Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Should I show my organizational chart?

I’m cofounding on a videogame startup. We finished the organizational chart for our scale, and thought it would be nice to show employees candidates where they will fit if they are hired.

I was also thinking about displaying it in the careers section of our website.

Is there a problem with displaying my organizational chart publicly?

Answer 10971

Is there a problem with displaying my organizational chart publicly?

20 years ago the answer would have been yes, definitely, except for the C-level suit.

For a small business nowadays, there’s little point in hiding in the age of LinkedIn, AngelList, CrunchBase, etc. and of course Google. If someone really wants to locate key employees they will locate them in a matter of hours - if not minutes.

Past a certain size, you’ll likely want to keep it partial at most. As a founder, the last thing you want by then is to have head hunters or your competitors going through your org chat and sending offers to your best employees.

Answer 11024

In the startup world Transparency is a virtue. This will attract A players to your team and talent is vital for your success.

Answer 11042

Another angle to consider is maintenance of the organisation chart. You want to be transparent - that is a great idea. If you are looking at hiring people then your organisation chart will be out-of-date straight away. Then potential new hires will be seeing something old and that may tarnish the reputation.

I would agree with Denis de Bernardy on the head hunting though. There is an employee for a competitor that I will target to bring in because I have seen her experience/ skills. I would not have seen her details without them being on the company website…


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