimes.

    1. Sloanicota*

      This comment kind of makes me feel like the need for a group chat is indeed a red flag for the org!

      1. ER*

        I don’t disagree but I promise that generally, this particular team is actually pretty great. The overall company…. not as great.

  18. OrdinaryJoe*

    No flag in and of itself… We have a group chat and it’s primarily used as an FYI tool like others have said … appointments/in late, problem in the office like no internet (we have people rolling in several hours apart), reminders about stuff. Some of it is social for sure (here’s my new puppy we just picked up! sort of thing) but it never seems offensive and no pressure to participate.

  19. ICodeForFood*

    I was on a team that was in multiple geographic locations, and we had a group text chate for when the Florida location was working from home (or not able to work) because of a hurricane. I don’t see it as a red flag, especially if the other team members are using their phones for email and Slack…

    2. Beth*

      My tiny firm in south Florida has a group Teams chat for ordinary needs. Our hurricane response plan requires use of group texting, because that’s been more reliable than any other platform. Mostly, it’s so we can tell everyone “Do NOT come in, stay home, stay safe, keep in touch.”

      Worst case scenario, we’d have to coordinate work in a dispersed environment — only happend once in the last 20 years, but we’re required to have a Business Continuity Plan and that’s part of it.

  20. Baroness Karnstein*

    My team has two group chats: one for work discussion on our work phones, and one for things like “I’m going to be late today” or “my ISP is down” where I use my personal phone. Socializing happens face to face when it happens.

    My workplace is for sure dysfunctional but this isn’t the dysfunctional part.

  21. Viki*

    The work to personal number group chat (WhatsApp) is usually only utilized by people who are runners. Somehow several years back someone dared a VP to run a 5k, and it just became a thing that our company has a 5k sign up in the spring, and a group chat was formed for carpooling to the race and also some training.

    As it is, the chat usually gets a burst of activity in February and then sporadic training updates until May when everyone is using it to car pool and then photos of the race and then dead silent until the next February.

    People have added their spouses who are also running the 5K, so it’s become more of a running group chat over time.

    There might be more toxic group chats, but the only one I’m in, is just the 5K one

  22. username*

    My shoulders automatically scrunch up to my ears thinking about being added to a group chat. It’s fine if it really is just to communicate information about snow days and so on, but it’s so easy for these things to develop a culture where it’s socially mandatory to say ‘hello’ every morning, react to everyone’s photos, lol at jokes. As an introvert who is really, really bad at multitasking I dread extra little social obligations that pull me away from work, even though I know some people find it easy and positive. It would be great if the chat could be there for chatty people and not for others, but there’s such a strong likelihood that either a) there is *sometimes* important information in the chat and b) people who don’t participate in this particular form of sociability get left out in other ways or stigmatized as rude and standoffish.

  23. Dr. Vibrissae*

    We don’t have a group chat, but I agree they are no more inherently problematic than other group communications (eg Slack). It would be helpful, and probably enlightening to simply ask what the chat is used for.

    For instance, some of my coworkers can text me outside my office hours of there are problems I might need to deal with. I don’t typically check email on the weekends, but part of our business does operate on the weekends and there can be time sensitive issues the team might need advice or help with. A text chain in a small group can be very useful for that.

  24. Unauthorized Plants*

    The only time I’ve ever messaged people I supervise or work with outside of work channels was to inform anyone who hadn’t checked work channels over the weekend for a Monday weather-related closure: the opt-in alert we should have gotten on our personal devices didn’t go out and there’s zero expectation to be monitoring communications outside of scheduled hours/heavy encouragement not to do so. But my org skews toward pretty formal vibes for office interaction (not a complaint in any way!).

  25. sambal*

    My text inbox is my safe space. Friends, family, and colleagues *only* if I’m talking about something I don’t want my employer to see. If you start a work group text, you better be serving up some tea or else I’m muting it and never checking it ever again.

