Personal Info

[Hettyjen]

My boss has just instructed us all to download planday app to record our hours and shift times. We can message each other for swapping shifts etc.
We each have a password to log in with, however, I am concerned about all our personal info being on this app. Nat ins no, bank a/c no, sort code, dob, full address. I do online banking but would know if that had been hacked, coz I check it regularly, however if my identity had been cloned it might be a very long time before I know.
Am I being silly? Thoughts please.

[Zacs-Master]

Does ‘planday’ Ask you for such info. Sorry not familiar with it.

[fiction-factory]

I'm not sure why the app would have or need that info. Have they said it will be held on there? Are you also concerned about the company's existing HR and payroll systems being hacked?

[Zacs-Master]

Having had a quick look, it would seem that it’s cloud based. I’m pretty sure the developers will have thought about security for employees. Why don’t you ask at work?

[ToraToraTora]

you do not have to agree to it having access to your data.

[Hettyjen]

Thanks all,
We have only heard about it by email, so not been into work yet to ask questions.
It's a very small company, with no HR department, just the owner, a couple of duty managers and a wage clerk. In all about 20 partime staff, doing shifts, as I understand it the app was rolled out for staff to record hours for pay, swop shifts and see what extra hours are available. I'm just not happy with my personal info being on this app, enough for identity theft. (It's on there for wages to be calculated and paid, I assume)
It is password protected, so I'm not sure I'm overreacting ?

[New Judge]

One of the basic principles of the Data Protection Act is that any data kept has to be necessary. So my first question to your employers would be why is your Nat ins no, bank a/c no, sort code, dob, full address necessary to make this system work. If it is simply to record hours and swap shifts, etc. then a simple "Work No." or "Pay No." or whatever should suffice. If the hours taken from it are used to calculate your pay your employer must have the necessary details to enable that and it would be a simple matter to reference your work number (or whatever) with (say) your NI number (especially with just 20 employees). I've had a brief look at the demo for the system and I cannot see why the details you mention should be needed to run it.

I would be most unwilling to provide that sort of information on a Cloud-based app. My general rule of thumb is that my personal information goes nowhere unless I'm convinced it's necessary and I'm confident with the security arrangements (as far as I can be).

[Hettyjen]

New judge, that’s a fab answer. Thanks very much.