Company demands employees have their headshots as profile pictures. They responded in hilarious fashion

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 22, 2023. It has since been updated.

All workplaces have guidelines that help them function with coordination and synchronization. These guidelines are necessary because they help in achieving quicker results. However, not all guidelines are released for the same reason. Sometimes there is even disagreement on them and here, humor can help. Reddit user u/Virule93 posted on the r/MaliciousCompliance online community after he spilled some beans about a hilarious incident at their company involving the profile pictures of the employee's internal site. 

The Reddit user explained how each employee was allowed earlier to change their profile photo on the company’s internal site and add some sort of flair or icon on top of it. That way, whenever there was an announcement, work update, or comment on anything, everyone could see their name and picture. But these profile pictures ended up becoming part of bitter political feuding among the employees. Some people started using the icons to express their ideological views, escalated political tension, and got those on the other end of the spectrum all agitated. Others, however, chose another direction and changed their photos to anime characters and celebrities.

Now, HR had to intervene and maintain professional decorum. They set out new guidelines, which required all employees to use a profile photo that was “a clear headshot of the employee on a plain background,” without any other person, animal, flag, or icon visible. Here’s the thing, though—nobody said that this had to be a recent picture! So, sensing the opportunity for humor, some employees started setting their profile pictures to their photos from when they were babies. The situation was so hilarious and ridiculous that some members of the HR team did the same.

Many users on the platform gave their two cents in the comments. u/Bokko88 wrote, "I loved how anime is worse than political issues and possible bigotry." While u/Herobrine__Player wrote, "The title made me think this was about staff bringing their kids in and making other people basically babysit their kids, but I like this even better." u/WaywardMarauder wrote, "I’m picturing some 60-year-old man calling home 'Ma, my 1st-grade class picture, ya still got it? I need it for my company profile.'” u/Retlifon had an interesting view to add, "This is more “beneficent compliance”. Compliance in an unexpected way, but still achieving the intended goal."

u/undiurnal wrote, "Nothing brings people together quite like dunking on HR." u/bdpmbj had a story of their own to tell, "We've done the "submit a baby picture and then run a competition where everyone has to guess which baby is which adult" thing at a couple of previous jobs. People always laugh at my baby picture because apparently when I was very small, I was much more of a camera ham than I am now." While u/DynkoFromTheNorth wrote, "I love HR's response to your petty response!"

While some fun banter does no harm to anyone, heated debates can really ruin a work environment and bring animosity among people who have to work together for many years. Here, humor plays a vital role in making light of the situation and bringing people together to share laughter.