When GDPR became a well-known term a couple of years ago, many people were concerned about the large fines that could be imposed if you didn't do what you should. And then many people got up to speed and maybe did what they should - or something along those lines. Then time has passed, we have heard little about crime and punishment, and the attention around personal data has thus decreased a lot.
But what should one actually do to keep one's house in order as a trustworthy employer? And perhaps this is where the key lies – as a trustworthy employer. The threat of fines may seem frightening, but it is probably at the opposite end of the motivation scale that we find the best reasons.
Credible employers are attractive employers, and companies that safeguard the privacy of their employees receive plus points on the attractiveness scale. Credible employers are attractive employers, and companies that safeguard the privacy of their employees receive plus points on the attractiveness scale.
And it's not that difficult either. There are four key activities you need to ensure you take care of:
- Map what personal data the company uses
- Assess the risk of data going astray – and reduce it
- Document the processing activities – i.e. describe which data is used in which contexts, how the data is safeguarded and how long it is stored
- Inform employees about how the company protects their personal data
It actually makes quite a bit of sense. Our personal data is used by many people and it is natural that we want a certain degree of security that our data is only used for what it is supposed to be and is well taken care of.
Order in our own house is an important contribution to building credibility with our employees. In addition, it gives a good feeling to know that we actually have good control over this; we know what data we have about our employees, what systems we have the data in, how good the access control is, how long we need the data, etc. Yes, we even have such good control over this that we can tolerate being looked at in the eye – by both the employees and the Data Protection Authority.
