CMb 2009-19
Photos in staff directories
Categorised under: articles, intranets
Photographs can be a very valuable inclusion in a staff directory. They are helpful for putting faces to names, and nowadays in our on-line socially connected world are somewhat expected.
However, talk to any intranet team and you will hear about how difficult it can be in practice to achieve this.
The reality is finding staff in organisations is difficult and in most organisations the staff directory has grown to be business critical.
This article outlines the main arguments for and against photos in staff directories and some tips on how to succeed.
Reasons for including photos
- Useful when matching names to faces, for an upcoming meeting, phone call or email conversation.
- Help new staff to get up to speed on ‘who’s who’ in the organisation, as well as familiarising them with key staff they are likely to interact with regularly.
- Advisable for geographically dispersed organisations where opportunities for face-to-face interaction are limited.
- Provide a subtle opportunity to build more of a sense of community within the organisation. While photographs in the staff directory alone cannot change the corporate culture, it can be part of an overall campaign.
- Staff photographs are definitely one of the building blocks in evolving the staff directory into a more useful ‘connection’ tool where expertise and resources can be shared.
Reasons for not including photos
- Legal or privacy concerns. These concerns can be both perceived and/or real.
- People may be unhappy with the photos used, or uncomfortable having their photo included in the staff directory.
- Photos need to be kept up to date as people age, change hairstyles or grow beards.
Screenshot courtesy of The Guild Group.
Some tips for success
- Most legal and vanity issues can be resolved by having a clear policy that staff photos are included by default, but staff can opt out by request.
- Clear guidelines on what type of photos are appropriate. Otherwise you might end up with people who look like Homer Simpson.
- The best way to get started is to populate the photos as part of a project and then implement a maintenance process (ideally online by the individual staff member)
- Considerable time can be saved by using the photographs collected for security passes, if they are in a usable format. This may not be a straightforward process — one intranet manager had to rename .jpg files for 4000 staff members.
- Avoid internal legal discussions, and instead focus on the advantages such as an internal business resource.
More information
Staff directories are most useful when they provide rich information on staff. Other articles that provide insight into delivering effective staff directories:
- Sources of staff directory information
- Three ways to update the staff directory
- Extend the reach of the staff directory
For even more on this topic, see the best-practice Staff Directories report.
Tags: intranets, photos, staff directories
Catherine Grenfell is the manager and full-time facilitator of our Intranet Leadership Forum. She is also a senior member of the consulting team, with a particular focus on mentoring and supporting intranet teams. 
5 Comments:
IMHO photos are a must. I even disagree with the “opt out” option. It needs to become an accepted part of the culture that everyone gets their photo included because it is so valuable for the business and social connections. Our informal policy is that anyone can get their photo re-taken at any time and this addresses vanity issues.
I also believe that consistency is important. (E.g., B&W, head and top of shoulders, same background, same half profile). Many of our staff photos are also used for external marketing and so they are consistent but it is difficult with the rest.
I concur with Andrew. I’ve always taken the line with our staff that as you work for us, we as an organisation are well within our rights to posses and use images of yourself for any responsible and legal purpose.
Issues of vanity, legality or privacy are a moot point.
We have also employed the ID pass capture method. As photos are supplied for use on authority or identification cards, these are uploaded to the directory. Photos are identified by the users unique network login, the simplest and most common identification method outside of an employee ID within an organisation.
In terms of clear guidelines – there’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. Just grab a copy of the Passports Australia guidelines for photos (https://www.passports.gov.au/Web/requirements/Photos.aspx), and you’re set.
Additionally, we put the responsibility for the photo back on the staff. If we’ve sourced a photo from another location (say ID card production) and they don’t like the photo, then the onus is on them to supply a suitable replacement.
Except for very small organizations, I agree that photos for intranet staff directories are a must. Preparing for an upcoming meeting with people you haven’t met yet is probably the biggest reason in my opinion. Also, especially for very large organizations, you may have multiple people with similar names (even in the same building) so the photo can help make sure you’re communicating with the right person.
“…you work for us, we as an organisation are well within our rights to posses and use images of yourself for any responsible and legal purpose.”
Wow. I’m glad I don’t work for your company.
Giving the option of opting out is a very nice feature, and says a lot about your culture even if you encourage employees not to take advantage of it.
I think it’s about having social and peer pressure on the right side of things. By this I mean:
If you have “opt-in”, then few people will want to be the ones that stand out, and photos don’t take off.
Instead, if you put up photos by default (from the security passes, etc) and offer an “opt-out”, then peer pressure will discourage people from being amongst the few who don’t have a photo.
It is worth having a photo, so it’s worth getting the process right from the outset.