How Employee Photos Enhance Your Workplace Environment — Reasons Why I Planned an Office Picture Day
Our office had our very first employee photoshoot in May.
Let me tell you, it took rigorous work to plan ahead (from hiring the suitable photographers and writing a project proposal for the shoot), execute the event, and follow up with nearly 100 employees afterwards.
But, boy oh boy, do I feel accomplished as looking at the result (insert the smiling face with sunglasses emoji).
As Talent Acquisition Manager, I am not only in charge of sourcing appropriate candidates for positions and placing them into suitable roles, but also improving our employee onboarding process — I profoundly believe that the hiring process does not end with the candidate accepting their offer letter. It ends when new joiners are successfully onboarded.
Pain points: why was it necessary to plan a photoshoot for the entire organization?
- No consistency: all the employees have set whatever picture as their default picture (their passport pictures, wedding pictures, etc.) on the productivity and collaboration tools (Slack, Google Workspace, Confluence, the list goes on) since there was no guideline.
- Both new and existing employees started to encounter difficulties recognizing each other since we are a fast-growing start-up: it is extremely essential for a cross-functional team like us to be aware of each other’s role and their faces. As simple as it might sound, I’ve noticed that a lot of our employees struggle recognizing each other since there has been a new addition to the team almost every week and a lot of us keep our mask on in office due to COVID-19.
Some of the employees brought props that describe them — I love it when they bring their whole self to work! Below is some of my absolute favorite pictures of our employees.
This small event has driven our employee engagement and improved onboarding process.
Effective communication
I created an internal ‘Meet the Team’ page so that all the new and existing employees can take a peek whenever they struggle to figure out who’s who. All the newly taken employee pictures are applied to every collaboration tools including Slack and Google Workspace.
A sense of belonging
We not only show consistency through the same format of pictures but also deliver a sense of belonging. The team leverages these beautifully taken photos whenever we do shout-outs for work anniversaries and birthdays of the employees.
Employee experience
It was FUN! It has been ages since the last time we got together offline due to the practice of social distancing. Through the pictures, they could tell that the team appreciates the beauty of diversity. I wanted to encourage our employees to stay true to themselves at work and I am forever thankful for them being themselves. It is a huge contribution to our culture.
Plus, now all of us have a fancy professional picture. Time to update our Facebook or LinkedIn photo that has been sitting there for God knows how many years!
I also implemented it as part of our new employee onboarding process — new joiners are invited for a photoshoot prior to their start date (if not possible, within their first week of employment).
An outstanding company culture is a key when it comes to talent acquisition. Culture is what sets us apart from other organizations.
As small events as an employee photoshoot creates an environment that we can explore more about ourselves as a team and shape our own culture.
It is one thing to fill vacancies the organization needs, yet, company culture truly demonstrates how a team gets done as an employee’s skillset solely defines their responsibility.