  26. Zee*

    My last job had a group text chat. It was 90% people saying they were gonna be out sick or running late, or warning people about traffic or office conditions (e.g. “I just got here and the heat is broken, if you haven’t left already just wfh”). The other 10% was stuff like venting about a decision by higher-ups that we didn’t want on the record in our work-monitored IM system.

  27. Dust Bunny*

    We have a department Teams chat (I guess it’s a chat?) that we basically use for stuff that is less important than email: “I’m in an Zoom meeting until noon”; “I’ll take the recycling bin out before I leave so if you need to put anything in it, do it before 4:00”; “My allergies are killing me today so I’m going to close my office door so y’all don’t have to listen to me cough, but feel free to come in”. That kind of thing. It gets used more or less daily but not constantly.

    We don’t respond to stuff after hours. The only time I have group-texted is if there is a possible obstacle to people getting home, such as flooding on a major road (we’re in an area where it can rain heavily)–“Don’t go up Cambridge. It’s flooded over the curb and full of stranded cars.”

    1. Dust Bunny*

      I just checked: The last message on ours was yesterday at 10:00 in the morning. Not much going on today, I guess.

  28. Not The Earliest Bird*

    We have a group text to see who wants to go out for lunch, and to remind people not to block the dumpster on Thursdays. Also used for mundane reminders like “Ms R from corporate will be in house on Tuesday” or “The Fire Inspector will be here on Wednesday and will be testing the alarms, don’t be alarmed.”

    1. WFH4VR*

      If I got work-related texts like this on my personal phone, I’d block it so fast people’s heads would spin.

  29. Key(board)master*

    Back when I worked in the space launch business, we had a group chat for everyone in our department, because for overnight or weekend launches we’d have some people on site before others, and if launch time changed, or launch was delayed or canceled, it was a good way to let everyone know ASAP before they, like, downed a cup of coffee at 11 p.m. or got on the road to come in or something.

    But in my smaller group (a subset of the larger group) we had a group chat just for bellyaching, or saying hello, or sharing memes, or whatever. It was just a few of us and we were a tight group. in fact we have all left that workplace but the group chat lives on. :)

  30. Generic Name*

    I work in a department with a lot of new grads. Two of them are roomates. I would be shocked if there WASN’T a group text amongst them.

  31. Feen*

    Did they just add you without even checking with you first? That’s kind of rude and presumptuous… what if you had a pay-as-you-go phone where each text costs you? Or you simply don’t need/want to be in constant contact with your coworkers? That would really annoy me.

  32. Yes And*

    My team has a channel in our company IM system. We use it mostly to communicate work things that everyone needs to know. Outside of work hours, we use it to communicate things that impact work – Jane is sick and won’t be in today, Fergus needs to work from home to meet the plumber, that sort of thing. I find it really useful and nontoxic. I think that tools are tools, and they can be used for good or evil.

  33. Sybil Writes*

    The one thing I would see as a red flag and a privacy violation would be if my personal phone number was added to a group text without my express permission. It is not OK for a company to provide one employee’s personal contact information to anyone, including other employees without permission. Full Stop. Group chats used for unofficial communication should be opt-in, not assumed. Groups used for official communication should not use personal devices without permission.
    Workplace violence is a real concern

    2. juliebulie*

      I agree with this. It really needs to be an opt-in thing where you should have to personally provide your phone number if you want to be included.

      But the red flag for me would be that my personal cell number was made available to others, for any reason, before my consent. If someone says, “do you want to join our text chat which is used in limited circumstances and not for pictures of people’s puppies” I would say yes. If I said “haha we’re texting all day long” I would say no thank you please and thanks.

  34. Recently Promoted Cog*

    Doesn’t sound so different from the group Teams chat where we all check in every morning. Our team is hybrid with different in-office days AND supports field associates whose “office” is their car on the way to a field presentation or meeting, so group chat is basically the water cooler or copy room, as far as checking in on who is in the building, who is free to grab a task that has come up, etc. The difference is that Teams is a work product so everyone is on work-appropriate behavior, I guess?
    In our case, its a good thing. It gives us that feeling of connectedness when we’re all in separate rooms trying to get pieces of the same thing done. But I’ve never seen it used for catty or cliquey stuff (maybe that’s happening on a WhatsApp I haven’t been invited to? LOL!)

