Preventing payroll data breaches: How a trusted partner can boost security, confidentiality, and compliance
Posted On 17.12.2022
Payroll is a complex, time-consuming challenge that can test the efficiencies of your in-house team. Larger organisations can struggle to scale up processes and maintain streamlined, accurate payroll operations as they build their business. Because as your headcount grows, so does your margin for error.
By partnering with a specialist payroll provider, companies can achieve the measurable cost and resource savings you’d expect from an outsourced model – plus the peace of mind that comes from properly managed personal and financial information. Keeping employee data secure and confidential is a business-critical concern for several reasons:
• Legal compliance: Under data protection laws, you’re required to implement appropriate measures to ensure personal data stays safe and private.
• Risk prevention: Breaches of personally identifiable information can result in identity theft, financial fraud, reputational damage, and legal penalties.
• Trust and confidence: Ensuring the security and confidentiality of sensitive staff and financial data is critical to your success and standing as an employer.
• Business continuity: Data breaches can disrupt payroll operations, blindsiding your business with unexpected downtime and productivity losses.
• Cost control: Security issues can trigger significant expenses in the form of legal fees, fines, compensation claims, and crisis management activity.
The price of poor data security is rising. According to an IBM Security report, the global average cost of a data breach increased 2.6% from £3.06 million in 2021 to £3.14 million in 2022. What’s more, infringements are becoming more frequent.
So how can large enterprises protect employee details and prevent the financial and PR fallout of a data leak? Our best practice guidance helps you safeguard staff information – while maintaining costs, confidence, and payroll compliance.
Understand your legal requirements
Organisations that handle sensitive employee and financial data in payroll services must comply with several legal requirements and regulations in the UK, such as the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a piece of EU legislation that sets out rules for collecting, processing, and storing personal data, including requirements to obtain valid consent from individuals to process personal information and report data breaches to the relevant authorities.
• The Data Protection Act 2018 regulates how companies collect, store, and use personal data, including payroll information. The legislation sets strict standards for data protection, including appropriate security measures to safeguard payroll data and the requirement to only collect and use payroll information for lawful purposes.
Noncompliance can lead to severe penalties and reputational damage, so take steps to ensure your payroll team know your company’s legal responsibilities. Refresher training, regular internal audits, and crystal-clear policies and procedures can boost awareness and head off costly data breaches.
Cover common compliance gaps
Creating a culture of compliance across your core team is difficult enough for large organisations. It’s even harder when dealing with volume temporary recruitment or during seasonal hiring spikes. This is where an outsourced solution ensures nothing slips through the net.
Experienced at dealing with employee data on an enterprise-wide scale, payroll and HR services providers deliver compliance for permanent staff and seamlessly flex systems to safeguard a fluctuating temporary workforce.
In addition to standard personnel services, including candidate sourcing, background screening, right to work checks, contract management, and onboarding, a trusted outsourcing partner will payroll temps for the duration of their contract and securely store and handle highly sensitive data in line with rapidly evolving regulations.
Protect yourself with targeted tech
Technologies such as firewalls, anti-virus software, intrusion detection systems, and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools safeguard sensitive employee and financial data with state-of-the-art security measures.
By implementing these technologies, you can strengthen and streamline your payroll processes, while shielding personal information from security threats. However, it’s important to note that these tools don’t negate the need for solid prevention practices and a culture of data awareness.
So back up best practice processes – from regular monitoring to routine security training – with a company-wide commitment to compliance.
Work with a payroll security expert
Adecco’s outsourced payroll solutions remove the day-to-day demands of delivering accurate, compliant payments – and keep sensitive employee and financial information consistently safe, secure, and confidential.
Simplify payroll processes and lock in long-term compliance with support from our HR outsourcing specialists. Get in touch to find out more.
Maximise your hiring success: The benefits of recruitment agencies for small businesses
Hiring can be a challenge, particularly after years defined by economic uncertainty. Estimates for 2023 show that the labour market is over a million people short of the pre-pandemic trajectory.
How to attract and retain talent in the engineering sector in 2023
Demand for engineering talent continues to rise, following shifts in working patterns, changing consumer preferences, and the heightened need for digital transformation brought on by COVID-19. The UK faced skills shortages even before COVID-19, with Brexit and the fall in sterling driving talent to move back to their home countries…
Payroll compliance – staying on the right side of evolving regulations
The knock-on effects of payroll non-compliance can be far-reaching, placing your organisation at risk of hefty fines and reputational damage. As a business, operating in line with current regulations prevents errors and fraud in payroll processing – and is…