Employee monitoring has become an essential part of data protection. In fact it is the best way to comply with the stringent requirements of new regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act.
However the use of employee monitoring software is often accompanied by privacy concerns of its own – on the part of employees.
If you want to implement employee monitoring without violating the privacy of your employees, there are 5 proven ways to go about it:
- Establish a clear policy
The key to ensuring that you don’t violate the privacy of your employees is to be transparent – and that starts with establishing a clear policy. All your employees should know what data is collected, what is done with it, and how it is stored.
It is important to explain the policy to employees and emphasize why the data is being collected. For example if WorkExaminer is used to track internet usage and file transfers a reason should be provided – such as in order to ensure sensitive data isn’t transmitted over the internet.
- Avoid collecting unnecessary personal information
Modern employee monitoring software such as WorkExaminer is often customizable, and can be set up to collect exactly what data you require. To ensure you protect your employees’ privacy, you should avoid collecting any unnecessary personal information.
In short WorkExaminer should be used only to collect the data that you need for data protection – no more, and no less.
- Anonymize users when it is possible
According to Recital 26 of the GDPR, it is not applicable to anonymous data. That can be useful when protecting the privacy of your own employees and by anonymizing the users you can evaluate trends without compromising on privacy.
- Delete data if there is no long term need for it
It is possible to use WorkExaminer to track and record a wide range of data and metrics, including internet usage, application activity, and even email and chat logs. However unless there is a long term need for the data, it should be deleted.
At times you may want to store some data for forensic purposes or to facilitate analysis. Aside from that however, you should delete data to reduce the risk of privacy issues and lessen the amount of data you have to store.
- Plan accountability to certification standards
Compliance to the GDPR or other similar regulations invokes a certification apparatus that will require you to be accountable to its standards. It is important that you plan for that and are transparent in its implementation.
Since the primary purpose of employee monitoring software is to perpetuate data security, the use of WorkExaminer should be customized so that it does not violate the privacy of employees. Its features will enable you to do that, and track all employee activity based on your specifications.
By using the strategies outlined above you can ensure that those specifications do not cause your employees to feel that their privacy is affected – and assure them that the monitoring is there to protect them too.
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