  35. mango chiffon*

    If people are organizing at a workplace, that’s a very good reason to have a group chat outside of work accounts.

  36. DoomScroller*

    We have two group chats:
    1. When one of us is on call and gets a highly specific question, we ask it in that chat. No one is obligated to answer in their free time, but it sometimes helping someone out beats doom scrolling on your phone.
    2. One is for our team specifically and is filled to the brim with pet pictures or a raised glass from a holiday destination (even if it is your own back yard).

  37. Red Reader the Adulting Fairy*

    My team (which is a new team, we all joined from elsewhere in the org at the same time) has a group chat that we set up when we were all traveling for training, and used for things like “I’m going to take the hotel shuttle to (wherever) for dinner around 6 if anyone wants to go” or “the pub across the street is doing trivia at 7 if anyone is interested.” Since training ended, it’s been pretty silent.

  38. NotmyUsualName*

    My small team in a mid size org has both a text thread (started pre-Covid) and a slack channel (covid and on)

    The slack channel is a mix of work and personal but is used exclusively during business hours

    The text chat is exclusively personal stuff, not overused nobody gets upset if people don’t respond. And rarely used during working hours.

    It is not a red flag that it exists, it is a flag based on how it gets used.

  39. Anon1*

    Not inherently a red flag. I work in events. Our small team within a larger office has a group text that we use occasionally for important updates outside of normal hours. Mostly benign stuff like casual day reminders and our manager asking our Starbucks orders on days we have to come in early for events. We add new team members right away, so we have an easy way to be in touch with anything urgent.

    1. Uncle Waldo*

      Same. When I worked events —especially outdoor events — it was how we communicated. The team was too large for everyone to get a walkie-talkie, and the spaces were often huge (think multiple parts of a botanical garden).

      Now, I work in a remote administrative team that travels a few times a year. We use a group chat to coordinate travel arrangements or inform each other when our internet is out.

  40. The Dude Abides*

    I have a group chat with my team – came in handy when I was 2.5 hours late coming back from lunch due to needing six stitches in my face.

    It’s mostly used for keeping everyone apprised of a situation when the communicator is not at work (we don’t have work phones, and WFH is only sparingly permitted).

  41. EA*

    This question made me reflect that the word toxic is so overused that it’s almost meaningless. I don’t see how a group chat could be “toxic” or a red flag just by existing, especially if no one is forced to use it.

  42. Nowwhat465*

    Higher ed chiming in. Group text was used for the following reasons:

    1. For event weekends where we didn’t have our laptops on us and we were all different places on campus. This was faster than Teams as it didn’t require us digging for that app.
    2. Boss was getting donuts and wanted to know what flavors we wanted.
    3. There was free food somewhere on campus.
    4. There was a petting zoo somewhere on campus.

    The chat was not used outside of these instances.

  43. Rotating Username*

    As far as the lead-off question goes:

    “Do you think it’s a red flag when a team in a smaller company immediately drops you into a group text on your personal phone upon hiring?”

    To me, that’s an unequivocal yes, that’s a red flag. An immediate blurring of personal and work boundaries without asking is a bright red flag.

    Group chats in general, plus all the other caveats–sure, not automatically a red flag. But sticking to that question, absolutely.

    1. Zona the Great*

      On the simple fact that only I decide who has my personal cell phone, it would be an orange flag for me.

    3. juliebulie*

      As long as I am agreeing, and giving them my number, that’s fine. But if they get my number from HR or something and add me without asking, that’s gonna piss me off.

