Things more fun to discuss than data security:
The most compelling shade of beige
Optimal glue to use for dioramas
Plot points to Carrot Top movies
While we understand that discussing the merits of “Chairman of the Board” as a cinematic masterpiece is more fun than most things in life, talking about data security when it comes to leave of absence management is often overlooked and even more often swept under the rug.
But it shouldn’t be, because what’s very exciting (not in a good way) about data security and leave of absence management is when a lack of data security causes major compliance risks within your organization. Prioritizing data security may not be the sexiest topic, but your legal and compliance department will thank you for putting it at the forefront when administering your leaves of absence.
Here’s why…(get excited!)
Importance of Leave of Absence Data Security and Integrity
Leave of absence data security and integrity go hand in hand to ensure the protection and reliability of sensitive employee information. But what do we mean when we talk about data security and integrity? Let’s dive in.
Confidentiality: Data security is essential to maintain the confidentiality of leave of absence data, which helps ensure that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive information. Unauthorized access could lead to data breaches, privacy violations, and even identity theft.
Data Accuracy: Data integrity ensures that leave of absence records are accurate and consistent. When data is tampered with or manipulated (or subject to human error), it can result in inaccuracies, potentially leading to misunderstandings, disputes, or incorrect decisions regarding an employee’s leave entitlements. Bolstering your data security measures helps prevent unauthorized alterations or deletions which can lead to inaccuracies and potential violations.
Data Storage: Leave of absence records must be stored in a manner that prevents unauthorized access, loss, or damage and should be a key component of your data security measures. Secure storage methods, such as encryption and access controls, can help protect data integrity by safeguarding the records.
Data Transmission: Data security also pertains to the secure transmission of leave of absence data. When this information is shared between your HR team, the employees’ managers, or other relevant parties, it must be transmitted in a way that prevents interception or tampering. Secure communication methods help maintain data integrity during transmission.
How to Make Your Leave of Absence Data Secure
Now that we’ve covered why data security should be prioritized in your leave of absence process, let’s talk about the steps you can take to help improve your data security.
Access Control: Implement role-based access controls, ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to leave data. It’s a best practice to regularly review and update access permissions as roles within the organization change.
Data Encryption: Use encryption for data both at rest (stored on servers or in databases) and in transit (when being transmitted between systems or users).
Secure Storage: Store leave data in secure, offsite, and redundant locations, such as cloud-based storage with strong security measures. You should avoid single points of failure such as storing sensitive information on an unshared hard drive that could get stolen or compromised.
Employee Training: Conduct training programs to educate employees about the importance of data security, including the handling of leave of absence data. Promote strong password practices and multi-factor authentication.
Data Retention Policy: Establish and enforce a data retention policy to ensure that leave of absence data is stored for the necessary duration.
Regular Auditing and Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring and auditing of systems and data to detect any unauthorized access or unusual activities. Respond promptly to any identified security breaches or anomalies.
Compliance with Regulations: Stay up-to-date with relevant data protection regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or local labor laws, and ensure that leave data handling complies with these regulations.
Vendor Security: If using third-party leave management software or solutions, ensure that the vendor adheres to strong security practices and protocols. Here’s an example of what that might look like.
Incident Response Plan: Develop and regularly update an incident response plan for handling data breaches or security incidents.
Regular Security Training and Awareness: Educate your HR team and your employee population on the importance of data security and best practices for protecting sensitive data.
Getting Leave Data Security Right
While Carrot Top never made a movie (that we know of) about the exciting world of data security, that shouldn’t undermine its critical importance to your business operations. The risks of your leave data being compromised or leaked can have serious consequences on your organization and the well-being of your employees, so make sure you have the necessary measures in place to keep your data safe and secure.
If you are looking at 3rd party vendors to manage your leaves of absence, ensure that data security is as high a priority for them as it is for your organization. When it comes to leaves of absence management, their points of failure become your points of failure so do your due diligence.
Stay Up to Date with Leave of Absence Laws
This one seems obvious, but keeps HR and People Ops leaders up at night just the same. Leave laws evolve over time, and more and more states are providing programs that organizations need to adhere to. Keeping up with them on your own is nerve-wracking at best, and a compliance minefield at worst.
These laws, which can vary at federal, state, and local levels, dictate employee rights and your obligations regarding time off for medical, family, or other protected reasons. You might not even realize that your outdated policies can lead to unintentional violations, resulting in more costly legal consequences and fines, and provide yet another avenue for having to mitigate reputational damage.
Your employees may file complaints or lawsuits if they feel their rights are infringed upon and non-compliance can disrupt workforce management, impacting productivity and employee morale.
Manually managing your leaves of absence requires you to continually monitor the leave law landscape and adapt your leave policies to align with evolving legal requirements. If you do look to outsource your leave management process, ensure they’ve got the leave law landscape on lockdown.
How Managers Impact Leave of Absence
Managers. They’re great at what they do but bless ‘em they (well most of them) don’t know a thing about their role in leave of absence. Managers can greatly impact leave of absence compliance within organizations as their actions (or inactions) can pose significant risks. Perhaps a manager misinterprets or misapplies leave policies, which can result in legal violations.
Maybe they deny eligible employees their entitled leave, or pressure them not to take it can lead. That can lead to costly legal consequences, including discrimination or retaliation claims. Additionally, inconsistent or biased decision-making by managers may create a hostile work environment, harming employee morale and retention.
If you’re manually managing your leaves of absence, make sure your process involves adequate training and clear communication with managers. This way you can help ensure they’re acting in accordance with leave of absence laws, minimizing legal and reputational risks while fostering a supportive workplace culture.
Does Dedicated Leave Management Software Keep You Compliant?
The short and unsatisfying answer is…it depends. Not all leave management vendors keep your organization compliant across all aspects of a leave to the same degree. It’s important to ensure the solution is equipped with leave law expertise, can manage all leave types across the country, prioritizes data security, keeps both your employees and managers educated and in the know at all times, automates tracking, and provides employee support from start to finish so deadlines aren’t missed, and makes form filing easy and standardized.
About Tilt
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.
