Developing Your Employee Handbook: What Workers Need to Know About Protecting Electronic Data

Every North Dakota business with employees should have an employee handbook to ensure everyone at the company is on the same page regarding expectations like absences, dress code, business ethics, fraternization, and media relations, just to name a few.

Another critical policy of any employee handbook should be electronic data protection. Unfortunately, the vast majority of security breaches in the workplace are due to human error. Many of these breaches could have been avoided altogether with a bit more insight and training.

Below are some ways employers can utilize aspects of their employee handbook to educate and assist workers in protecting electronic data.

Confidentiality Agreements

Every employee handbook should have a detailed Acceptable Use Policy or AUP as well as necessary confidentiality agreements. An AUP outlines what online behaviors and practices are acceptable or not for your company and allows you to have a safer network by limiting what employees can access.

Confidentiality agreements come into play anytime you have employees accessing sensitive data that must remain private for either ethical or legal reasons. You can include any general confidentiality agreements directly in the employee handbook so that it’s clear what the expectations are for employees from day one. Then, if additional agreements are necessary for certain workers, those documents can be added later.

Training

One of the best ways to offer workers the information they need to protect electronic data is to provide training courses on topics like:

• • Phishing emails
  • Spear phishing
  • Malware
  • Ransomware
  • Link manipulation
  • Fake websites
  • Password theft

There are many platforms available to assist with the training, and having a policy in the employee handbook that requires it will help keep your company’s electronic data secure. Plus, training gives your employees the knowledge they need to prevent cyber attacks from succeeding.

Policies for Everyone

There used to be a time in North Dakota when many computer policies only applied to the IT department as they had access to the databases and other important electronic information. However, these days, most employees can access a plethora of data with the click of a button.

That’s why taking any past IT policies and applying them to everyone in the employee handbook makes sense. You may need some assistance from your IT department on how to revise or rephrase certain aspects of the policies, but making them pertain to everyone promotes security and electronic safety.

Another vital detail in the employee handbook policies about protecting electronic data is limiting employee access to specific data. When employees understand that information may be kept from them for security purposes, they are more likely to comply and do what’s in the company’s best interest.

Assistance from SEAM Services

If you have a company in North Dakota and you’d like to keep its electronic data protected, get in touch with SEAM Services. While adequately training and preparing your employees regarding data protection is necessary, our services take things to the next level by offering document shredding, data destruction, IT asset recycling, and tracking and reporting. Learn more by visiting our website or giving us a call today.