Social security numbers, dates of birth, and addresses are just a few of the very sensitive personal data that your HR department has access to. Allowing that information to get into the wrong hands would be a grave betrayal of your candidates and staff and might have fatal results. For instance, a hacker might open credit cards in your employees’ names. It can be done using personal data, and destroying their credit ratings. Hence they can make it difficult for them to rent an apartment. You must implement the necessary protections to maintain the security of your HR data.
Collaborate with your legal and IT departments
As you prepare for and put HR data security safeguards in place, your IT and legal teams can be an invaluable resource. Sync up frequently to make sure nothing is being missed and to talk about any adjustments that are required. Tell them, for instance, when you want to test or deploy new software so they may examine its data security, voice any concerns, and recommend modifications to internal security procedures.
Turn on the proper permissions
Access to your human resource software should only be limited to what your team members actually require. You might, for instance, permit managers to view the salaries of their direct reports but not their social security numbers. As a result, the most sensitive personal data is protected from public view.
Monitor the offboarding of employees.
There will inevitably be departures from your team, but they shouldn’t be allowed to take sensitive HR information with them. Make sure you promptly deprovision access to your systems so that once they leave, they can no longer use them. Don’t forget to change the permissions for other team members as necessary. For instance, you’ll want to make sure that someone else can fill in for a Super Admin if they leave.
Never divulge login information.
Sharing licences to cut expenses can be alluring, but doing so puts your HR data at danger. Team members must not share logins, in addition to enabling permissions and deprovisioning accounts for departing personnel. An employee who has been using another employee’s login but quits the organisation might be able to keep using it indefinitely.
Shared logins for systems that don’t hold sensitive information should also be avoided because they could be used to access a platform that does contain sensitive information.
Secure delicate information
Make sure your partners are protecting sensitive data in the same way that many of the top HR technology suppliers do.
Spreadsheets should not be overlooked either. Excel is a powerful tool used by the majority of HR professionals who may export data for a variety of purposes. It’s critical to keep in mind that those spreadsheets frequently include private information, so you should encrypt them in the employee record management system.
Demand consistent data security training
Data breaches are frequently the result of errors made by a team member. As an illustration, losing your password through falling for a phishing scam where a hacker impersonates a technology vendor
During the employee onboarding process, anybody who will have access to HR data should get data security training so they are aware of the value and specifications of excellent data security. Regular refresher trainings should be conducted to help ensure that best practises are being followed, especially whenever something changes.
Summary – Your business must effectively safeguard sensitive personal data in order to uphold its obligations to employees and applicants. This must be taken extremely seriously by everyone on your team, and you must collaborate with other departments and supervisors to keep private information secure. Maintaining employee and applicant trust—as well as safeguarding your business’s reputation—requires doing this.
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