Do your employees work in accordance with GDPR?

08 augustus 2019

In the previous blog post we shared tips for making your organisation GDPR proof. The first tip was: create awareness within your organisation. But how can you ensure that your organisation truly embraces the GDPR? And how does the behaviour of your employees factor in?

Behaviour 

The behaviour and awareness of employees seem to have a significant influence on compliance with the demands of the GDPR.

In 2018, 63% of the 20,000 instances reported to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) was caused by employee errors. Generally, the mistakes were made in sending or handing confidential personal information to the wrong recipient. That goes to show that employee awareness and understanding is a deeply underestimated subject.

 

Risks of human error 

Eliminating all potential risks for a data leak is virtually impossible when human actions are involved. People quite simply make mistakes. The way things currently stand, the person at the head of an organisation bears final responsibility for meeting the requirements of the GDPR. But really, every person within an organisation should live up to the responsibility of handling personal information correctly.

It is essential, aside from taking technical and organisational measures, to create awareness and knowledge among employees regarding the GDPR legislation. It’s the best way to limit risk factors as much as possible.

 

How can your organisation create employee awareness?

1.     Allow it to penetrate daily practice within the organisation. That can be realised by coordinating knowledge sessions for employees, for example. In those sessions, the GDPR can be clarified in detail, creating a greater sense of employee involvement in the GDPR practices.

2.     Make sure employees know which company data is highly sensitive.

3.     Share a checklist with your employees, outlining data security, so that everyone is following the same standard procedure.

 

Exclude external risk factors

As you just read, making errors is entirely human. To significantly reduce the risk of a data breach, your company needs to rule out as many external risk factors as possible.

DataChecker prioritises compliance with privacy regulations in all our methods of business process optimisation. When you use our solutions, like ID Check and RTW Check, all data is sent with encryption and processed according to GDPR guidelines, avoiding undue risk. Would you like more information? Please contact us. Our specialists are ready to assist you.