HR Information Control Analysis
HR Information Control Analysis
In human resources departments, a repository of information on employees is kept. Keeping this
information confidential and secure is a topic of concern for all HR practitioners. Based on the information
you have read in this unit, in a 2�3 page paper describe what your approach would be to manage
personal employee information and provide a supporting rationale. Discuss the issues that may arise from
the mismanagement of personal employee information and the liability for employers that may exist as a
result.
*** Recommends strategies for maintaining the privacy of employee HR and benefit records and includes
supporting details and rationale.
*** Analyzes the necessity of retaining and maintaining confidential employee information and includes
supporting details and rationale.
Submit your HR Information Control Analysis paper in this assignment.
EMPLOYMENT LAW FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICE 2
HR Information Control Analysis
To ensure proper management of employee information, it is important to understand the
meaning of personal employee information, circumstances under which to collect, use or disclose
personal employee information without seeking the employee’s consent, the responsibility to
provide access to or correct personal employee information, safeguard the information and the
during for which to retain an employee’s information (Society For Human Resource
Management, 2014).
Personal employee information involves personal information of a person considered a
potential employee, a current employee or a former employee. Information required by an
institution for purposes of establishing, managing or terminating an employment relationship
with a person is considered as personal employee information. It includes personal contact
information, date of birth, employee number, salary or wages, taxation information, the hours of
work, absences, vacation dates, terms and conditions of employment, disciplinary matters, work
history, resumes and references, training received, and performance assessments (Tohidi, 2011).
To avoid legal liability, it is important to ensure that the collection, use and disclosure of
an employee’s personal information without the consent of the employee is to be solely for the
purposes of recruiting, managing or terminating an employment relationship. In addition, the
collection, use and disclosure of personal employee information should only be based on a
reasonability test. It is also important to provide current employees with notice as to the purposes
for the collection, use or disclosure of personal information. Furthermore, the employee’s
privacy rights need to be protected by the right to request to and correction of his/her personal
information. The most important issue regarding personal employee information is taking
EMPLOYMENT LAW FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICE 3
reasonable measures to ensure that the information is safeguarded against unauthorized access,
modification or destruction, and that it is retained only for a reasonable time as long as it is
within the employment relationship.
Mismanagement of human resource information systems leads to legal, financial and
functional problems for an organization. This impacts negatively on the efficiency and
effectiveness of an organization as it leads to broken relationships between employees and the
employer as well as among employees. Poor management of the HR information system is
characterized by inadequate or lack of training of employees on information systems, seamless
system integration, and inefficient system usability. Consequently, many employees find it
difficult to use the provided information programs and end up becoming a liability to the
company rather than serving a positive role within the business (Tohidi, 2011).
There are various strategies for maintaining the privacy of employee HR. It is important
to ensure proper reporting using detailed guidelines, schedules, structures, and routines. The
management decisions should also incorporate proper management of HR information systems
in the organization’s overall vision and company goals, long-term objectives, organizational
structure, staffing and labor relations, crisis management, and control of overall operations. The
institution should also embrace personal computers management. The benefits of personal
computer management include increased productivity and independence from Management
Information System management. The organization should ensure proper staffing by hiring a
competent personal computer manager and a network manager to ensure that information is
properly maintained and kept safe.
EMPLOYMENT LAW FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICE 4
Retaining and maintaining confidential employee information is necessary to avoid legal
issues such as identity theft, data breach notification and privacy laws such as the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which mandate employers to devise processes and
procedures for securing and safeguarding sensitive employee data and notifying employees of
any breach of the confidential information (Society For Human Resource Management, 2014).
EMPLOYMENT LAW FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICE 5
References
Society For Human Resource Management. (2014). Confidentiality: Liability: Why is
confidentiality critical to human resources?
