The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) caused havoc in the run-up to May 25, 2018. Companies across all sectors, inside and outside the EU, had to meet the GDPR’s stringent data privacy and security requirements. Ensuring that all staff members had GDPR Employee Training is a key feature of the needs of the regulation.
The GDPR is not something to be dismissed as “somebody else’s problem”. By December 2018, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had around 8000 breach notifications. Ensuring that you meet the requirements of such a wide scope, and to be fair, complex, regulation, is challenging – but worthwhile.
Meeting the challenge of GDPR is a company-wide exercise – it involves the entire workforce to make sure you keep within the rules. Using e-Learning methods for your GDPR Awareness Training program is part of a wider remit of GDPR Employee Training.
Benefits of Using GDPR Awareness Training
GDPR Employee Training is something that you can do using e-Learning tools that make it fun, and that fit in with your staff’s busy schedules. This type of training is vital in ensuring the GDPR remit is met. GDPR Awareness Training also creates a feeling of ownership of the needs of GDPR compliance, making it a whole company exercise. This ownership then translates into better understanding of the issues and reasons for the GDPR and data protection.
When you implement a GDPR Employee Training program you see 5 major benefits:
Documenting compliance activity
Documentation and audit are an important part of meeting GDPR compliance. If you use a GDPR Employee Training programme for your staff, you naturally create documentation. If a breach does occur, you can show that you have taken the right steps to try and prevent it. This will help in any investigation of the breach and any subsequent fines.
General awareness of GDPR and cybersecurity
GDPR Awareness Training takes your staff through the requirements of GDPR. The training will give employees a good overview of what the GDPR entails. It can also be tailored so that any specific requirements that involve a department, e.g. marketing, can be more deeply explored. Staff will be able to give their own insight into how to meet the requirements whilst minimising operational changes.
Reduced human error
Human error is a major factor in data protection. Research by WillisTowersWatson found that 90 percent of cyber insurance claims could be traced back to human error. A programme of GDPR Awareness Training across your organisation, can help to reduce human error by educating your staff about where errors commonly happen and how to change the behaviour that leads to mistakes.
Meeting the Data Subject Access Rights (DSARs)
DSARs are a fundamental aspect of the GDPR and are covered by article 15 of the regulation. They cover the right of the individual to know what is being done with their personal data. For example, what is the purpose of collecting the data, who it is shared with, what categories of data does it fall under, etc.? Often, these rights are first met by staff on the customer frontline. A GDPR Awareness Training e-Learning course will teach staff about DSARs so they recognise when an individual is requesting that right under the GDPR.
Ticking the GDPR box through GDPR Awareness Training
Elizabeth Denham, ICO Commissioner in the UK said about GDPR that, the GDPR is:
“…about moving away from seeing the law as a box ticking exercise, and instead to work on a framework that can be used to build a culture of privacy that pervades an entire organisation.”
By carrying out a regular programme of GDPR Employee Training you are keeping ahead of the GDPR requirements. Article 39 and 47 of the regulation place security awareness training of employees as a central goal. Article 39 which sets out the tasks of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) states that they should:
“ the assignment of responsibilities, awareness-raising and training of staff involved in processing operations, and the related audits;”
Article 47, which goes into the binding corporate rules expected under GDPR includes:
“the appropriate data protection training to personnel having permanent or regular access to personal data.”
Using ongoing, e-Learning modules that provide up-to-date GDPR Awareness Training help to future-proof your company’s GDPR compliance.
Plan for Privacy with e-Learning and GDPR Awareness
Data privacy is an important part of modern customer relations, so it isn’t just a good idea to plan for privacy. In a Privitar report, they found that 78 percent of customers felt “violated” if a company did not protect their privacy. The GDPR was designed to improve the way a company manages the privacy of personal data. But meeting GDPR requirements, in an ever-changing world, needs education. A good GDPR Awareness Training for staff, using e-Learning, will help you to meet GDPR compliance. It will also imbue a sense of the importance of data security and help to maintain a secure workplace.
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