Here’s what it feels like to be used for your company’s stock photo

“You know they still use your image on Facebook for recruiting efforts, right? And they have that picture hanging up in the building,” a former colleague said to me. “The one of you at that event. It’s still there.” 



At first, I was shocked and angered by this news. Several years ago, a former colleague had called to catch up and then let me know that the company I used to once work at was still using pictures of me. Although I hadn’t worked there in years, I was in their recruiting efforts (on their website and on their social media) and my images were still in the building. As I let the news settle in, I wasn’t surprised. Because performative, check the box, and tokenistic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts are too common—and unfortunately may be getting worse.



Amid the current backlash against the values of DEI, we have watched some companies loudly cancel their efforts and listened to leaders degrade DEI work. For instance, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that, “DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.” 



On the other side are leaders such as Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and cofounder Cost Plus Drugs, who believes DEI is good for business. “The loss of DEI-phobic companies is my gain,” Cuban has publicly stated. “Having a workforce that is diverse and representative of your stakeholders is good for business.”



And many companies are quietly downsizing their DEI efforts. For example, Zoom and Snap have let go of employees working on DEI initiatives. Companies like DoorDash, Home Depot, Lyft, Meta, Tesla, Wayfair, X and more cut their DEI efforts in 2023 —many of them reducing the size of their DEI teams by 50% or more. Now, I believe some companies will slip back into performative habits of pretending they care about inclusion efforts and will longer be held accountable for doing so.  



So, on behalf of workers who share my experience let me say this: I am not your company’s stock photo. If you decide to downsize and dismiss DEI teams, you can’t use my photo or others to be your tokens. You cannot use my image for a performative social media post. I refuse to be your “proof” that you care about creating, retaining, and developing a diverse workforce—especially if I no longer work at your company and if you have stopped investing in your DEI efforts.



Being tokenized is a horrible feeling that I would not wish on anyone. Fortunately, there are steps employers can take to spare workers from this harm. Here are three ways to avoid treating any of your employees like they are just being used for company stock photos.



Always let individuals know why they are being included



When I worked with one particular company, they had low representation of Black employees in their workforce. At the time, the marketing team was focused on including the voices of employees in their latest campaign. In particular, they asked Black employees to show up at a local studio to be filmed for social media assets to have diversity of representation in the external campaign. The Black employees shared that they felt tokenized and used for this campaign. And they didn’t know this video was to be used externally.



In my new book, Reimagine Inclusion , I coined the term “diversity dressing”—showcasing, presenting and amplifying “diversity of representation” when your workforce, products, or services aren’t actually inclusive and are lacking in diversity of representation. Some will use diversity dressing as a way to project an external image of inclusivity that doesn’t reflect the realities of what employees may face day to day within an organization. 



Let this be a lesson for leaders: Always let individuals know why they are being included and why you want to capture their image or have them attend an event. When you let them know why they are being invited and included, they may feel less tokenized and have the information they need to make an informed decision on whether or not they want to participate.



Respect their choice not to participate 



Early in my career, I was asked to join the Asian American Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group (ERG.) In fact, two of the leaders in my division wanted me to take on a leadership role. I had just joined this company and was still early in my role, and wanted to stay focused on making an impact in my day job. I declined the opportunity to join the ERG at this time. 



One afternoon, these leaders kept pressuring me and pressuring me to be in the leadership photo for the ERG they were taking that afternoon. I didn’t feel comfortable; I didn’t want to. I had told them I wasn’t able to be part of the ERG. I quickly realized they didn’t have enough individuals who identified as AAPI to be in the picture, so they wouldn’t stop asking. I locked myself in a conference room, pretended to be at an offsite meeting, and made myself not available until they finally stopped asking.



Leaders, please respect the choices of employees to not participate in your external or internal marketing campaign efforts. This also includes not pressuring individuals to show up at internal and external events, on interview panels, or recruiting events so they can “represent the company” and “represent their community.” Don’t pressure employees into participating and make them feel further tokenized. Respect workers when they say “no.”



Make sure employees understand how their image will be used



At some company events, I vaguely recall a photographer snapping pictures. At other events, I didn’t even realize a photographer was there. When I saw the picture of me on Facebook a former colleague had told me about, I didn’t even know that picture was taken. It took me several rounds of emails to get them to stop using that picture of me. Unfortunately, they still have a photo of me hanging in the building which hasn’t been taken down.



If you plan to use images of employees, get their consent. At events, have waiver forms available and let them know how and when you plan to use their image. Is this for an internal company newsletter? Or will this image be on Instagram? Is this for a specific heritage month like Women’s History Month or for a cultural moment? Never use an employee’s photo without their permission. And finally, if an employee has left the company, stop using their photo immediately. 



When you believe inclusion is a driver of the business, and that inclusion is a competitive advantage, you will naturally build a diverse workforce. You won’t be scrambling to ensure your campaigns, products, and services have diversity of representation, looking to use the same one or two images again and again. Because there’s no excuse for leaders to treat us like we are their company stock photo.