Who’s who: creating an effective employee directory

Let’s take a look at what they are, why they matter, and how you can create (and maintain) them for increased clarity within your own company. 

Employee directory vs. organizational chart

Your employee directory and organizational chart (often abbreviated to “org chart”) share a core purpose: they provide information about your employees. Where they differ is the type of information they share.

What is an employee directory?

Your employee directory is an internal resource that lists the name of every company employee with a profile that shares detailed information about them, such as their:

• Profile photo
• Job title
• Contact information (email address and phone number)
• Department
• Manager
• Direct reports (if applicable)

Your employee directory gives all of your workers an understanding of who works in what roles and how best to get in touch with them when needed. Some companies also create public-facing employee directories (these typically include less information) to help customers or vendors find the right contacts.

What is an organizational chart?

While your employee directory is largely focused on facilitating communication, your organizational chart outlines the hierarchy and structure of your entire organization.

Rather than drilling down to detailed information about specific employees, your org chart is a zoomed-out view of your company in a flow chart format. It helps people understand what their fellow employees do, the reporting relationships between employees, and how all of the pieces of the company fit together.

What are the differences between an employee directory and an org chart?

Your employee directory and organizational chart have a shared goal: providing more clarity about an organization’s staff members. But, some key differences make them stand apart from each other. Here’s a look at the biggest ones:

While your employee directory and organizational chart are technically two separate resources, they’re most effective when they work seamlessly together. Workable makes sure your employee directory and org chart talk to each other. For example, you can:

• Automatically update your org chart by making updates to your employee directory
• Click on any employee on your org chart and open their full profile

This approach ensures your resources are always up-to-date, streamlines the experience for your employees, and saves you from time-consuming, manual updates.

Why are your employee directory and organizational chart important?

It’s easy to think of your employee directory and org chart as static resources you can forget about until you need to knock the dust off them for an onboarding session or a company presentation.

But when you commit to keeping them updated and accessible, these resources offer several benefits:

• Increased clarity and transparency: Your employee directory provides information about who does what and how to reach them, while your org chart offers better visibility into roles, reporting lines, and the overall structure of your company. That’s all helpful context for employees.
• Better communication: Of course, easy access to contact information goes a long way in facilitating or improving communication. But these resources also provide insight into reporting relationships and job functions — all of which can help employees find the right fit for what they need. For example, they might feel more comfortable approaching a peer with a request or question than a supervisor or director. 
• Stronger connections: According to HubSpot’s Hybrid Work Report, an alarming 66% of employees say they lack a strong connection with their coworkers. Particularly in remote or hybrid organizations, it’s difficult for employees to find or connect with people outside of their immediate department. These resources give them a big-picture understanding that helps them forge new relationships.
• Efficient employee onboarding: Understanding roles and responsibilities is a crucial step in the employee onboarding process. But workers don’t just want rote memorization of who’s who — they also want an opportunity to form relationships and build their knowledge of the entire company. Your directory and organizational chart help them do this.

3 tips for creating (actually helpful) employee directories and org charts

To reap the benefits of an employee directory and organizational start, you need to have them — and not just have them, but ensure they’re accessible, accurate, and frequently updated. Here are three tips to help you do just that. 

1. Use the right tool

These resources are important, but that doesn’t mean you want them to be a full-time job. 

One of the primary complaints about org charts specifically is that they’re inflexible, making them hard to adapt to changing circumstances (like when entire business structures shifted seemingly overnight during the pandemic).

Fortunately, choosing the right tool can eliminate a lot of manual effort involved in not only creating these documents but also updating them when things inevitably change in your company.

With Workable, you create a profile for each employee. This is the single source of truth for everything about this worker. This information automatically feeds your employee directory and your org chart. When something changes — like an employee leaves your company? Mark their profile as “inactive” and they’re instantly removed from those connected resources.

2. Use them both (and connect them)

Your directory and org chart are at their most effective when they talk to each other, but that’s different from turning them into a single resource. Trying to cram all of your employee directory information into an org chart format will create a cluttered mess that’s almost impossible to reference.

Instead, connect these resources and make them interactive. For example, with Workable, if you click an employee’s name on your org chart it will open up their full profile where you can see their photo, contact details, and more.

3. Keep them updated

If you pulled up your org chart right now, would all of the information be up-to-date and accurate? If you’re grimacing, you aren’t alone — many organizations struggle to keep these resources updated.

But they don’t do any good if the information is old and incorrect. Instead of improving communication, collaboration, and confidence, you’ll trigger confusion and miscommunications.

Create a process to ensure you update these documents with any changes in your company (like new hires, employee exits, promotions, and restructurings). On top of that, set a regular calendar appointment to check these resources and make any updates you might’ve missed in the hustle and bustle of your daily work.

Alternatively, using a tool like Workable spares you these manual updates. When you change an employee’s record, your org chart and directory will automatically change too.

Help your employees connect the dots

Your employee directory and organizational chart give employees a high-level overview of who’s who in your organization and how those different people and departments connect. 

That might sound restrictive. But, when they’re done right, these resources don’t limit the way teams interact and work together — they provide transparency that facilitates clearer communication, stronger relationships, and smoother collaboration.