Two-thirds of recently surveyed companies have no CPO; 70% lack privacy department
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (January 25, 2007) – Despite increasing concerns surrounding employee privacy and compliance issues, 70% of 145 surveyed companies indicated that their organizations had no privacy department. In addition, 75% did not have a chief privacy officer in place to manage the tricky and complex issues associated with employee privacy.
The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp – formerly HRI), in conjunction with HR.com, conducted the Employee Privacy Practitioner Consensus Survey in January 2007.
“Emerging technologies, such as those associated with electronic monitoring of employees and the storage and access of personal information, have brought the issue of privacy to the forefront. It’s surprising to see that more organizations are not formalizing their policies and procedures. There are not a lot of guidelines in place for organizations, and we need to take these issues out of the shadows and tackle them head on in a way that ensures privacy of the individual and privacy of the corporation at all levels,” says Jay Jamrog, Senior Vice President, Research at i4cp.
Of the 70% of organizations without a privacy department, 53.8% said HR oversaw privacy compliance, while 23.9% said it was the legal department’s responsibility. Almost 5% said compliance fell under security, and 17.7% indicated “other," which included IT, corporate auditing and records management.
When it came to the number of employees per organization charged with employee compliance programs, the numbers were markedly similar for those that had privacy departments and those that didn’t. Eighty-one percent of organizations without an employee privacy department said that one to five employees were assigned to privacy compliance programs, while of those with a designated department, 74.5% had one to five employees. Almost 8% of those in the former group had six to 10 employees, while 11.2% had more than 10. In the latter group, 13.7% had six to 10 employees and 11.8% had more than 10.
The study also explored the education and degrees/licensure or certifications required for those dedicated to managing employee privacy issues and the reporting structure surrounding such positions -- 34.6% of companies with a CPO said a law degree was a requirement for the position.
Other trends that surfaced in the survey results surrounded the monitoring of electronic communications, the effect of monitoring on morale, and the impact of emerging technologies such as blogs and GPSs on privacy.
For more information about this study or to receive a full copy of the results, please contact Greg Pernula at (727) 345-2226.
About i4cp, inc.
The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp, inc.) improves corporate productivity through a combination of research, community, tools and technology focused on the management of human capital. With more than 100 leading organizations as members, including many of the best-known companies in the world, i4cp draws upon one of the industry’s largest and most experienced research teams and executives-in-residence to produce more than 10,000 pages annually of rapid, reliable and respected research and analysis surrounding all facets of the management of people in organizations. Additionally, i4cp identifies and analyzes the upcoming major issues and future trends that are expected to influence workforce productivity and provides member clients with tools and technology to execute leading-edge strategies and “next” practices on these issues and trends. i4cp is a for-profit company with offices in St. Petersburg, FL.