Employee Data Privacy Notice

Overview

Electrical Options is committed to data protection and data privacy. With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becoming enforceable from 25 May 2018, we have undertaken a GDPR readiness programme to review our entire business, the way we handle data and the way in which we use it to provide our services and manage business operations.

We hold personal data on all our employees to meet legal obligations and to perform vital internal functions. This notice details the personal data we may retain, process and share with third parties relating to your employment and vital business operations. We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure, accurate and relevant. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have implemented suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure personal data we hold.

Introduction

We have issued this notice to describe how we handle personal information that we hold about our staff and job applicants (collectively referred to as “you”). For the purposes of this notice, the term “employee” includes those who work on a non-permanent basis, including temporary and contract workers, independent, contractors, consultants ,professional advisors, trainers, work experience placement students and secondees.

We respect the privacy rights of individuals and are committed to handling personal information responsibly and in accordance with applicable law. This notice sets out the personal data that we collect and process about you, the purposes of the processing and the rights that you have in connection with it.

If you are in any doubt regarding this notice, please contact Lee Harrodine

Types of personal data we collect

During your employment with us, or when making an application for employment, we may process personal data about you and your dependents, beneficiaries and other individuals whose personal data has been provided to us.

The types of personal information we may process include, but are not limited to:

• Identification data – such as your name, gender, photograph, date of birth, staff member IDs.
• Contact details – such as home and business address, telephone/email addresses, emergency contact details.
• Employment details – such as job title/position, office location, employment contract, performance and disciplinary records, grievance procedures, sickness/holiday records.
• Background information – such as academic/professional qualifications, education, CV criminal records data (for vetting purposes, where permissible and in accordance with applicable law).
• Spouse & dependents information, marital status.
• Financial information – such as banking details, tax information, withholdings, salary, benefits, expenses, allowances, stock and equity grants.
• IT information – information required to provide access to our IT systems and networks such as IP addresses, log files and login information.
• If you are a temporary employee, contract worker or consultant, the type of personal information we process is limited to that needed to manage your specific work assignment.
• References relating to previous roles and employment conduct may be undertaken prior to commencement of employment. We will only gather references from referees provided to us by the employee, or prospective employee.

Sensitive personal data (‘special categories of personal data’ under the General Data Protection Regulation) includes any information that reveals your racial or ethnic origin, religious, political or philosophical beliefs, genetic data, biometric data for the purposes of unique identification, trade union membership, or information about your health/sex life. Generally, we try not to collect or process any sensitive personal information about you, unless authorised by law or where necessary to comply with applicable laws. In some circumstances, we may need to collect some sensitive personal information for legitimate employment-related purposes: for example:

• data relating to your racial/ethnic origin, gender and disabilities for the purposes of:
  • equal opportunities monitoring;
  • to comply with anti-discrimination laws; and
  • for government reporting obligations;

• data relating to your physical or mental health to:
  • provide work-related accommodations,
  • health and insurance benefits to you and your dependents; or
  • to manage absences from work.Purposes for processing personal data

Recruitment

If you are applying for a role with us then we collect and use this personal data for recruitment purposes – in particular, to determine your suitability for a specific role. This includes assessing your skills, qualifications and verifying your information, carrying out reference checks or background checks (where necessary) and to generally manage the hiring process and communicate with you about it. This is where background checks can be completed for employees. https://www.gov.uk/employers-checks-job-applicants

If you are accepted for a role with us, the data collected during the recruitment process will form part of your ongoing employee record.

Employment

We collect and process personal data relating to our employees to meet our obligations under the employment contract and to comply with our legal obligations. We take the security of your data seriously and are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

Once you become an employee, we collect and use this personal information for managing our employment or working relationship with you – for example, your employment records and contract information (so we can manage our employment relationship with you), your bank account and salary details (so we can pay you), and details of your spouse and dependents (for emergency contact and benefits purposes).

We have policies and controls in place to try to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed without authorisation and only accessed or used for specific legal purposes.

You have some obligations under your employment contract to provide the organisation with data. You may also have to provide the organisation with data in order to exercise your statutory rights, such as in relation to statutory leave entitlements. Failing to provide this data may mean that you are unable to exercise your statutory rights.

We process our employees’ personal information via a cloud-based, passport controlled system called Sugar Synch which only Electrical Options Higher management have access to.