HR: Protecting privacy in your public institution

Human Resources: Protecting Privacy in a Public Institution

Human Resources are one of an organization’s biggest assets and the same holds true for municipalities alike. Having the right people in the right positions plays a significant role in running an efficient municipality.

In order to ensure that a municipality’s needs are met, it is necessary that Human Resources use a secure system in which they can rely on to access the appropriate records.

Typical HR records in a municipality may include but are not limited to:

Recruitment Stage

Job posts;

Correspondence;

Applications/Resumes;

Interview notes;

Background Investigation;

References.

Hire Stage

Human Resources

Contact Information;

Employment Contract

Job description, changes & promotion

Correspondence

Payroll Information

Timesheets;

Voided Cheques;

Tax Forms

New Employee Setup

Onboarding

Mandatory and optional orientation;

Employee acknowledgment forms and agreements;

IT and office access;

Device and work-related item provisioning;

Handbook and acknowledgments.

Termination

Notices;

Exit Interviews;

Correspondence;

Record of Employment;

Legal documentation.

Human Resources (HR) is presented with a different set of challenges than its neighboring departments when deciding on a system to secure its records. Sensitivity surrounding the nature of HR documents in conjunction with the need for the government to be transparent presents a unique scenario, a scenario that needs to be carefully thought out, executed and handled with proper technology. An example of HR related documents that need to be handled appropriately but are not limited to include:

Recruitment related files that have different retention requirements than actual hires;

Medical related files that have different handling requirements than a general employee file.

In addition, records stored by HR have to meet a strict set of rules in order to be compliant with all regulations, an example of this can be found below:

Record-related compliance not only varies from province to province but in discipline and department type as well. Interpretations of what meets said compliance can also vary by the organization. Regardless there is a need to be able to demonstrate compliance or at least the reasonable efforts of due diligence towards compliance in all cases.

The previously mentioned needs of HR have been met in the past with burdensome procedures which include: locked filing cabinets, offsite storage, and record duplication. In addition to the aforementioned procedures, there are significant staffing hours deployed to managing the security and compliance of record keeping alone. The time spent record keeping could be better used by alternative HR functions that directly benefit the community (such as?). Each step of an HR related process runs the risk of misfiling, losing or damaging paper records, etc. Errors such as these could result in questionable government credibility amongst the constituency as well as costly rework and/or legal ramifications.

Ricoh has worked with local governments across Canada, implementing electronic record management systems that meet and exceed issues related to compliance while freeing up the physical space and employee time needed to manage them. As a result, the local government can reassign these resources more appropriately to benefit its citizens.