      Slightly off topic: Long, long ago (1989, a much more casual time) I was a new employee and my boss gave my phone number to a guy I’d barely had a glance at (like from across the room). I didn’t know him at all. I was young and nervous, and I was very upset when he called me at home. He invited me to go to a Rolling Stones concert with him (I didn’t even think to ask if he actually had the tickets yet). If you knew my love for Keith Richards, you would realize how freaked out I must have been to say no to this guy. But I was really pissed that my boss gave him my number without even asking.

      My point being, I don’t like anyone getting my phone number without my permission. Even if Keith Richards is involved.

      1. Rotating Username*

        Only slightly off-topic! I agree, it’s the same category of Completely Wrong. What on earth was your boss thinking.

  44. Silver Robin*

    It is really unclear what the purpose of the group chat is. My team is about 90% remote and we are all on Teams. Channels for the team at large, group chats for smaller combinations, and direct messaging for one-on-one. All of those are used for work related topics, including organizational sponsored get togethers, coordinating projects, etc. Nobody is saying good morning or anything like that; nor are people doing much “gossiping” in those chats. At least, my team is not, because I remind them not to put anything they do not want IT/management seeing in official channels.

    There are also informal group chats with personal numbers. They include the union chat (which has an official version on Teams that is rarely used) and work friend chats. Union chat is available to everyone who is in/interested in joining the union. Work friend chats are for coordinating getting together outside of work when a group of us is all in the office on the same day (“we are heading to x at 5, come join!”), sharing the very occasional meme, and issues at work that folks do not want to put in official channels (live commentary about leadership nonsense at town halls, for example). Not everyone on the team is in these chats, but that is because they come into the office on extreme occasion and generally seem less interested in post-work drinks (they say no when we ask, and we eventually stopped asking). These chats are helpful because then we can organize meeting up for dinner or whatever without folks needing to have Teams on their phone; they can actually disconnect from work.

    If a new person joins, they would not get automatically added to work friend group chats but they would be verbally invited to come with if they are also in the office. We have not had anyone new in over a year, so not sure how long it would take to get them in the group chat but I cannot imagine it would go longer than one or two in-person hang outs.

    None of this strikes me as red-flag worthy (or any flag); it is just an effect of being on a team that values friendly relationships (we do emotionally heavy work, it is important to be able to lean on your coworkers). Everyone on the team, regardless of which informal group chat they are in, works well with everyone else and folks feel professionally supported.

  45. KayDeeAye*

    My not-perfect-but-definitely-non-toxic work team does have a group chat. We don’t use it all the time, though. It’s mostly used when we are at a meeting and we therefore know most of us aren’t sitting at our computers, but we sometimes use it to let people know about traffic issues or occasionally if someone is sick. We mostly use Teams for those “Kay is sick today” messages, but sometimes the chat works better if we know people aren’t at their desks. So…not a red flag, at least not an automatic red flag.

  46. DNDL*

    The best small team I ever worked on had a group chat. It contained approximately 10% work chatter (“Gonna be late today; baby puked.” or “Heading to McD’s for lunch, who wants fries?”) and the rest was just cat and kid pics.

    I think a group chat *can* help morale and team building, but it can also go south quickly (or so I’m told).

  47. Prefer my pets*

    My work group (about a dozen people) have a couple different text groups, and we are one of the most supportive, functional, and generally low key work groups in an overall great office so it wouldn’t register as a bad thing for me at all.

    One group chat is, as others have mentioned, something that started during covid. These days it is 90% pictures of pets, top-tier cartoons, travel pictures, and sometimes personal updates when one of is on extended leave for a family emergency. There are both current employees and some people the were part of it originally but have since left the organization. I think most people have it on silent but check it periodically because frankly we all need the support right now!

    Then we have a work-work text group that is purely and exclusively work items when we can’t access our work devices like “I am sick & won’t be in” “my laptop bluescreened & I’m on the way to IT to fix it”, or lately, updates about the latest scary radical policy change so we aren’t surprised when we get to the office.

    The group had been stable for so long, that we did actually add the first new person to the text chain without even thinking about it… he requested he only get work-texts, so he was immediately removed from the personal one. No big deal! And we’ve checked with new people since then (some want to join both, some don’t… no issue either way! and some later decide they want to join the personal one because our pets are darn cute if I do say so myself!)

