It is inevitable that your company will wish to record at least some of your personal data to do business efficiently. They may feel, as a minimum, that they need your address for correspondence and your banking details so they can pay you. You need to go into your relationship with a new employer from a sceptical point of view. Understand how they will use your information, control how you release it and know your rights when it comes to accessing and correcting it later.
Knowing the Policy
If the organisation you work for has a privacy policy, they should ensure that you are aware of its contents. Even if they don’t take active steps to do this, you may be able to view the policy on the company intranet, if there is one. Otherwise, you can ask for a copy from your human resources department.
If you disagree with anything in the policy then there’s probably not much you can do about it, but at least you will be aware of any areas of concern. If you don’t think there is sufficient protection in place to safeguard your details, or you are being asked for things that you should be able to keep private, you may be able to withhold them.
Withholding Details from Your Employer
It is human nature when seeking information to ask for too much. When you come to refer to it later, it’s possible to disregard unnecessary details but if facts are missing then it could be difficult to find them from another source. Therefore, businesses tend to ask new employees lots of personal things “just in case”. If you don’t believe they need certain facts about you, then you may be able to withhold them (which is not the same as lying about them!).
If you wish to withhold your address, for example, you could take this as far as signing up to an off-site private mailbox. This need not necessarily be a P.O. Box, so the people you give its details to don’t have to know that this is any different from your residential address. This approach would be especially suited to those working from home, although your company may question your motives if you go ahead and do this.
Of course, there’s no point in withholding details if you then make these publicly available yourself. You must take care of your privacy in all aspects of your life. For example, if you choose not to give out your home phone number at work, then it makes no sense to include it on your personal website or your profile page on a social network. Similarly, you should have a shredder and use it to obscure your unwanted paperwork safely before you dispose of it.
Viewing Your Data
The Data Protection Act gives you the right to view records that any organisation, including your employer, holds about you. You may be asked to pay a small fee, and there may be certain types of information that are exempt (in particular, some types of medical record), but the general principle is that you have a fundamental human right to see everything that is held about you.
In theory, the company you work for should be more approachable that other organisations when it comes to asking for access. However, it is reassuring to know that you have a legal right to see it should they be uncooperative.
Related to the right of subject access, where you can inspect your records, is the right to correct any such data that you find to be inaccurate.
Privacy Tips at Work
In short, here are some ways to protect your privacy in the workplace:
- obtain a copy of the privacy policy that affects you and make sure you read and understand it
- only divulge personal facts where there is an obvious need to do so
- take sensible measures to protect your privacy outside the workplace, particularly on the Internet
- don’t be afraid to exert your right to view and correct the records an organisation holds about you
By following this advice, you should find yourself in a position where your employer holds only the minimum personal information about you necessary for the working relationship to function, you know what knowledge they hold, and it is accurate and up to date.
Your email won't be published. Comments are moderated before appearing.