Benefits of Storing Employee Data in a Secure Cloud Platform

Introduction

It’s almost been 2 years since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect and we’ve seen some huge figures relating to fines been issued during this time for breaches of the regulation.

Last year we saw Google hit with a £44m fine in France for GDPR breaches and BA and Marriott are also facing hefty fines , the latter due to a breach of 380,000 personal and financial details after 383 million customer booking records went missing in 2018.

Whilst this raises awareness of GDPR for consumers, it may not be so obvious in terms of HR and the recording or storing of Employee data which is just as important to manage properly as customer data.

What are the GDPR issues HR Departments face?

Consider how many times basic employee information such as a name and contact information is recorded throughout an employee’s time working within an organisation.

For example, before an employee joins the company, their name and contact details are recorded during the recruitment process. This information is likely passed on to the recruitment manager and interviewer either on a paper form or a spreadsheet.

As part of the onboarding process, the successful applicants details will be passed on to finance for adding to the payroll. IT will need their details in order to set them up with company user accounts and email addresses. The office manager will be given their details to add them to the company phone list and to create an ID badge.

All of this before they’ve even set foot in the office.

Then think of all the ways this information is recorded, stored and passed onto other people whether it be by paper forms, Spreadsheets and emails. How do we track who has had access to the data and how do we know it has been ‘deleted’ afterwards?

Where the information is stored in multiple places such as on different spreadsheets, how do we ensure both sources are correct and up-to-date?

All of these issues can be solved easily by implementing a suitable HR System such as PeopleFirstHR.

What data is stored?

PeopleFirstHR is a Cloud based HR system that provides a secure, central repository for all of your employee data. Access to areas of the system whether it be for a specific group of people or key screens can be configured and assigned to individual users ensuring they have access to data relevant to them.

As the data is stored centrally, there is no need to duplicate information. The details can be recorded once therefore maintaining data integrity and the information can be used in variety of ways such as generating letters for sending to the employee using a pre-defined letter template.

By keeping all relevant employee data in one central system means it is easier to manage and track what information is recorded against each employee to ensure it is kept up to date. It is also possible to securely store any electronic documentation within People Inc. by attaching documents to an employee’s record. This removes the need for shared drives that are much harder to manage who has access to what.

Where is the employee data kept?

All of your data is stored safely and securely on UK based servers that utilise state of the art security. The compliance, privacy, and security benefits of hosting this information in an encrypted, cloud-based environment would ensure that your company is on the right side of the GDPR.

Who has access to the data?

Each User has their own unique username and password which lets them log into the PeopleFirstHR system via a web browser. Individual security profiles can be created that allow different users to have different levels of access to the data, down to individual field level.

This means is a user can be set up, so they only see the specific information they need to perform their role. For example, Recruitment or Training and Development

How is the data kept up to date/maintained?

There are a wide range of tools that PeopleFirstHR provides that can help manage the data that is recorded within the system. The Employee Self Service module for example, not only provides employees with the facility to easily notify you of changes to their personal contact details but also provides a level of transparency, so employees can easily see if their personal information is up to date.

Additionally, the Data Removal feature that is standard within PeopleFirstHR allows users to apply policies that automatically delete specific data records that are no longer required after user defined periods.

How do we communicate GDPR to our employees?

GDPR will likely mean policies and procedures will need to be updated for employees. Information such as Fact sheets may also be needed to increase awareness of GDPR and the impact on the business.

PeopleFirstHR has an area for storing HR Documents to make it easier to store and maintain the latest versions of your policies, procedures, forms and other HR related information. Again, this information can be accessible via the Employee Self Service Module so that employees can review the latest policy’s at any point. They are also prompted to confirm they have read and understood the information so this can be tracked within HR

What about our contracts of employment?

You may well be required to issue updated contracts of employment to all your employees to include something about GDPR. This can be made much quicker and easier to manage by setting up your Contract of Employment templates within the PeopleFirstHR system and then using the built-in mail merge tool to generate the updated contracts.

More information

Click the button below, if you would like a one-to-one demonstration of PeopleFirstHR and see for yourself how PeopleFirstHR can automate your HR department and keep it on the right side of GDPR.