Collecting HR Data

The 7th Data Protection principle states ‘The Data Protection Act 1998 requires all organisations to have appropriate security to protect personal information against unlawful or unauthorised use or disclosure, and accidental loss, destruction or damage’ (ICO, 2012. P10). It referes to information that is kept on file whether it be electronically stored, i.e. on a hard drive, a flash drive or paper copies. The Act also gives individuals the right to request copies of all information a business may hold on them within 40 days

Filling cabinets have also advantages and disadvantages. They take a lot of space, you need to have a proper organisational system so the information can be found easy, security is always an issue when you are storing actual hard copies with sensitive information on them, but, they don’t require a computer to be turned on. Manual system cannot be affected by loss of power and hackers cannot access a manual filing system from another computer.

The new HR Director has requested a report that shows a review of the organisation’s approach to collecting, storing, and using HR data. The findings will explain reasons why the organisation needs to collect HR data. The types of data that is collected within the organisation and how each supports HR practices. A description of the methods of storing records and the benefits of each. A statement of two essential items of UK legislation relating to the recording, storage, and accessibility of HR data.

Legislation and Compliance – The company needs to collect data from our employees to ensure we comply with legislation and our industry requirements, for example a copy of an employee’s passport or visa to show right to work, evidence of a Doctor’s registration status. We also collect data pertaining to equality and diversity…

Below you will see descriptions of two essential items of UK legislation relating to the recording, storage and accessibility of HR data:

1) Statutory Records - Such as tax, national insurance contributions, sickness and SSP, hours worked

The United States does not have specific legislation to protect employee information like that found in many European countries, but one should not assume or dismiss US privacy protections as inadequate. Huffman Trucking takes the privacy of the organizations employees very seriously. The employment database is, "Integrated to track employees from an operational and financial perspective" (UOP, 2007). The data is held by HR and is organized into four distinct sections such as employee personal information, compliance information, employee/labor relations, and applicant tracking. Official employee files are kept by the HR department and individual managers may not maintain copies for personal use. HR personnel are responsible to track FMLA absences and ADA accommodations for investigation, approval or denials. Compensation information with the results of job analyses, salary surveys, and individual employee compensation decisions are kept by the compensation manager, while labor relations keeps a separate set of records related to union negotiations. (UoP, 2007).

1) Organisations need to collect HR data to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements such as equal opportunities monitoring, equal pay audits, recruitment planning, assessing skills balance, minimum wage, working time directive and health and safety.

There may well be a more efficient and easier to use filing system that you are currently unaware of, while keeping paper copies is very important to an organisation there is allot of information that can be changed from paper to digital and still be safe and secure. Things like having a drop box or cloud storage ensure the safety of your documents even if something were to happen to your computer or your paper copies. Technology is also a huge help regarding the software that it has to offer, new software comes out almost every day therefore allows for the opportunity to improve every day, do your research and see what's out there does your current software do everything you want it to? has your organisation grown and you need new programs to help with this? computer software is second to none when it comes to helping improve your organisations knowledge levels and should differently be utilised when seeking

Putting this type of system in place will allow them to manage all information quickly and reliably, which can help improve efficiency and save time. The amount of time that is spent searching and organizing information and documents is kept to a minimum because they are always available immediately. Documents are also always up to date, which helps eliminate time that would normally be spent updating paper documents.

Data protection act and (amendment) 2003 states that “when an organisation or individual receives an individual’s personal information, they have a duty to keep these details private and safe. This process is known as data protection. Organisations or individuals who control the contents and use of peoples personal details are referred to as ‘data controllers’. CMIT. (2016). People who data protection applies to would be people who have their information stored on a computer or on paper. Under this act people have the following rights.

Anyone who works with electronic data or information is liable to comply with this legislation

Employee information is a form of personal data which the employer can keep about all of their employees, it should be kept secure and up to date. It should usually be kept within the HR department or within a locked lab office, this confidential information should be put onto the PC yet other non-confidential information should be put on paper so that it’s readily available to others. It’s usually used less frequently as its only needed when there’s been a change in someone’s personal data, and its essential to keep it so that people may be aware of employee’s education/training and general information about an individual is required when starting a job so it should be kept safe and updated. - Non confidential information is usually

The main purpose of storing any information is for easy retrieval in the future when it is required. It is also part of a company’s business practice. Storing documents have to be done in proper procedure so that it is easier to find. Depending on the type of information, information can be stored in either fireproof cabinets for hard copies or hard disks or other electronic storage devices for soft copies.

Spreadsheets are an example of “flat file” information storage. What are some of the 
limitations with this approach?