Administrative management, payroll payments, tracking staff… For your business to run smoothly you have to keep certain data about your employees. But beware of breaches, losses, leaks and other security problems! To avoid getting into such a situation, follow these 9 tips.
Collect only the data you need
In your files there should only be data related to the employee’s ability to perform his or her duties. You don’t need to know what religion an employee follows or what his ethnic origin is, for example – this is information that has no influence over their work, and therefore you should not have it.
Don’t multiply communication channels
If you need to send a message containing sensitive information to one of your
colleagues, use a single channel, preferably the most secure. There’s no point sending an email to his work inbox, another to his personal inbox, a voice message, a letter, a text message and a message on the company intranet. You will be increasing the risk of
leakage or piracy.
Appoint a person responsible
Data security issues become increasingly complex as new technologies are developed
and new means of communication. Only a true specialist can master the subject and
advise you on the measures to be taken to avoid incidents.
Keep your employees up to date
They are the main stakeholders, so they always need to know what data you have on
them and for what purpose you keep it. This has another advantage: they can advise you of any changes.
Limit access to data
Only people with a true need to access data should be able to consult them, for example, your payroll manager for bank details. The employee must also have access to the data on his account and be able to request changes or deletions.
Delete the data of those who leave
An employee retires, gets fired, resigns? You no longer need information about him, so
you can delete it.
Backing up
Even if your server is secure, it’s best to take precautions if you don’t want to risk losing data. But beware, access to backups must also be secure and limited to only those who really need it.
Be careful who you copy to
When you send an email to dozens or even hundreds of people, be sure to use the “Blind Carbon Copy” field so that everyone doesn’t see other addresses and responses.
Make your employees aware
Finally, all this will be of no use if you do not do what needs to be done to make your
employees aware. Inform them of your policy and teach them how to manage their data and that of their colleagues, with a really secure password, for example, and avoiding sharing information through insecure means of communication.