Employees take pride in making their work area and desk personable; their profile on a company’s intranet or Enterprise Social Network should be the same. An employee intranet profiles tells the story of every individual member of an organization. The larger the company, the more important it is for an employee’s contact information and skills to be easily accessible. Employer-led discussion of the benefits of having a robust user profile is central to getting people to put forth the effort. No one is going to take the time to fill out their user profile if they don’t understand why the information is so critical to company success.
Filling out a profile doesn’t take long, but surprisingly, one of the largest blocks in that process is getting an employee to upload a profile picture. Intranet profile photos can be used effectively in the enterprise to connect the workforce and make people aware of who they are working with at any given time.
Having a profile photo attached to each Enterprise Social Network or intranet profile–
–Encourages familiarity and discourages cold responses. It is always nice to put a name with a face.
–Helps eliminate the silo effect. Having a photo, (especially in larger companies spread across different offices, cities, states, or countries) help provide a sense of identity to a specific department or individual.
–Ensures that people know that they have connected with the right person. In large organizations, it can be easy to accidentally send something to the wrong person, having a face with a name can help reduce the confusion.
Set up parameters and expectations for the profile photo displayed on the company’s enterprise social network or intranet. Creating these guidelines will help reduce the hassle of telling employees their photo is not approved after they upload it and help minimize policing. Some of the common themes we see when companies share for helpful profile photo guidelines can be found on our blog “Guidelines for Employee Intranet Profile”.
Employees are the work engine of a company and their ESN company profiles are a reflection of the culture. The choice to allow informal or fun fields or allow employees to share interests alongside expertise should be measured against your company’s climate and culture. Making sure all the required fields serve a purpose will also encourage people to complete their profiles.
Having a completed profile (including a recent headshot) is vital. Whether you are spread across teams, divided by state lines, or have oceans separating individuals in your organization– being able to put a face with a name and transparently communicate will help your team cohesively collaborate.
