How to Maintain Confidentiality in the Office Using HR Software

If you work in HR, you’ll be all too familiar with confidentiality rules and regulations. It’s a big responsibility and a key aspect of the role, so confidentiality always needs to be at the forefront of any HR professional’s mind. But maintaining privacy is a huge task, what with GDPR and making sure that sensitive data doesn’t get leaked or end up in the wrong hands. There are three main areas where this is a problem in HR: 

     - Employee and applicant information, such as absence records, compensation data, performance reviews and hiring documents

     - Legal issues and sensitive data such as workplace complaints, disciplinary information, drug testing, medical issues and benefits enrolments

     - Strategic decisions and actions, such as company layoffs, expansions and restructuring

As a business, personal data and sensitive information is a guarantee to varying degrees, and having ownership of that data means that you need to have a strict system in place for dealing with it appropriately. Here are some tips on how you can utilise HR software to manage this information. 

Create a Culture of Confidentiality

If you see someone, whether it’s a temporary employee or a senior manager, chatting or gossiping regarding personal information, you need to stop it immediately and ensure it doesn’t happen again. There should be strict policies in place that everyone in the business follows and these need to be made clear to all employees so that no-one is in any doubt as to what is and isn’t acceptable. Having policies and ruling on the software platform that everyone can access if they need a reminder will make it easier to update the documents and make them accessible to all. 

Always Gain Permission to Use Data

The simplest way to gain explicit permission before using data is to have a clause in the employment contract or service contract. This will make sure that no unauthorised parties have access to the data and if there is third party processing, you need to include a clause for it and make sure that it is compliant with the appropriate laws. 

Follow the laws on Retaining Records

There are strict laws in place now for how long you are allowed to retain employee records and interview records for candidates, so you must pay attention to the eligible destruction dates. Having all information stored in the HR system will make accessing this information easier so that it can be updated accordingly. 

Avoid Paper Notes

Make sure that managers and stakeholders don’t keep personal data and notes of one to one meetings anywhere where they can be accessed by the wrong people. Where possible, avoid keeping paper copies of these documents and store everything online so that it can be securely protected from unauthorised eyes. 

Use Password Protected Files

Keep all electronic data secure through password-protected files or in the cloud software that will encrypt personal information and sensitive data for complete peace of mind.