“To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.”
It was 99 years ago when Winston Churchill recited these words to the House of Commons in response to criticism he received from switching political parties.
99 years later, we still live in a society that exalts consistency and predictability as noble virtues, yet requires innovation and change to move forward.
This, of course, is the dichotomy most HR professionals experience regularly.
You have a strong desire to advance your organization’s business objectives forward and provide your modern workforce with the support they need, but you’re often faced with resistance from leadership when you propose that to do so requires changing the way things are, and perhaps always have been, done.
Leave management has been a hot subject of late for HR teams and CIOs alike and with good reason. While data security sits high on the list of priorities for most C-suites, shared spreadsheets, rogue email threads, loose-lipped managers, and siloed data systems that don’t talk to each other are keeping both sides up at night.
Modernizing your leave management solution is about more than just making your team’s life easier. It’s also a necessity for shoring up data security gaps your current solution likely has.
Data Risks of Your Existing Leave Management Solution
Without the modernization of a leave management solution, most organizations resort to their own flavor for managing leaves of absence (for their own reasons) and CIOs are taking notice of the associated risks.
Some organizations do everything in-house on spreadsheets because it’s cheaper and more hands-on. Some have their insurance carrier manage them since there is an existing business relationship so it seems like an easy option. Some use a third party that focuses on the employee experience but not that tracking, and others that help you track leave but provide no support to employees.
Then of course there are those who attempt to Frankenstein a few of those solutions together.
The fact that most organizations don’t have a standardized approach to managing their leaves, and instead stick with what’s consistent, is likely a sign that change is long overdue.
When it comes to data security, here is where you may be susceptible:
Data Leaks
Managing leave through outdated systems, like paper forms or unsecured spreadsheets, heightens the risk of data leaks. Sensitive employee information, such as personal details and medical data, can be easily accessed or mishandled, leading to breaches. Ensuring proper digital security measures are essential to protect employee confidentiality.
Sharing Sensitive Information (Manager or HR)
According to a joint study by Stanford University Professor Jeff Hancock and security firm Tessian, 88% of data breach incidents are caused by employee mistakes. How certain employees are classified will impact the amount of data they can access, but a lack of training and awareness around leave management can create exposure to risk
In traditional leave management systems, HR or managers often share sensitive information through unsecured channels. This practice increases the risk of unauthorized access or accidental disclosure. Implementing secure communication methods and role-based access controls is crucial to safeguarding personal and sensitive employee data.
Version Control
Using Excel files or Google Sheets for leave management can result in version control issues, with multiple versions being saved over or exposed to unauthorized users. This lack of a centralized, secure system leads to data inconsistencies and potential breaches. Adopting a centralized leave management system ensures data integrity and security.
Email Vulnerabilities
Emailing leave requests and approvals is prone to vulnerabilities such as phishing attacks, interception, or accidental forwarding. This method exposes sensitive information to potential breaches. Utilizing secure, dedicated platforms for leave management minimizes these risks and ensures that employee data is handled securely and confidentially.
Tilt Recap: Change can be hard, but even the most well-oiled HR machines face serious data security challenges if modern solutions aren’t applied to the leave management function. From data leaks to sharing sensitive information with the wrong people to document version control to email mishaps, CIOs should take a fresh perspective on the tools HR has at their disposal to effectively and securely manage leaves of absence.
The Cost of Getting Leave Data Security Wrong
An organization’s failure to protect employee data can have serious consequences. Breaches of sensitive information can lead to legal issues and severely harm the company’s reputation, resulting in lost customers, financial instability, and expensive lawsuits.
Inadequate data protection can also lead to significant fines, creating a substantial financial burden. Depending on the type of data exposed, regulatory bodies or government organizations may impose further penalties which most would agree is less than ideal.
The risks of not securing employee data are clear, and it is crucial for companies to take appropriate measures to safeguard this sensitive information.
How Modern Leave Management Solutions Remove Data Security Risks
A reliable way to ensure your employees’ information stays safe and secure when they embark on a leave of absence journey is to partner with a leave of absence solution, like Tilt, with data security as its backbone.
Tilt’s modern approach to leave management reduces data security risks in the following ways:
Centralized Data Management: By consolidating leave data in a secure, centralized system, Tilt eliminates the risks associated with scattered, unsecured spreadsheets or paper records. This reduces the chance of data leaks and ensures that all information is stored securely.
Access Controls: At Tilt we implement role-based access controls, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive employee information. This minimizes the risk of unauthorized access and accidental data breaches.
Encryption: All data within Tilt’s system is encrypted, both in transit and at rest. This encryption ensures that sensitive information remains protected from interception or unauthorized access.
Audit Trails: Tilt maintains audit logs of all activities related to leave management. This transparency allows for monitoring and quick identification of any suspicious activities, thereby enhancing security.
Secure Communication: Tilt replaces unsecured communication methods, such as email from HR or managers to the employee, with secure, in-system messaging and notifications or emails directly to Tilt’s leave success managers. This reduces the risk of data exposure through vulnerable communication channels.
Compliance: Tilt is SOC 2 Type II compliant, and is designed to help organizations stay compliant with all data protection regulations, and Tilt regularly updates the platform to meet evolving legal requirements.
While HR leaders need an overlying understanding that their employee data is secure, CIOs, for example, might want to dig more into the specifics.
Take a look at Tilt’s security information for every data security query you or your C-suite might be interested in.
It only takes one data security breach to sink your organization’s ship, and most HR teams today aren’t equipped with the protection necessary to avoid the risk forever.
Change can be scary, and depending on the organization you’re in it might seem impossible, but it’s important. Not only to you, your team and your organization, but to the employees who deserve to know that when they take a leave of absence for something deeply personal their sensitive information is safe and secure.
Improving your data security means change, and if your organization strives for data security perfection it may require a significant change.
Changing your leave management solution to a modern, automated, and easy-to-use software like Tilt is an important step toward data security perfection across your organization.
Tilt Recap: Tilt’s automated leave management solution removes your organization’s exposure to data security risks. Tilt’s platform houses all leave data safely and securely under one digital roof and ensures your organization is safeguarding your employees’ information no matter the number of leaves your organization is experiencing.
Tilt is leading the charge in all things leave of absence management through easy-to-use tech and human touch. Since 2017, our proprietary platform and Empathy Warriors have been helping customers make leave not suck by eliminating administrative burdens, keeping companies compliant, and providing a truly positive and supportive leave of absence experience for their people.
