Harris added, “Companies have traditionally had that with email.” Slack’s rolling out its direct message feature didn’t change much, though. “The company may also want to do internal investigations, and through their privacy policies and acceptable use policies, have the right to look at your information.” “The company may have a duty to preserve and produce that information if you’re part of a lawsuit,” explained Brad Harris, vice president of product at Hanzo, a company that provides a third-party, data-preservation app that works in conjunction with Slack, last year. They’re not the only one.įirst off, employers aren’t necessarily going through your messages to snoop on gossip.
Slack Yes, your employer can get to your private messages. Here’s what an initial version of Slack’s direct message function looks like. But just because you’re messaging someone at a different workplace doesn’t mean your boss couldn’t necessarily see the messages you send. The company announced that the feature was expanded again last month, so anyone could send invitations to direct message to other Slack users - even if they work at another workplace (whether users can actually send and accept these invites depends on whether their workplace has put in restrictions). Last year, the company launched a new tool called Slack Connect, which allows different workplaces to share channels on the app.
The number of Slack messages your workplace might be able to access has actually grown as Slack has built out its workplace app. Even your coworkers could find out more about you than you might expect. But the popular messaging platform - which boasted more than 12 million daily active users as of last year - is definitely a promising medium for employers, regulatory agencies, the government, and even hackers seeking a trove of data about a company and its workers. Is Slack good for actually getting your work done? That’s debatable.