Data Protection for Employees: Legal Requirements and Best Practices

Data protection is crucial, and its legal rules are mandatory, but they are not just important for business owners. Your employees are vital in helping your business keep personal data secure. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) set strict requirements, and your business should ensure that your employees know them. Your staff (particularly those who handle personal information in their roles) must understand their roles in safeguarding personal data, as any omission or mistake they make can put personal information at risk.

This article explores how your business should approach employee involvement in data protection and best practices to support your company’s compliance. While this article focuses on employees, the same principles apply to self-employed individuals working for your business who process personal data in their roles. 

What Role Do Employees Play in Data Protection?

Employees (depending on their involvement in processing personal data) can play a crucial role in your data protection efforts. They might handle personal data daily (including customer details, supplier records, and HR information). 

By way of example:

• your customer onboarding team may work with new customers, collecting information such as names, contact details, and banking details; and
• your HR team will typically work with employees, collecting personal information when they start with your business and throughout their tenure. They will also process candidate data, for instance, when the company is hiring for new roles. 

Your teams may also come across critical questions in their roles, for example:

• a customer has made a subject access request – how do we respond?;
• can I share our client list with a third-party marketing supplier?; and
• we want to outsource our cloud storage services to a business in America – is this okay?

These are key questions that require careful thought and attention to ensure that data protection law-compliant steps are taken. 

Consequences of Mistakes

Even a small mistake, such as sending personal information to the wrong person and causing a data breach, can have significant consequences. Data breaches can seriously damage your company’s reputation and may lead to substantial fines from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Data protection law breach penalties are also severe. The ICO can issue fines of up to £17.5 million or 4% of global annual turnover, whichever is higher, so your business should ensure employees understand the rules and act carefully.

When your staff recognise the impact of their actions on your compliance obligations, they can become more attentive and proactive in protecting personal information. Data protection awareness is vital for your business to maintain compliance and safeguard its reputation, and staff will often play a critical role in this. 

Why are Staff Training and Policies Important?

Your business should provide regular, comprehensive data protection training. Employees must be aware of their responsibilities under the UK GDPR and understand the consequences of mishandling data in breach of its vast rules. 

Training should cover vital topics – at minimum, what constitutes personal data and the principles that govern its use, including lawfulness, fairness, transparency, and data minimisation.

Your staff must also know how to identify and report data breaches immediately internally to the correct team so your business can meet its obligations. 

Importance of Training

Your business also trains staff on safe data practices, such as never leaving documents unattended and always using secure methods for transferring information. Educating employees can help you prevent costly errors and demonstrate a proactive commitment to compliance – which could be a mitigating factor in the unfortunate event of a regulatory investigation. 

Tailoring your training to your business’s needs is essential. Department-specific and detailed sessions may be necessary if your company handles a range of special category data (such as health records) or other high-risk data forms. 

Policies, such as data protection and data retention policies and data breach plans, are crucial and can significantly help as reference points for staff in their daily roles. 

Why is It Important For Staff to Buy Into Privacy Protection? 

Although formal training and policies are essential, so is the need to build a strong privacy culture across your teams. 

A privacy-focused culture is about making compliance second nature, integrating privacy into daily operations by supporting individual data protection questions, encouraging transparency, and prioritising leadership involvement. 

Appointing a privacy lead (such as a Data Protection Officer where needed or where you wish to nominate one voluntarily) can help guide your compliance and foster open discussions about data protection.

Management should integrate data protection into daily operations and address it occasionally. Regular reminders about locking computer screens, securely disposing of documents and not sitting on them, and staying alert to phishing threats which could cause data breaches can help you establish privacy processes. 

GDPR Essentials Factsheet

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Why is Employee Engagement on Data Protection Important?

Your business can benefit from seeking feedback from employees about data protection policies and procedures. Staff may notice inefficiencies or potential risks as they arise. 

Open communication can help your business refine its data protection strategy and make it more effective.

Key Takeaways

Data protection is a shared responsibility that often extends to employees who process personal information in their roles. Your business should engage all employees and make data protection an ongoing priority. Regular training can help ensure your staff understand their roles and feel confident handling personal data. Where your business makes data protection seamless in daily routines, it will be better placed to remain secure and compliant and reduce risk. 

If you need advice on complying with the UK GDPR, our experienced data, privacy, and IT lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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