Impact of the GDPR on Working with a Remote Workforce

by Nidhi Arora Senior Editor

The world of the Internet has dramatically changed and with it has changed the way we communicate. From sending emails to sharing documents, paying bills, making a purchase, creating personal and professional profiles, and casually chatting, we all have entered our personal details over the Internet without giving it a second thought.

Have you ever wondered how much personal data you have shared online and what happens with this information? Let us remind you that this includes banking information, your IP addresses, social media posts, contact addresses, and even all the websites you have visited.

The common notion is that the companies collect all such information so that they can serve you better, give you relevant results, provide a better customer experience, and open up a direct communication channel with you.

Is this true? Well, this is the question asked and answered by the EU, resulting in the enforcement of the GDPR permanently starting in May of 2018. Let us begin with a bit of the basics about the GDPR.

What is the GDPR?

On May 25, 2018, the new European privacy regulation, called the ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR), went into effect. The regulations’ primary emphasis is the handling and storage of personal data, including information like names and home addresses. The GDPR’s primary requirements include requiring consent for data processing, anonymizing collected data, providing data breach notifications, and safely handling data transfer. A business should have a protocol for which information may or may not undergo utilization or allow access to it outside the office.

Plus, in a B2B setting, customers are obviously companies, but due to the relationship they handle, the businesses are considered individuals.

Under the GDPR, an individual will have:

1. The right to access – The individual has the right to access their personal data, and they can ask how their data is used by the company after it has been gathered.

2. The right to be forgotten – If the consumer is no longer the customer, or they withdraw their consent from a company, then they have the right to have their data deleted.

3. The right to data portability – Under this, the individual has the right to transfer their data from one service provider to another.

4. The right to be informed – Individuals must be informed before any data is gathered. In addition, consent must be freely given to them rather than implied.

5. The right to get the information corrected – This ensures that the individual can get their data updated, if incorrect or incomplete.

6. The right to restrict processing – An individual has the right to see that their record remains at one location and not be used for any other reason.

7. The right to object - This right says that the individuals can object the processing of their data for direct marketing.

8. The right to be notified – If there has been a data breach; the individual has the right to be informed of the breach within 72 hours of the company becoming aware of the breach.

How GDPR will Impact Companies That Delegate Work to Remote Teams

We are here to talk about the impact of this compliance on businesses that delegate certain processes and operations to other companies or build a dedicated team of experts to work on their needs at offshore locations.

When small businesses, or those that popped up from an idea in the form of startups, take benefit of teams located in different parts of the world, it is known as building a dedicated development team of experts for taking care of development, marketing, accounts, payroll, and any other business process in an affordable way. When a business outsources such processes, they must ensure that they take in to account the privacy and security of their business information and customer data. After the GDPR mandate, they only need to strengthen their security and privacy according to meet the compliance guidelines.

In article 28, the GDPR states that – “The Controller must impose to its Processor a list of obligations to follow such as, imposing organizational and technical procedures on the processes, thus increased communication between two parties and determining which party bears the risk upon non-compliance of an obligation.” Compliance for both the company and outsourcing firms has got stricter. Thus, it is necessary that both should work on protecting each other’s liability to ensure there is no data breach.

Fortunately, compliance with the GDPR can elevate businesses to a more secure and efficient workplace than ever before as they implement protocols and training for remote workers that can build upon existing skills.