“Confidentiality is the essence of being trusted.” – Billy Graham***
I recently wrote a confidentiality policy for a client. Having worked so many years in healthcare, there are so many instances in which the subject of patient confidentiality as well as employee confidentiality are raised in conversations and in-servicing. It is easy for healthcare workers, like employees in other industries, to become immune to conversations and documentation that includes confidential data. This creates the importance of necessitating staff caution and the need to guard their tongues.
What I recognize, however, in other industries, is how loosely some companies and industries handle this subject and its potential violations.
When I worked in the corporate world, it was not unusual for me to have numerous confidential documents laying on my desk. These documents might have easily included employee reports with salaries listed, confidential letters addressed to or written from our legal department regarding something I had to address, management memos, an employee’s complaint or my documentation on some investigation I was conducting complete with names and other important information. It was easy to grow accustomed to such material covering the surface of my workspace and even easier to dismiss the possibility that anyone coming into my office to speak with me would be the slightest bit interested in any of it. As much as I trusted these individuals, I would catch myself whenever I found myself being too relaxed with confidential materials. I had remind myself to remove or cover it when someone entered no matter who they were.
Why Confidentiality Policies Are Necessary
Caution should be exercised regardless of company, job or industry to protect, clients, customers and proprietary information. What I have noticed in smaller companies, houses of worship and even within larger organizations with non-management staff who have been given a certain level of responsibility, is that they seem oblivious to the need for confidentiality with those they have close ties with. Some will even get a little miffed when their friends withhold “juicy” information from them, even though it is confidential information that is not meant for them to know.
There was a time when companies had policies (some still do) that prohibit employees from discussing their pay with one another. While this has and still may be a means of hiding inappropriate pay practices, the reality is, outside of the pay practice issue, there is no need to know another person’s pay rate. I know of more than one instance where information was left lying on the desk of an unsuspecting supervisor and the wrong staffer caught a glimpse of someone’s pay. Not only did they see it but they shared what they saw with coworkers. Management then had to do damage control in the department and usually found themselves having to double check compensation of everyone on the team to ensure fairness in pay rates. Sometimes it is the non-management staff member with leadership responsibilities, who innocently shared the information with his friends in the department.
Truly there is nothing innocent about such activities and appropriate actions should be taken to address the behavior. In one instance I became aware of, the manager was totally unaware of just how much information the supervisor was sharing with her friends in the department. She did not find out until she was hit with legal action on behalf of an employee who complained about multiple issues, one of which was favoritism. An investigation of the employee’s concerns uncovered multiple breeches of confidentiality.
A confidentiality policy might help key leaders and staff in your organization become cognizant of the need for relevant information on your company, clients, members and partners is properly secured and held in the strictest of confidence. Even if you are in the business of blowing bubbles in the air for kids, key data and processes in the back office may be legally binding (such as contractual material) or proprietary and thus essential to the successful operations of your business.
Sharing the wrong information could give a competitive edge to your competition, cause you to lose the trust of key customers or create inner chaos within a team that is highly dependent upon one another for success.
What Should Teams View as Confidential?
While it might seem obvious, everyone may not always identify what you deem confidential. Never assume that people will know what is confidential; for example a client listing might not automatically be viewed as confidential because it may not have extensive information listed. It might have a cover page or the detailed information might be inside a folder or binder, however, one would be best served to consider how such documents, binders or folders are handled. Leaving it laying on the desk for anyone to pick up and read when in the office alone could lead to problems. Clarify for all what you consider to be confidential. Generally speaking, the following should be viewed and treated as confidential:
- Anything marked confidential
- Employee or member data such as contact, income, payment, complaint information, social security numbers etc.
- Marketing strategies
- Restricted financial information that is not public or circulated
- Records pertaining to customers, clients and partners
- Patents, formulas or new methods of performance or processing
- Current or prospective client or membership listings
- Floor plans, documents exhibiting office layouts, desk and seating charts etc.
- Confidential information shared with by outside parties
- Health information
- Research data
- Trade secrets – which is proprietary information believed to provide a business with an economic benefit given the fact that other businesses are not privy to this secret
Consideration also needs to be given for those times when there is a breech in your confidentiality practices. These are times when someone errs and confidential information is shared, disseminated or leaked to others. Some examples include a company laptop that is used by an employee and the laptop gets stolen or when someone steals the client list that is laying on top of the marketing manager’s desk.
You cannot take too many precautions. It is better to be overly cautious than to face a grave mistake you live to regret.
10 Tips for Maintaining Confidentiality
- Keep confidential data in locked file cabinets or drawers
- Share Information on a Need to Know Basis only – if they don’t have a legitimate business reason to hear or discuss information do not share it, even if it seems harmless.
- Never leave sensitive material laying around
- Do not remove confidential material from the premises without management authorization
- Do not access or view confidential information on unsecured devices
- Shred confidential material when it is no longer pertinent
- Stress to team members that information is never to be shared with unauthorized persons without leadership authorization
- Return all confidential documents and documents of a sensitive nature to the organization up termination if any were approved for removal in the first place
- Report violations of the organization’s confidentiality policy
- Prohibit sharing of protected passwords and logins for electronic programs and devices