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Photographs on Martin's desk of his partner and his family on his 40th birthday

Personal Photos At Work: Pictures That Paint A Thousand Words

Emma Jacobs
The Financial Times
August 17, 2015

The gesture — imperceptible to some — took a minute. Yet this slight but nerve-racking act was hugely symbolic.

For Martin Root put a photograph of his new partner, David, on his desk at work last year. It replaced the picture he had kept for many years of his ex-wife. With that sleight of hand he disclosed his sexuality to his colleagues.

“It was a way of coming out [as gay] to a wider audience. It felt like a test to see who would notice and who would comment,” Mr Root says.

The 44-year-old father of two has been surprised by its significance. “Here is a picture that shows I am an openly gay man. By not having a picture it felt like I was denying a real part of myself.”

Martin Root at his desk

It has helped him relax at work. The photograph is “shorthand”, he says. “It means I do not have to come out at work all the time; it is a way of introducing my sexuality without doing it again and again.”

A picture of your wife, boyfriend, toddler, dog or yourself skiing down the black runs may seem inconsequential or even perhaps cringeworthy.

Yet the display of such personal mementoes in the office can speak volumes about our jobs, changes in the workplace and shifting social attitudes. Mr Root may not have felt comfortable putting a picture of his male partner on display a generation ago. Of course, many still do not: buttoned-up offices can demand buttoned-up workers.

The significance of office minutiae was well described in Joshua Ferris’s novel Then We Came to the End: “The photos of our loved ones taped to our computer monitors for uplift and support turned to cloying reminders of time served.”

Such things matter. One person’s clutter is another’s attempt to infuse the anonymity and even sterility of the workplace with colour and character. They also mark the employee’s territory. There are numerous accounts of workers rebelling against hot desks, which themselves cycle in and out of fashion, by setting out their stall with photographs of their children at a preferred workstation.

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The photo of my husband displayed on my desk at work after I came out to my staff in 2010.

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