  48. Tiger Snake*

    I think group chats should be viewed as simply has normal practice in today’s world. WFH is now a part of our norm. You want to encourage a team to banter and forge good dynamics because that’s how we build a strong working relationship. When we’re not all in the same office, group chats are the way that happens.

    A toxic group chat is not super different to a toxic gossip circle in the office. When certain people are whispering and insulting others behind their back, the tool they use to do it isn’t what the problem is.

    1. WFH4VR*

      Fine, but you use a company-provided channel for it, like G chat or Teams or Slack, NOT people’s personal cell phone numbers.

      1. Joron Twiner*

        No, there are good reasons to not want certain conversations (complaining about manager decisions, discussing workplace conditions, comparing salaries) to be on company-searchable channels.

  49. WFH4VR*

    I would never give out my personal phone number to be used for a work-related group chat anything. That’s what the business-sponsored G-chat is for. My personal phone number is for, you know, PERSONAL calls and texts, like the pediatrician or my mother-in-law.

  50. Small Brown Burro*

    My company of 6, including me, uses group chats to communicate about work. We used to use whatsapp, but I hate Meta so now we use group chats instead.

    It’s not problematic at all? Occasionally on a Friday afternoon a gif of a kitten will show up, but otherwise it’s strictly for business communication. *shrug*

    Oh, and I don’t think we’re particularly toxic. We’re not a family, we’re a small business. :D

  51. Chauncy Gardener*

    Oh geez. Group texts or Slacks can be just fine and very normal! It’s a great way to keep in touch.
    Although I have seen it be a reinforcer for toxicity, so I understand your concern for sure.

  52. Sparrow*

    Just to put it out there: having an established group chat on your personal devices also makes it much easier to communicate about any kind of worker rights issue you may not want your bosses to see, whether that’s sharing strategies for dealing with a rude executive, openly discussing your salary and benefits with each other, or even forming a union. Obviously, a group chat can also be formed when those issues arise, but having one already established means that you can have these conversations in a more off-the-cuff way—and that if a major incident happens and you all want to be able to speak about it without attracting suspicion from people above you, you don’t have to figure out a way to discreetly collect everyone’s numbers right then.

  53. Nightengale*

    The issue for me would be whether that is the only way to get crucial work related information. I can only really use a smartphone with an external keyboard, which means I haven’t found texting very accessible. I need work related information to be on e-mail or something else I can access on a computer. If it’s a social function only than I would be fine being left off it.

    1. Purple Tiger*

      If you have an Android and sign in with Google you can get your texts on a computer. I don’t know if there’s an equivalent for Apple but I would be surprised if there wasn’t.

  54. Sam*

    We have them for work to talk about work stuff coordinating schedules, asking for help with someone and birthdays/maybe holiday wishes, it can get overwhelming but be very helpful when people are on different floors and also
    Then everyone knows what’s going on.

  55. Diomedea Exulans*

    It’s generally a sign of a friendly and close-knit team to have a group chat. Wouldn’t read more into it unless there is evidence.

  56. JelloStapler*

    the team I’m on has a group chat, and we don’t use it often but usually just to make each other laugh or share interesting stuff.

  57. soshedances1126*

    Huh, this never would have occurred to me as a red flag. My team has a group text that we mostly use for “running late”, “bad traffic, avoid this route” type of communication. We find that easier for people to receive by text if they’re still driving and not necessarily checking Teams right then. We are a close team in general though and do very passion based work that can have a lot of emotions attached, so we also sometimes text feel good stuff to each other (like success stories) and we’re all cool with that.

