I wouldn't ban any form of technology like this

But I would get my managers to do exactly the same as if I saw colleagues hanging around a water cooler and chatting all day. Manage it!

Get your managers to talk to the individuals and lay down some broad ground rules

In reply to Keith:

Hi Keith
Thankyou for your response. I did wonder if it might be a case of managers not really managing effectively which is an ongoing issue! Back to them I go :)

I agree with Keith - it's a basic management issue, not a problem with the technology.

In reply to Stan:

You'd get the same with emails being sent about personal matters - and back in the old days, folk spending lots of time on the actual speaky-phone to work colleagues so it looked like work business when the bills came in or when a manager came by....

Just to add to the thoughts of others:

1. Judge your staff by their outcomes. If their outcomes are satisfactory, by all means point them towards the time they're wasting on chat apps. But if they're otherwise doing their job, don't stick your oar in. However...

2. Chat apps have one big drawback over classic watercooler chat, which is the loss of non-verbal context. This means that it is far easier to cross a line of politeness and respect in a chat app than it is in person. Remote working generally reduces employee relations risks through the simple medium of keeping people away from each other. But the use of chat apps vastly raises the odds that one person's "banter" will be another person's "bullying"... or worse.

But you have one big advantage in this scenario: by allowing people to chat on Teams and on WhatsApp associated with a company phone, they are chatting in the closest thing there is to a legal "safe space". It's company space, which means they should know that whatever they say could be seen by the company, which ought to act as a control feature. Of course, it doesn't always work that way but, believe me, when employees set up their own, separate chat groups outside the company's control... that's when things rapidly head downhill.

So by encouraging or, at least, not discouraging them to chat on the company's own apps you are, at least, not pushing them onto platforms outside your scrutiny where the worst can (and frequently does) happen.

We use teams too and it's great for keeping in touch with colleagues - and yes chatting sometimes - and also sorting out quick work-related matters, having online meetings and project chats etc. Email seems a lot more formal now. We work hybridly and teams is a vital tool for keeping working relationships going when we aren't necessarily seeing eachother face to face.

Just because you see someone using gifs or sending messages back and forwards doesn't necessarily mean that's a bad thing - employers want us to keep that team spirit going and not be strangers (!) If it is misused or is proven to be way too much of a distraction to getting tasks completed, agree it's a line management and ultimately a performance management conversation.

Ultimately though, one of the key purposes of the tool you've given your people is to chat! To quote the product blurb: 'More is possible with Microsoft Teams · Meet · Call · Collaborate · Chat ·'

Thankyou for all of your responses, it has been interesting to read everyone's viewpoints. Just as an update we have two employees in particular where this has come to a head and it was found on one day last week they were chatting minute by minute from 9am onwards and ignoring requests from Managers to do certain tasks which delayed the rest of the team. They have now had a speaking to by their respective managers about using Teams sensibly and prioritising their workloads. We have no issues with people chatting and we promote a more relaxed work environment, however this was getting to be a bit beyond acceptable.

Thankyou again everyone. Still trying to get the balance right!

It isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If you have received complaints of misuse you could place controls to ensure that conversations are not deletable by employees and make sure that they know it. This way people will keep things more professional. You could introduce a policy around the use of company chat apps and a complaint process.

If you have company-provided communication channels, you could have a reasonable policy against using personal devices at work for valid reasons and limit the use of whats app.

Once you have policies managers can enforce them.