“How much should we be spending on recognition and awards programs for our employees?” It’s…
Employee Recognition & Data Security: What You Should Know
An employee recognition program is a fantastic tool to increase employee engagement and reinforce your company’s values. But are you protecting yourself and being as safe as you can with the data being used?
We’ve got some tips and best practices for you to consider:
Sending Employee Recognition Data
When sending your organization’s employee recognition data, it’s best to use SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) – SSH (secure shell). You want to use an SFTP because a regular FTP can be intercepted and read in plain text whereas SFTP is encrypted, which means it can’t be read as plain text. This is a much safer way of sending data opposed to email also.
Another thing to look out for is SSL certificates. At a minimum, when an employee is purchasing a product (with money or points received) be sure that those check out pages have SSL certificates to protect your employee’s data while the transaction is taking place. Look for a lock icon to the left of the URL:
Other sites may use different icons such as badges or seals located at the bottom of their site.
Password Complexities
As with any website or software passwords are a key factor in security. When selecting a recognition provider be sure to review their password policy. Are there forced password changes every 30-90 days? Are there character minimums? Some other password best practices:
- No duplicate passwords
- Passwords not stored in plain text
- Use strong passwords (with the help of a service like LastPass or similar password services)
Removable Media
Your employee recognition data should not be stored on removable/portable media like flash drives. There is a high-risk factor when data is stored on this type of hardware. It can get lost/left somewhere and it’s usually not protected. Ideally, employee recognition data should be stored on the provider’s protected servers (including cloud servers) where security and backups are built into IT processes.
Better Safe than Sorry
Data security is certainly a hot-button and critical topic when it comes to employee data. Initiating a discussion on the topics listed above sets a good foundation for safe data handling and the best recognition experience for your employees.
If you have more questions about a safe employee recognition program, contact us for more info!
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