Intranet Leadership Forum

Tuesday 18th October, Kate:

Morning All

We are currently developing a staff directory that will be rolled out in phases. The first phase will provide staff photos and contact information, the next phase a view of that information in a ’drill down’ organisational structure.

I’m interested in your experiences in developing a communications strategy for the rollout of staff directories in your organisations—the key concern at the moment seems to be privacy.

regards

Kate

Later that day, Kierra:

Hi Kate,

We have introduced an online staff directory (in a simple form)earlier this year and it seems to have been accepted quite well by staff. Generally it is used by the majority of staff, however you will always get those staff members that prefer a hard copy or printed booklet of contact details—regardless of the fact that it is out of date the day after printing.

Firstly, there needs to be a close collaboration with the web team and the communications area to ensure that the tool is communicated effectively - use the expertise of the Comms staff.

In the area of Communications myself, I would suggest that you conduct user testing on staff in a variety of roles so that you can gain their feedback on the directory before launching to everyone else - you not only get direct feedback and the chance to address any concerns, but if they like what they see they can become champions for the directory. I would also suggest that you sit down with the Executive Assistants and provide them with some training on how to utilise the directory to their advantage as quite often we found they were not that open to the change, and they use it on a daily basis.

I would also suggest drawing out the communication on this (within reason), let staff know that its coming before you launch it, create a bit of excitement around it and communicate the advantages for everyone - consistent information, up-to-date etc. You can then tailor your messages on the day of the launch and following your launch (stats on how many staff use it, feedback etc). You could create regular features on "how to search for..." through your internal communication channels.

It is difficult to go into too much more detail without having the full understanding of your channels but perhaps the above suggestions may help.

Also, I would recommend coming up with a solution so that staff are still able to print out their search results or print their own up-to-date directories for their desk - that way you’re still meeting the needs of those who can’t drag themselves away from the paper version.

We didn’t seem to have any concerns around privacy as it is only available to our staff via the intranet and it only has work details listed, with no photos. This information was available to staff via other channels and we were only introducing this in a new more user-friendly format. Unfortunately I can’t provide you with further advice on the privacy concerns but I would suggest that the privacy policies that are already in place within Finance would apply in this case. At the end of the day with any form of change, communication is the key.

Good luck

Kierra

Wed 19th October, Janet:

Hi Kate

Not to stop the flow of discussion, but can I also suggest you visit the Intranet Peers message archive for Staff Directories—over the last couple of years there has been a significant amount of discussion and suggestions on establishing a staff directory which you may find useful to consider.

Regards

Janet

Wed 19th October, Pita:

Hi Kate

This is an interesting question and something we have been pondering here as we are talking with staff about what they would like to see on their Intranet.

In recent meetings with stakeholders from all our business units, the most commonly requested item was a staff directory with details including contact numbers, desk and building location - and many people would like to see photos of their colleagues. However people also asked for this service to be extended to include information that would enable them to search for an ’expert’ such as a JP, Mandarin speaker or a specific qualification or expertise in a field.

But as you say, the issue in something like this is really about respecting the privacy of individuals and we have been advised by some people that they would feel very uncomfortable about having their photo displayed on the web.

We aren’t at the point where we need to decide anything yet but we seem to be leaning towards keeping the information we collect fairly generic (we aren’t planning to display things like birthdays) and giving people the choice about whether they display their photo. While it would be nice to have everyone, I don’t think it’s worthwhile enforcing it on people. I have worked in other departments where the optional photo option is used and most people don’t have a problem with it.

I think that your communication strategy should be focused about keeping that aspect low key, focusing on the positives of what the directory will bring people and then letting them know that they have some choice in the matter when it comes to photos or semi personal information. If you have any intranet ’champions’ or stakeholders, they may be a good way to communicate this information back to people.

All the best

Pita

p.s. I did come across the attached article about staff directories that was quite interesting but it doesn’t really talk about communication strategies too much.
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_staffdirectories/index.html

Wed 19th October, Tamara:

Hi Kate

We have had a staff directory for the past couple of years that provides a large amount of information about each staff member, including a photo. The key for us is that only certain information is mandatory. When we set up a new staff member, the only information entered is their job title, email address and which section they work with. From that, the system automatically puts in data about which building the person works in, and where in the building they sit. All other data, including photo (and expertise information like job description, whether they’re a JP, a fire warden, OH&S or first aid officer, what languages they speak/write and how good they are at it) is optional, and editable by that staff member. We also have a feature where staff can have displayed at the top of their profile when they are on leave, why, and when they’ll be back. Again, this is optional, and includes a warning about privacy on the editing page. In regards to photos, we only allow photos from our image library to be used to ensure that quality photos are used, and not prank ones.

When we were developing this system, there was a lot of discussion around privacy, and the idea that even providing these features would be seen negatively, even if they were optional. When we rolled out, we only had positive feedback regarding these features, and no privacy concerns were raised.

Hope that helps :)

Tamara

Thursday 20th October, Andrew:

Kate

We have had a contacts directory on our intranet (Onkanet) since 2002 but have recently redeveloped it in order to better integrate it with our email system (Novell Groupwise).

The two issues that stood out for me re. our directory were:

1. How confronting initially people found the idea of a photo of them being on the intranet even given that the intranet is only accessible to employees.
2. The benefits of having information about reporting relationships in the directory.

In regards to point 1 we spent a lot of time making sure that people understood that there was no chance of the directory being accessible to external users. We also gave people the choice about what photos were used so that they had control over the image that was ultimately used. (thank goodness for digital cameras). People responded well to this and even though there was the odd bit of grumping on the whole it went well.

With regards to point two we weren’t sure about whether this would be that well received given some perceived reluctance to give up the old paper and electronic org structures but I am pleased to say that I have had nothing but positive feedback about having reporting relationships in a drill down fashion in the directory with a side benefit that it has identified many instances where this information was incorrectly recorded in the email system.

Thanks

Andrew

Wed 19th October, Kate:

Thanks Pita - and thanks also to others who’ve responded.

Its an interesting area - I’ve found over the past week or so that communication is the key. Although having photos in the directory has benefits in terms of improving internal communications you need to respect privacy concerns. We’ll be seeking permission to publish photos prior to implementation and we’ll have ongoing processes in place for obtaining permission from new starters.

Thanks again for contributing your thoughts everyone.

regards

Kate