Why GDPR awareness training is necessary for all your employees?

Now that the General Data Privacy Regulation is in place, you’ll have looked at where personal data flows through your business. You’ll also have adjusted your systems or implemented new systems so that you can be compliant with the law.

The message about personal data security should’ve reached all your staff members, whether they collect, process, use and share personal data or not. Why? Because under the new regulation the whole team is responsible for data protection, not only the IT department.

The GDPR affects all aspects of a business and that is why all staff members need to play an active role in protecting personal data. To maintain compliance with the GDPR, employees need to understand how and where the data flows through your business. They also need to know where the risks lie and what their individual responsibilities are.

The purpose of training is to encourage a culture of data protection through the whole company. It’s useful if everyone has the same general training so there’s confidence amongst colleagues that they’re all participating in a common goal, ie the commitment to data protection. Of course not all staff members need a detailed knowledge of the regulation, but everyone needs to know what it is and how it affects your particular business. Each company will have different requirements and can tailor the training to suit themselves using GDPR compliance software.

Demonstrate compliance

Being accountable is one of the key principles of the GDPR. If you can show that your employees have received training in the regulation, and are aware of data privacy and protection, then it counts towards your compliance. Once you have a training programme in place, you need a kind of “log book” to prove the training status of your staff members. When new staff members join the company they need to be able to join the training programme too.

GDPR compliance software makes the training process straightforward in that all staff members can access the course online from each of their work stations. They can do the training in their own time and you can view their progress at any point. When new employees join, they can also join the system easily.

If updates to the law become available, it’s easy for staff to see who has and who hasn’t seen them. Also, if the supervisory authorities ask to check your compliance status, you can give them a comprehensive record of staff training to date.

Reduce the risk of a breach

If you can show that staff are trained and that you’ve made an effort to promote GDPR awareness, then you’re also less likely to incur a fine for a breach. When all staff members are aware of the issues surrounding the GDPR and what kind of events can cause a breach, then there’s less chance of one happening.

If you still need to train your staff, make sure you choose a system that’ll enable you to prove it for compliance purposes.

You can see how awareness training works by taking a free trial in GDPR compliance software.