How the Right HR and Payroll Software Solution Makes GDPR Compliance Easy

HR and payroll systems contain some of the most sensitive personal information processed by any business. This information can include personal identifiers such as tax file numbers and bank account details.

The loss of this type of information can have serious consequences for the individual and the business concerned. As a result, governments have put specific legislation in place to ensure such information is kept secure and only utilised for a valid reason.

What is GDPR and how does it impact HR teams?

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the privacy regulation that is specific to the European region and its citizens. It requires that any business holding or processing personal information on its citizens does so in such a way as to protect the privacy of those individuals.

GDPR often comes into force if you provide a business service that projects into the European region. As a result, businesses outside of the European region often have to be GDPR compliant against the possibility of serving that region.

GDPR is the “gold standard” for privacy legislation worldwide. However, it’s not in any way peculiar in its requirements of maintaining privacy and as such, the intent of many of its requirements are shared with other countries’ own privacy legislation.

How HR and payroll software helps to relieve the GDPR burden

GDPR has specific requirements around the management of the lifecycle of personal information. This means that organisations always need to know where such information resides within their systems and how it relates to the other personal information held. As an example, GDPR can require a business to produce information reports and compels them to correct personal information as necessary.

Enacting these requirements manually, without the use of HR and payroll software, can quickly become a burden.

HR and payroll software takes all the personal information and stores it in one secure place, rather than that data being spread between multiple systems, databases or spreadsheets. This central repository makes it easier to keep secure and up to date, while also making the information more reliable, as there is less operational complexity to deal with.

Such technology will also assist in keeping the recruitment process secure and private. HR and payroll software, especially cloud-based solutions, removes the need to copy personal information between computers, drives and emails. This results in fewer human touch points and as a result, fewer opportunities for data to be compromised.

Take onboarding as an example. When using HR software, only those who need to interact with the personal information are permitted access at each step of the process. There’s no ‘treasure trove’ of personal information left lying around on shared drives or laptops.

HR and payroll software can also help automate and offload what were previously highly manual processes. CV parsing can be performed automatically, and skills and knowledge tests can be delivered online in a consistent manner.

ELMO’s approach to privacy and data management

ELMO puts security and privacy first in how its HR and payroll software services are implemented and operated. We have obtained ISO 27001:2013 certification to ensure we have the right security and privacy controls in place to meet and exceed customer expectations.

Our ISO certification is utilised as a baseline, while rigorous and continuous operational security improvements enable us to meet the evolving security challenges faced by customers when implementing HR and payroll software.

The GDPR responsibilities for HR & payroll teams may not be simple, but choosing the right software should be. That’s why ELMO’s cutting-edge solution makes meeting your data security obligations as straightforward as possible.