What is an employee directory?

An employee directory is a resource dedicated to storing information about the members of an organization, including their names, job titles, and contact information. Some directories may also include other information such as biographies and fun facts. 

While employee directories have been around for a long time, they’ve transformed from a largely manual, paper-based operation to digital, online versions. Today, HRIS platforms often have a directory feature to optimize and automate employee directory creation.

Why is having an employee directory so important?

In addition to serving as a centralized location for important employee information, employee directories have several other benefits.

• New hire onboarding: Employee directories can help orient new hires, familiarize them with the organization, and integrate them into the company.
• Collaboration: Employee directories help eliminate silos by offering contact information for everybody in an organization. This means that if someone wants to reach out or collaborate with another person in the company, their info is easily accessible.
• Company culture: As a sense of belonging is the strongest driver of employee engagement, employee directories can serve as an essential tool to help people make connections with one another.

What employee information should you include in a directory?

To serve its function, the most basic employee directories should include the following information for each person:

• Name
• Department or team
• Job title
• Email address
• Phone number
• Location, if your organization has multiple offices

To make your directory even more useful, add the following elements:

• Headshots: These can be a tremendous aid for new joiners trying to keep names and faces straight
• Skills and abilities: This information will let people know who they can turn to with specific questions that require particular expertise
• Interests: These allow people to get to know each other on a more personal level and build relationships (like going for a run together after work!)
• Biography or fun facts: These also help build camaraderie
• Birthdays: If your company culture involves celebrating birthdays, this can give people opportunities to recognize one another
• Hire date: Similarly, this allows for opportunities to recognize and celebrate work anniversaries

What employees should you include in a directory?

In short, all of them! Adding people of every employee type into your directory will foster a sense of inclusivity and team spirit. If you’re concerned about making the contact information of high-level executives public to everybody, it’s perfectly fine to leave it out.

How can you create an employee directory?

While companies may have built employee directories by hand in the past, HR tech makes the process much easier today. Software like HiBob’s Core HR allows you to quickly and easily create an online directory where you can search employees, their photos, titles, and who they report to with views by site, department, or team.

The employee directory app also encourages people to connect by offering a Club View that sorts by hobbies, superpowers, gender pronouns, nationality, site, or any other category you can think of.

Why should employee directories be a part of modern HR strategy?

As an HR professional, your business is people, and there’s no better way to track them—and help them connect and collaborate—than through an employee directory. Best of all, modern software makes it easier than ever to put together.