  58. Momma Bear*

    Old job used GroupMe. It was a way for everyone to communicate without sharing phone numbers and the manager could control who was in/out of the Group. Since it was manager-controlled, it wasn’t a popularity contest. We were a highly mobile team with people in multiple offices. We used it for more mundane things like “hey, anyone want to grab lunch?” but also “I’m at client site and I can’t access the PPT – help?” This was useful if someone might have their phone but not their laptop. It was also part of the emergency system – you needed to reply to the team chat within a certain timeframe or we’d have to go looking for you. We had a couple of actual emergencies when I worked there, so that was useful.

    True, you could also use Teams or similar, but I guess it depends on the size of the group and what you want to do with it. To me it would be greater transparency to reply to the group vs an individual. I think LW should see how it plays out. Is this really toxic or is this just LW being concerned because of past events? I hope the mom is enjoying her new job.

  59. StephanieF*

    I’m a public library branch manager and we have a group chat for branch staff. The library is open 7 days a week, and we have a mix of full-time and part-time people working different schedules throughout that whole week. We also do not have WFH capability, we don’t use slack, and employees are not required to install work email/Teams on their personal devices. So, if I need to communicate with everyone on a time sensitive matter, the group chat is really the only way to do it.
    People use it to let everyone know they won’t be in (if they called in to work we wouldn’t find out they won’t be in until after we are already open to the public), that they are stuck in traffic/on the bus, but will be in, that the sewer overflowed again, so we’re closed for the day, etc. It’s a lot easier to just text the whole group than to try to remember exactly which of the team are scheduled to work that particular day and only text them.
    Fortunately, I have a good team here, and nobody abuses the group chat.

  60. The Rural Juror*

    I have a colleague who insists on using Teams for everything, which is particularly annoying when we’re traveling (which we do often for site visits). I know that’s not necessarily comparable to what the LW is talking about but I do want to illustrate that there are times where a text/group message is uniquely better than a Teams message. I do not want to open Teams and be flooded with other notifications when I’m just trying to see if your flight has landed. For me, it’s easier to not have to sift through other chatter/little red bubbles if I need a very specific piece of information from the team I’m traveling to meet.

  61. OMG, Bees!*

    One problem I see with the immediately being dumped into a group text is that it is invading personal space. The situation, I assume, is that you give your contact info to HR, who should be the only people to have it (maybe direct manager), and then it is given out to the whole team of whatever group text you are on. Without being asked, as the LW implies.

    Also, I just had group texts where every single message buzzes my phone, that gets muted immediately.

    However, I have always been on some kind of group chat (Teams, Slack, etc) which I feel is fine since it doesn’t have my personal phone number associated with it

  62. GreenApplePie*

    Half of my department is working remotely from different cities so we’d be completely lost without a group chat of some sort. There’s a strictly work related one on Teams and a random chat via text but everyone’s been responsible so the random chat is mostly limited to scheduling outside-of-work hangouts and sharing pet photos.

  63. I Have RBF*

    IMO, it depends on the platform. Something like Slack or Zoom? Expected, almost necessary. It’s how the team coordinates and disseminates information. SMS chat on your personal phone? No, thank you. SMS is more vulnerable to interception by outside actors.

  64. Jen*

    My department (10 people) has a Whatsapp group chat. I know for sure that some people have it muted and that’s fine. It’s just memes, funny videos and occasional pet pics. If we are in the office (a rarity nowadays) we also use it to coordinate meeting up for lunch or coffee. It’s never used for work questions.

    (We also gave the same group chat on Teams, but most of us don’t use Teams on our phones, so we are not reachable when we are away from our desks.)

  65. Sleeplesskj*

    To me it’s just an alternative to using the Slack app. No flags at all. (Until or unless proven otherwise.)

  66. Box of Rain*

    Honestly, I commend whoever added the new person right away. All too often they get left out of things. People wait to see who/how they are before adding them to things they actually need – see comments about traffic stuff, snow closures, etc.

  67. HomerJaySimpson*

    When I was in the Navy, my boss added everyone to a group chat, and if you tried to leave he would add you back in. We were overseas, so our cell phones didn’t work the same, it was a FB messenger chat.
    I deleted my FB account. He gave me a counseling chit (basically a write-up) and sat there watching while I created a new one.
    So imma go with “more likely to be toxic than not”

  68. Yeah nope*

    I’d wonder how they got my phone number. If it was the manager that added me. I’d probably still leave.

