Employee Profiles - The New Employee Profiles & People Directory

Introduction

This article provides information about employee profiles and the people directory, where to find them, and how to manage them. This is internal information useful to all business units.

Employee Profiles - Get To Know Your Colleagues Better

Employee Profiles are a great way to add value to Employee Engagement platforms, as they increase visibility and social cohesion. This is especially important for employees working at larger or global businesses that don't work directly with their peers on a daily basis.

We have heard from many clients who are in need of employee profiles to help connect their people. Our goals by launching Employee Profiles are to:

• Make the platform more social
• Increase engagement
• Help employees connect and get to know each other better by letting them find something in common and start building a relationship.

Where To Find Profiles and How To Manage Them

How do you find your profile? Simply go to the My Account section on-site and select Personal Profile.

We value privacy and personal details very highly, so by default, all your personal information will be hidden, excluding full name, position, manager, and stats until you decide to share them with your colleagues yourself by switching on the toggles.

If you leave all of the toggles off, this is what your colleagues will see when they go to your page:

There are 3 Tabs across the Profile Page; About, Stats, and Team:

• About: Shares details about you with your colleagues, such as Bio, Contact details, and Preferred Name (see more below)
• Stats: This will share details on how many eCards & Instant Awards you have sent and received (if applicable for your scheme) and content that you have authored (if applicable for your scheme)
• Team: This will allow users to see your direct reports, who your manager is, and any groups you belong to

If you want your colleagues to get to know you better, choose the right approach to reach you, let people know your birthday and find something in common, we advise to make your details visible and write a short introduction summary pointing out the most important or interesting facts for you.

Profile Images are Public Images -  this is because these Avatar Images may be loaded in Emails and any other integrations active (such as Slack & Teams etc). Whilst the Avatar image URL is complex and extremely unlikely to be guessed, there is not additional security in place on the URL, so it will remain accessible publicly.

What others will be able to see if we enable all our information:

• Send Recognition button: a quick link to the Social recognition wall and to the place where recognition can be sent to you. If you don't have this product enabled, this will not be visible.
• Follow button: if your colleagues follow you, they will be alerted about each new post you publish (if you have the right to post, of course).

About:

• Photo: only if you have uploaded one, otherwise, we will display your initials
• Full Name: Enabled by default, cannot be hidden
• Preferred Name: If enabled, this will then be the name we use across the platform
• Name Pronunciation: If enabled, this will display on your profile
• Pronouns: If enabled, this will display on your profile
• Summary: An open text field that you are able to fill with all the information you find appropriate. It will be visible for all people in the company. A great way for people to get to know you.
• Date of birth: This will allow users to send you recognition when your birthday is coming
• Work Anniversary: This will allow users to send you recognition when it's your work anniversary
• Email Address - It will be automatically filled if It was supplied in the uploaded file, but will not be visible if you decide to hide it
• Home Phone Number- It will be automatically filled if It was supplied in the uploaded file, but will not be visible if you decide to hide it
• Mobile Phone Number- It will be automatically filled if It was supplied in the uploaded file, but will not be visible if you decide to hide it
• Time zone
• Position: always there by default, cannot be hidden

Stats:

• Current 30 days (and Last 30 days) statistics: number of eCards/awards sent and received, (if you have the product enabled for your program. Otherwise, these will not be visible). Also, blog posts written will be there. This part is always visible and cannot be hidden.

Team:

• Reporting Line: Your direct manager and who you manage (if you have some direct reports). It's helpful to add this information to the upload file so it gives some more knowledge on the company structure and people you can reach if necessary.  
• Groups: Any groups you belong to

Here is how your profile will look to yourself when you have enabled all fields to be visible:

Enabling Options via Reward Manager

A client must have the relevant access role assigned in order to manage the profile fields.

Access Role: External Programme Manager, Scheme Admin

Location: Reward Manager > Manage My Programme > User Profile Configuration

Here, you will get a list of all of the fields we mentioned above, and can either toggle them ON or OFF. This will be applied to all profiles on the platform.

Some fields, such as Discriminator Fields, cannot currently be toggled OFF and will remain visible on the users Profile.

Statistics, such as Recognition and Blog articles, will only be available to be toggled ON, if those modules are activated on your scheme.

Current Limitations

As of February 2026, the Preferred Name is not used across the entire platform when it's set for a user. This will continue to be updated and rolled out.

The current areas where Preferred Name is not yet introduced include:

• Recognition Sending Wall
• Recognition inbox
• Blogs
• Smart Tags
• Smart Pages

Where there are legal implications, we will always use the users First and last name, such as SmartPay & Discounts.

The User’s Personal Preferences Are Preserved

A client’s admin can safely toggle between ON and OFF and be sure that the user’s personal preferences will stay the same. If user A has hidden their mobile phone number and user B has shown theirs, if an admin hides globally the mobile phone number but after a while toggles back the option to show it, user A will still have a hidden mobile phone number and user B will still have theirs shown.

Why Some Toggles are Disabled

Some toggles might be disabled for several reasons, and each occurrence may lead to a different visibility value. Showing an empty profile page will be redundant, so some fields will stay disabled:

• User Profile Fields: Full name is mandatory. A disabled user profile field will default to true and will be visible by the users.

• Discriminator fields: All fields are enabled

• Team fields: All fields are enabled

• Statistics: Recognition stats and Blogs articles can be disabled based on their dependable configurations. A disabled statistics field will default to false and won’t be visible by the users. This is so that clients will be encouraged to unlock those toggles by purchasing an additional product.

  • If R&R is disabled, Recognition Stats will be disabled

  • If Blogs are disabled, Blogs articles will be disabled

People Directory - Simplify Searches and Create a Lively Platform

Employee Profiles are a great way to add value to Employee Engagement platforms, as they increase visibility and improve communication and social cohesion. A place where all who work in your company are listed in order to simplify searching and connecting with others. This is especially important for employees working at large or global businesses that don't work directly with their peers on a daily basis. 

It’s a one-stop-shop and makes it easier than ever to search and find the right person, from the right location, in the right department. The top benefits of having People Directory added to your site are to:

• Make the platform more social
• Increase engagement
• Help employees connect and find commonalities
• Help start building stronger and better relationships

Where To Find the People Directory and How To Manage It

When you are in your profile (or looking at someone else's), just follow the breadcrumb above the profile picture.

Alternatively, you can find it on the menu if you request a tab dedicated to People Directory.

When there, you can see all your colleagues ordered alphabetically, including their names, locations, and departments, and also to be able to send them an eCard (the button Send Recognition will not be visible if you don't have the Social Recognition enabled).

You will be able to search for a specific person if you enter their name in the search bar and press the magnifying glass icon. You can also find all people from a specific location, department, or any other criteria - just use the rest of the filters.

When clicking on someone's picture, you will be directly taken to their profile!