How Philippines Data Privacy Act and European Union’s General Data Protection Regularization Help Protect Company Data

Companies gather a range of company and employee data to obtain important insights, discover patterns, and keep track of the human aspect of operations. Information collected throughout a year includes recruiting data that monitors applications and interviews, applicant diversity, and new employees. These pieces of information play a significant role in increasing the company’s productivity, achieving its goals, and decreasing legal liabilities.

However, there are risks to collecting these pieces of information. The growth of digital systems translates into larger company data and higher potential breaches. In the Internet Age, one unprotected computer or an improperly deleted hard drive can give bad actors access to thousands of employee information. Cybercriminals can use these to apply for credit cards or spend money they do not have. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities can be quite costly.

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In response to this growing concern, several court judgments and federal regulations are developed to establish responsibility and accountability for the sensitive information companies and individuals collect. These mandates make them liable if they fail to secure company data and employees’ details.

Data Privacy Acts Covering Corporate Entities

Philippines Data Privacy Act of 2012

In the Philippines, employee data is protected under RA10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012. The act applies to persons and legal entities that process personal information. It provides that the collection of personal data must be for a specified, declared, and legitimate objective.

Consent is required before any personal data is collected. The individual must be informed about the scope and purpose of processing their information. For example, the organization should specifically mention that they will be used for profiling, direct marketing, or data sharing. This will also apply when sharing information with affiliated companies. However, employees’ personal data may be handled without their consent as long as no sensitive personal information is involved and it is done in the context of an employer-employee relationship.

Background checks are allowed if needed by an employer as a legitimate exercise of managerial discretion. They can do this to learn about a candidate’s criminal history and credit history. But processing the employee’s information requires the applicant’s express prior consent if sensitive personal information is involved.

This law has an extraterritorial effect, which means it applies not only to firms with offices in the Philippines but also when a business process uses equipment based in the country. The statute also governs handling personal data about Filipino nationals, regardless of where they live.

European Union General Data Protection Regulation

European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establishes stronger and uniform data safeguarding for all its citizens by guiding and regulating how enterprises manage personal information worldwide. It also aims to improve people’s access to information about themselves and limit the use of organizations’ access to their personal information.

Under the GDPR, organizations are encouraged to limit the personal data they gather from their users to what is only necessary. The idea is to ensure that businesses do not acquire excessive amounts of personal details. For example, an online store is unlikely to need to gather people’s political sentiments when they sign up for the retailer’s email mailing list to be notified when sales are happening.

The regulation also directs companies to protect personal data against unauthorized processing, loss, destruction, or damage by accident. Suitable information security safeguards must be implemented to ensure that documents are not vulnerable to hackers or mistakenly exposed in a breach.

The principle of openness requires companies to tell their employees about their rights and data collection methods concerning their personal data. As a result, having a privacy declaration or agreement is critical. Personal information of current and past employees that are no longer required should be erased, while anything that is required for lawful purposes should be preserved in separate secure databases with limited access.

Secure Employee Data with HRIS and Payroll Software

As digital systems continue to advance, data usage will grow exponentially. This means that employers face bigger responsibilities in managing and securing the increasing amount of personal data they gather.

There are various ways in which organizations can effectively acquire, manage, and dispose of sensitive data. For example, they can limit access to HR databases and decide which information will be available only to the HR custodian. Electronic access should not be overlooked. Securing digital portals might involve using firewalls to safeguard applications, servers, and databases.

Organizations must also have a streamlined and automated procedure in place to handle their employee data and comply with privacy rules. Various technological solutions now provide mechanisms for managing the growing demands of global privacy standards. One such program is GreatDay HR.

GreatDay HR – Effortless HRIS and Payroll Management Made Possible

GreatDay HR is an all-in-one HRIS solution for small businesses. It is a centralized system that ensures proper storage and management of organizational and workforce documents. Storing data in one place lowers the chances of losing information due to improper handling. It also benefits the company by optimizing essential business processes such as recruiting, payroll, and onboarding.

GreatDay HR adheres to the Philippine data security and privacy laws, as well as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. The software fully encrypts company information and stores them in Tier 3 data centers. Management can control who has access to specific company and employee documents, and authorized users can use the databases anytime and anywhere. The solution is also certified for ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management Systems) and ISO 27001:2013 (Information Security Management System).

Moreover, GreatDay HR does not just provide security; this payroll package software also delivers broad functionality and convenience. Errors in employee profiles may be corrected through the GreatDay HR application by the workers themselves, expediting the time needed to complete this task. There are also ten additional employee data fields available for configuration in addition to the standard employee ones. With GreatDay HR’s Announcement tool, the firm can easily update every employee about your company’s newest successes, information, and rules.

References:

https://ied.eu/blog/protecting-employee-information-what-is-a-companys-responsibility/

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-gdpr-uk-eu-legislation-compliance-summary-fines-2018