    I don’t give personal information to co-workers unless there’s a serious reason. My manager has mine, and 1 other co-worker who I’m the backup for something on a remote site.

    I also would never take any work calls on my personal phone, it’s personal. if they want me to take work calls on it, they provide a phone. They actually did this since I work remote as we have softphones via zoom.

    When I’m done with work, I’m done.

  69. Cari*

    When we went remote at the start of Covid, we began to use Slack as a company. We (department) were offered a slack channel but we’re only 3 people and already had a group chat for “Running late, stopping for lunch, etc.” We didn’t need another comms channel for that. But two of us had worked together for 13 years then and the third about six, so it was established not Day 1.
    That said, I was just told to join a WhatsApp group for an industry advisory Board I’m on and, no. You already over communicate via email and I don’t need you in my push notifications as well.

  70. widget*

    Re: Work group chats – I do in-home caregiving and I’m part of a team of six. We literally never see each other and none of us have met in person as there’s gaps of time between shifts. There are often things that need communicated between us, but we can’t leave notes as this particular client will see them, think we’re gossiping about her, and get very upset. Our group chat is used exclusively for minor updates about our client or things like “I wasn’t able to finish the laundry due to X” so the person coming on next won’t be blind-sided.

    I do think that some group chats can likely get incredibly toxic, but they can also be useful. It all depends on what the boundaries are, I suppose.

  71. TheDoneOne*

    We had a group text at my last job for “communication.” I’d get texts about work issues at 6:19 in the morning up until 8:00 at night. Blood boiling. I was told I could keep it on silent, but I still ended up reading them on my time off. It was one of the reasons I left. There was a better way but it wasn’t used. So now I’m happily gone!

  72. Bike Walk Bake Books*

    If you have a work-provided cell phone and these are work messages I’d ask them to move the messages to that number. Easier to mute, set times you want to check, keep your personal time yours.

    I direct a team of 14 with people in four different geographic locations. We don’t have any group texting in the regular course of events. Our practices and norms are shaped by being in a public agency. If you’re in the kind of work that might be subject to requests for records disclosure or subpoenas the group text could potentially be subject to that so ask around. I use my personal cell for work and receive a small stipend. If I’m subject to a public disclosure request and have done any texting that’s genuinely decision-making or otherwise relevant I’d have to turn my phone over so I never-ever do that. Work texts are strictly brief need-to-know-right-now along the lines of “check email, I need that by 4” if they haven’t acknowledged a Teams or email ping.

    My approach to our use of time is that we each know what works for us and we might individually be working outside normal business hours because we took an extra long lunch or whatever, but we are to have zero expectation that anyone else would be online if we’re sending messages outside those hours and we certainly wouldn’t text each other. If people want to text each other individually or in self-created groups that’s their choice, and for all I know they’ve opted into some of that to organize social outings by geography. Not mine to question or manage.

    We use Teams for work messages, which usually includes “sick kid, I’ll be late” kinds of messages to supervisors. My direct reports will occasionally text me with that kind of thing if they want to be sure I’m aware before the workday starts and that’s fine. Our work isn’t of the kind where someone else has to cover a front desk or drive the truck or what-have-you.

    You’ll know more about whether it’s problematic as you see how it’s used. If it seems to be team-building and social connection then it’s good they welcomed you right away. If it stays work-focused and kept to things that do need pretty prompt attention where they can’t count on everyone being logged into a work app, it’s useful. If it’s random memes and you find it annoying it’s muteworthy but not worth leaving because that would read as hostile.

    One more thought about text groups in general: If your organization has a continuity of operations plan (COOP) then group texts are likely part of it, or they should be. When everything else goes down texts are the last thing that can get through. If someone set that kind of thing up long ago it might have evolved into a social space without people remembering that’s why they have the group now.

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