Protect Yourself — Protect Your Employees
Businesses usually take great care to protect customer information because failure to do so may result in the loss of that customer. But what about employees? Employers maintain considerable information and records on employees that similarly should be treated as confidential.
At Community Bank, we want to help you safeguard your employee’s personal data. Private information, such as social security numbers and drivers license numbers, must be treated with heightened sensitivity to safeguard against identify theft.
Employers who take measures to protect their employees’ private data can deter crime and protect their own assets.
Adopt a policy. Consider enacting a guidance governing what information may be collected from employees, when private information must be collected, how the information should be stored and when the information may be used and disclosed.
Staff Labels. Do not use social security numbers as employee identifiers, or place them on insurance cards, paycheck stubs, time cards, staff badges, parking permits or other materials. Use random assigned numbers or initials instead.
Privacy issues. Management should discuss with all employees the types of confidential information they may encounter and the proper way to handle it. Access to documentation containing personal employee information should be restricted to staff members with training on proper document handling practices.
Document Destruction. Review your document destruction policies to make certain that records with employees’ private information are shredded or destroyed before being discarded. If your private data is stored electronically, make certain adequate measures are taken to control access to computer systems.