A year or so ago at a Justworks JustWomen event, I heard Kristy Wallace talk about how at

they have a Slackbot that responds anytime someone says “you guys” in a

channel. It is a small thing that nudges people in the direction to be mindful about their word choice and how it might be an indicator of unconscious bias and unintended feminine minimizing.

I decided recently to do the same at at my job. Here is the Slack instructions on how to do it yourself.

This post is not about the debate about whether or not you should stop saying “guys”… this is about how to do it yourself. I’ll leave that discussion to these publications:

The Problem With ‘Hey Guys’

‘Hi guys!’: what’s wrong with this greeting?

Why I’m finally convinced it's time to stop saying "you guys"

Step 1… from the drop down click “Customize Slack”

Step 2… from Customize Your Workspace the tabs click “Slackbot”

Step 3… click “Add new response”

Step 4… add multiple trigger phrases and auto responses

did you mean “everyone” or “team”? https://www.vox.com/2015/6/11/8761227/you-guys-sexism-language
did you mean “you all” or “all of you”? https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/08/guys-gender-neutral/568231/

Step 5… click “Save response”… EASY right?

Step 6… wait and see what happens… as I am right now :)