Table of Contents
Staff training on the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) is critical for any business subject to these data protection rules. Practically, it is likely that staff will use a lot of personal data in their everyday roles. If staff using personal data breach the UK GDPR rules (even accidentally), your business could be in a lot of trouble. The data protection regulator has various powers under the UK GDPR for non-compliance, including the power to issue heavy fines. Staff training is vital to ensure your staff fully understand data protection law rules and always comply with them. This article will explain the benefits of training staff on data protection and how to effectively train staff.
Benefits of Training Staff on Data Protection
Training will protect your business significantly. For example, training your staff will show your seriousness and commitment to complying with the UK GDPR rules. Your business must have in place appropriate security measures to protect personal data. Training staff is a key way to safeguard personal data.
Additionally, training your staff enables them to feel safe and comfortable using personal data in their roles. There are several data protection law rules which apply to businesses. Thorough training will ensure they understand complex legal rules and help ensure they do not accidentally cause problems, such as personal data breaches. For example, simply sending out the wrong email to the wrong person could cause a serious data breach with severe consequences. You can avoid this through rigorous training to teach staff to prevent data breaches. Simple human error (sometimes committed by staff) is often the most common cause of personal data breaches.
5 Tips on Data Protection Training
Here are some key tips on how to train your staff about data protection laws.
1. Focus Your Training
Do not cut concerns when it comes to data protection training. Rigorous and comprehensive training is critical for your business. Though it could be tempting to find some generic training online, every business is different. Some businesses will be extremely data-heavy, and others will use very high-risk types of data (e.g. medical data). Therefore, training should be focused and tailored to your business and the types of personal data it handles.
If your business is very large and deals with several types of high-risk data, it would be sensible to consider bespoke training sessions for different teams within the business. However, smaller businesses with minimal data may only require a simple training session. If you need help with deciding which training to run or running it, it would be best to contact a specialist data protection law firm for support.
2. Cover the Basics
The UK GDPR is extremely broad legislation with many rules to follow. This may seem daunting initially, but you should ensure you can communicate its key principles to your staff effectively. For example, ensure your training clearly explains the following:
- what personal data is;
- the rules staff need to follow when using it; and
- what to do if staff get a data protection law request (e.g. a subject access request).
You should also carefully train staff to prevent and respond to personal data breaches.
3. Allow Staff to Ask Questions
Offer a point of contact whom your staff can contact freely to ask data protection law questions. For example, you may wish to direct staff to your internal Data Protection Officer or Data Privacy Manager. Again, data protection law can be extremely overwhelming and worry staff. They should have someone at the business who they can trust and ask questions to and who will support them when needed.
4. Test Knowledge And Keep Records
Although not everyone likes a quiz, testing staff on their knowledge is a good way to measure the success of your training. For example, you could ask them to complete a post-training quiz with key questions to test their understanding. If staff struggle with the quiz, offer them more support or reconsider whether the training needs to be adjusted so that it is easier to understand.
With live training sessions, you can include a segment to allow staff to ask questions (or contact you afterwards if they do not want to ask them in public). Make sure you keep a record of who has attended the training and ensure all staff take part.
5. Update the Training
Remember that training is not a ‘tick box’ exercise which you can deliver to staff once and then forget about. In fact, your business should regularly deliver training, and you should constantly remind your staff of the importance of data protection compliance. Finally, ensure you update the training and materials when there is a change in data protection laws and when your business changes how it uses personal data.
This factsheet sets out how your business can become GDPR compliant.
Call 0808 196 8584 for urgent assistance.
Otherwise, complete this form and we will contact you within one business day.
Key Takeaways
Training staff is essential for all businesses that process personal data. You should tailor the training so it is suitable to the types of personal data your business processes. Training can be vital protection for your business, particularly to protect against personal data breaches. If you require assistance running UK GDPR, you should contact specialist data protection lawyers for support to ensure that the training fully addresses all the rules your staff need to know.
If you need legal advice or support with UK GDPR training, 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
All staff who process personal data in their everyday roles will need training. To avoid risks (since everyone in some form often processes personal data), you should roll out company-wide training on the UK GDPR.
Yes, you should update your staff training materials from time to time. For example, they will need to be updated to reflect changes in data protection laws. If your business changes how it processes personal data and rules for staff, you should update your training to cover that. Regular training can help ensure staff are fully up to date on data protection law rules and confident when processing personal data.
We appreciate your feedback – your submission has been successfully received.
