Changes to viewing employee profile photos in Workday 

With the launch of Workday Student, all UBC students – including students who are also employees – had their photos added to Workday from the UBC Card system. Currently, in Workday, an employee’s profile photo can be viewed by other UBC employees.  

This functionality has created an issue as profile photos are shared across employee and student records, which means that students who are also employees have their photos visible to all UBC employees.  

To ensure compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) requirements, which restricts who can view student photos, employee access to view student photos* (including students who are employees) will be limited to faculty and staff who work directly with students and require access to their photos for university operations. Workday does not allow for separate photos for student versus employee records, and cannot segment access of student-employee photos differently than employees. Therefore, by the end of September 2024, all other employees will no longer be able to view profile photos in Workday. 

*Student photos are currently required in Workday and cannot be changed or removed by students because they are used for identity verification and to support class activities.  

This is a temporary solution, and work on a long-term solution, that will once again allow viewing of employee photos, is already in progress. Stay tuned for updates.