Senior colleague refuses to be photographed - what to do

[Waferbiscuit]

We all have be photographed for work with the photos used for internal comms including our intranet. This is a pretty standard approach in large organisations as it helps to identify people. Photos are perfectly fine, generic photos and we get to select the one that is used.

Staff member is very senior but refuses to be photographed as 'doesn't like it/doesn't feel comfortable'. May be an anxiety thing.

Can they opt out? Should this opting out be supported or is this indulgent? Seems to me part of what you sign up for when you're in a senior role.

Staff member is not part of witness protection program, doesn't work in the community and AFAIK no safeguarding or privacy issues.

If you're in witness protection, you don't apply for roles that involve having a public life.

What's the legal basis for processing? That's what you need to look at, then you can see whether they can opt out or not, if it's consent they absolutely can opt out, contract, not if you specified it, area gets greyer on some of the other legal basis but depends on the compliance you've put in place.

And when the legal basis is determined and they opt you, you way up the data subject's rights, so for example if they were in an abusive relationship etc it would be difficult for you to determine it's in the business's better interest.

That said, that's what you'd do with a photograph you have, you can't really physically force someone to do a photograph, that's a bit beyond data protection...

Why is everyone assuming being senior means being in the public eye? I know plenty of people in senior roles in large organisations and their photos don't appear on the company websites etc. it is not imperative.

I am sure at the end of the day the law etc is on their side and this person can of course opt out of having their picture taken.

But this is about the fact that when you sign up to something you take on some of the social norms of the organisation and, as a leader/senior person, you lean into expectations of the organisation.

I'm 99% sure that this person isn't in witness protection - there aren't actually that many people in witness protection but in Mumsnet world everybody is! :)

@Littletreefrog in the civil service terms and conditions change at grade and we publish a lot more about SCS than we do the lower grades, staff are aware of this. But we have policy for that, the difficulty is when companies have an expectation but haven't set it out in policy and contracts.

I have resisted adding my photo to my Office account and it hasn’t been pressed. I work for a large company too, and probably as many colleagues don’t use profile pics as do.

I have no security concerns thankfully, but I hate photos of myself (especially the terrible office-staged ones you have no control over) and the way Office works now, mini pics of you are even included on things like notes in word. I don’t need the mini downer of seeing this all the time while working.

If it’s doing no harm, just let this go.

But this is about the fact that when you sign up to something you take on some of the social norms of the organisation and, as a leader/senior person, you lean into expectations of the organisation.

But this is not actually a “fact”. It is your opinion. And through this person (and several on here) you now know that the opinion was wrong.

I’m sure at some point you’ll be glad to work for a company where you’re free to say no if you’re uncomfortable with something.

She said no. Don't be the person who doesn't understand consent.

Once the photo is published in the public domain it can be scraped (I've had details relating to my work automatically scraped and then uploaded onto other websites).

Even if the work photo is taken off the org websites, once a copy is made, you have zero control over it.

There are plenty of reasons why someone might not want a photo of themselves out there with no way to delete it, ever.

I'm genuinely surprised that some think every single person should be ok with this.

(I realise OP is about intranet/internal pages which is slightly different, but still has some risks).

My friend doesn’t allow any photos of them because they were the victim of a stalker but it went really really far. The perpetrator conducted a horrible campaign of hate on other people in my friends name. It was vile and went on for years. So they are free from the stalker now but there’s plenty of people who still think they did it and they’ve been attacked various times. But they are also brilliant at their job so shouldn’t have to hide their light. They have already moved cities and cut off most of their past. They also don’t tell anyone about it because as soon as you start googling it opens the door again.

so while it may annoy you I’m not sure why you think you should get an opinion.

Why is your assumption what matters here? Just back off and let people be!

Once the photo is published in the public domain it can be scraped (I've had details relating to my work automatically scraped and then uploaded onto other websites).

For this reason alone it will be much harder for employers to demonstrate fairness and proportionality on publication of personal data.

UABU

I don't know why OP thinks this person doesn't have any of the perfectly valid reasons suggested here for not wanting their photo taken
an additional reason might be religious prohibition

As a teacher, we recently had some safeguarding training where the trainer told us about a situation where pupils had saved staff photos from the school website and done all sorts of AI photo editing on them to make “deep fakes” to make it look like the staff were doing things like smoking drugs, dressed in inappropriate outfits etc and made tiktok videos with the images. Many schools do still have staff photos on their websites but there is a move away from this I think. I’ve seen some where there’s a painting of the teacher done by children in their class, rather than a photo.

How about a caricature? Some people at my work have that instead of an actual photo

I'm still wondering what OP's role in this is. Is she the line manager of 'senior person', chief of staff, marketing person, who?

@Bluescissorsbluepen I feel so sorry for your friend. Of course it depends on the field, but in 2024 staying hidden is so much harder and can have a big impact on your career.
Of course it depends on the sector but in general too many people chasing a small number of decent jobs, AI screening, bots etc means that more and more people are having to market themselves as a 'personal brand'.
Those who are senior leaders 'now' will have had years of making their mark in a very different environment, it's really hard for those coming up.
Moving cities etc is also not always a solution given the global nature of work.

I've always been fiercely protective of my privacy (early 30's, no photos on SM etc) unfortunately just being 'good at my job' isn't enough to advance these days.

I refused to have my photo taken - we had a very bossy HR person who tried to push me into “following the company policy” as I had written most of the company policies she got short shift - there can be multiple reasons for people refusing to be photographed - it’s nothing to do with you - just accept and move on!

There's no policy on this that I know of and producing it would be a bit overkill.

My assumption is that if you're senior in the organisation you go along with this because you support the policies in the organisation.

But you've said yourself, there's no policy for them to "go along with"

There's no reason for anyone to 'go along with' unwritten expectations.

If it is a crucial part of the job it should be clearly stated upfront, so potential candidates can decide if the job is a good fit for them.

with the photos used for internal comms including our intranet

I think this bears some examining. What do the photos really add?

We’ve all become used to those photos of managers on notice boards etc but have any of us, on passing one of them in the corridor, thought “oh look, that’s Sandra Important, the HR director”.

but you are telling us there is no policy? I was mid senior clinician and manager in an NHS organisation and apart from my ID needed because I used to visit people at their homes, I wouldn't have wanted my photo taken and would have refused. If there is no need for an ID then why should they?