Your Complete Guide to Employee Data Management

There is a lot of employee data to keep track of in a company, from medical records to working hours and bank details. The data stretches all through an employee’s life cycle in a company.

This data benefits any company looking for better project management and employee performance management. However, managing the data is not easy unless you adopt good employee data management practices.

Employee data management is the process of collecting, storing, and safeguarding employee data. Here’s how you can create a good employee data management plan:

1. Identify Which Data Goes Where

Gather and store your employees’ data. When employee data is not well collected and stored, you can get lawsuits and a poor brand reputation. 

Start by marking different stages from an employee lifecycle as per your employee directory to make your work easier. For instance, you can start with the recruitment process, onboarding tools, and agreements. 

Create data categories such as:

• Personal details 
• Salary and employee benefits 
• Job description 
• Employee performance 
• Employee feedback

Each category should have different methods of storage. For instance, personal details should be securely stored with limited access. Meanwhile, general categories like employee job titles can be accessed across the company.

The next step is looking at the loopholes in your employee database management system. For instance, you can look at whether there is data stored in the less sensitive categories that should be in the highly sensitive ones and vice-versa. 

Also, look at each category’s extent of access and ensure it matches the data sensitivity level. Finally, ensure each of your employee data management protocols aligns with your regional or state data protection laws. 

2. Improve the Way You Collect Data

Once you have identified how you currently collect and store your employee documents and the loopholes, you need to improve how you do it. First, you need to adjust the data collection methods to avoid errors. You can start with the basic mistakes like data repetition or missing data like employee IDs. 

Next, adhere to the basic data collection ethics, like getting your employees’ permission to collect and store their data. That is especially important when doing rigorous project tracking to determine employee engagement and productivity rates. 

Ensure employees understand what information you’re looking for, how you use it and keep it safe. Here are some of the best employee data collection practices.

The other improvement option is automation using secure employee database software, employee management software, and others. You can also go for an all-in-one platform for some of the functions. 

For instance, TrackingTime can help you with project management details like employee time tracking.

Automating your data collection methods ensures access and eliminates human error. As a result, you end up with accurate and well-organized employee data in a central location that is accessible even on mobile devices. 

Most employee management software solutions also have features that allow users to visualize data in more presentable formats. The best employee data management systems offer integration options to cloud-based services like Google Suite. The secure access it provides makes it easy for managers to keep track of employees’ data, especially remote employees. 

3. Conduct Regular Audits

Conduct regular audits to ensure the employee data management systems are working correctly. Here is a checklist on how to conduct your employee data management processes audit:

Assemble an internal audit team. You can also hire an external employee data management specialist to help with your audit process. Include HR, IT, and legal personnel.

Delegate roles to each team member for efficiency. That also helps you avoid duplication and encourage a more engaging work culture for increased employee morale.

Gather the data you require for your auditing process. Also, check for employee management system errors. Remember to include employee data in your outsourced systems.

Identify the details you want to get from the employee data you gathered. It can be the source of the data, how you’re collecting the data, data categories, and the reason for data collection, among others. 

Create a data register of all employee data processing. That is not only for your employee record but also because data protection regulatory bodies ask for one to check for compliance.

Review your employee data management processes. Make adjustments by creating custom workflows. 

Conduct regular audits to check the quality of your employee data management processes and revise your organizational goals.

4. Train Your Employees

All your effort to ensure good employee data management in your company will be in vain if your employees don’t understand the guidelines and the systems you use. 

For instance, in most companies, the finance officers and IT team handle the payroll processes and attendance reports. That is why your employees should learn a company’s employee data management protocol.

The training ensures every employee knows the right way to collect, store, or dispose of an employee database file. They also need to understand factors like labeling and identifying the categories of sensitive data that require protection. 

Apart from the technicalities of employee data management, your employees need to understand legal compliance laws. You can create an in-house compliance guide they can refer to when they need a data management solution. 

5. Create a Data Breach Plan

Data breaches are unpredictable and can be very damaging to your reputation. However, the blow is softer if you already have a plan. A good plan saves you time and resources that would be otherwise wasted trying to develop a plan during the breach.

An IBM report has shown that the cost of managing a data breach has grown to $ 4.37 million, a 10% increase from 2020’s $3.92 million. The report also states that managing a data breach within the first 200 days saves companies a 30% cost.

Here are some pointers you can follow to create a good data breach plan:

• Identify your project’s current and potential data risks like cyber attacks
• Establish a response team to contain and manage the data breach quickly 
• Invest in tools and policies to help detect and contain a data breach. These include access policies and systems and a good cyber liability insurance plan.
• Outline the data breach communication plan to all employees to ensure prompt action
• Define the containment and situation-amending protocol. For instance, if the breach resulted from poor security on project management software, your course of action can be changing providers.

After executing the plan in the event of a breach, evaluate how well you handled the data breach and modify any module item if necessary. 

Best Practices For Employee Data Management

You need an employee data management plan to help you administer your company’s employee data. In addition, you need to streamline your policies, protocols, and processes to serve you properly, ensuring efficiency within organizations.

Start by identifying which data goes where. Then improve the way you collect data. Conduct regular audits to ensure your data management systems are working well. Next, train your employees on data security, and have a data breach plan.

Follow each of these processes, and you’ll practice impeccable employee data management.

Related Articles

• 10 Time Management Strategies to Boost Your Team’s Efficiency
• Best Practices for Internal Project Workflow Management
• Get a Clear Picture of What’s Getting Done: Project Management by TrackingTime
• Best Practices for Better Data Quality in Business Intelligence