Those using Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) in the workplace today will be able to use WhatsApp later this year.
Workplace is the professional version of the social media platform Facebook and has 7 million users today. The main users today are mostly multinationals with a mix of front-line employees and agency employees to conveniently communicate between the two, according to Meta (Facebook’s parent company).
Soon, that communication will be further simplified. Workplace is working to integrate WhatsApp (also Meta) so that employees can post messages and share data over both Workplace and WhatsApp.
Chat messages will be a priority when the feature launches, but Meta is also working on other features including shift swapping to keep the scheduling system up to date with managers.
No exact timeline available
Ujjwall Singh, in charge of Workplace, did not share an exact launch date to TechCrunch for now. “We are still working intensively on the final details of how WhatsApp will work within Workplace,” he said. He said it is important to keep in mind that it is still at its core a consumer app. “We want to launch the integration in a secure way for businesses.”
Meta’s ambition with Workplace has long been to get everywhere within organizations, but that growth has been steady. Initially, the platform was launched as a response to chat client Slack. Over the years, that vision evolved into a platform for closer collaboration. For example, it includes integration with Microsoft Teams for video calls and focuses heavily on employee interaction with and without desks in a PC smartphone tandem.
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