Voice messages at work : a tool for proximity or a drift towards instantaneity ?

Voice messages at work : a tool for proximity or a drift towards instantaneity ?

27 May 2025

They are exchanged at all hours, sometimes between two doors, often between two meetings. Voice messages, long confined to private conversations, are gaining ground in the professional world. And this development is not insignificant: it's shaking up our communication codes, particularly in the most demanding sectors, such as luxury and top-of-the-range hotels.

When voice replaces email

You only have to open LinkedIn or WhatsApp to realise this: some recruiters now send voice messages to contact a candidate, managers leave team feedback in audio messages, and employees react on the spot to a brief or HR information by voice.

Why ?
Because it's fast, it's simple, and we often think that the voice ‘conveys more emotion’. But this trend also has a downside: it destructures, desynchronises, and above all... it leaves few traces and few filters. The content, the form, the tone: everything becomes spontaneous. Sometimes too much so.

Luxury and prestige : more coded communication

In a 5-star establishment or a palace, the choice of words, intonations, even silences, is a matter of protocol. The exchange is carefully thought out and controlled. Can you imagine a hotel manager giving a voice to his VIP client? Or a department head giving HR feedback in person, without a trace ?

In these environments, voice can quickly seem intrusive, even amateurish. It breaks with the logic of discretion, elegance and anticipation that is typical of the sector.

And from an HR point of view, is this a good idea ?

When recruiting, a voice can create a welcome sense of closeness, provided it is used sparingly :

• To confirm an appointment in a more friendly way,
• To reassure people who are changing careers,
• Or to send short, friendly, human feedback,

What it reveals in a nutshell :

The use of voice is a symptom of our relationship with instantaneity : we want to go fast, speak as we think, not waste time writing.
But this personal comfort must not mask the collective need for legibility, respect for the rhythm of others, and sometimes silence. But this personal comfort must not mask the collective need for legibility, respect for the rhythm of others, and sometimes... silence.

In demanding environments, it is precisely this mastery of time and words that makes the difference between efficiency and amateurism, between customer relations and a relationship of trust.