Question

4. Working in HR requires handling significant amounts of information, usually in digital format, and this information is often confidential in nature.

a. Give an example of when you handle confidential information in work, at school, or at home.

b. What practices could you use to ensure private information is not leaked on the Internet?

c. Describe the features of a typical Employee Self-­?Service product an HR department would implement to handle large amounts of digital information.

d. Using a SWOT analysis, describe the advantages and disadvantages of introducing an HRIS into a company

Answer 1

a. One example of handling confidential information is the medical reports of the employee that he undertakes on the request of the employer. This information is generally kept confidential and is kept by the third party unless asked by the employer. We handle this information with care since the medical information is the sensitive data of the employee which he may not be keen on disclosing.

b. To ensure data privacy and security on the internet we can undertake state of the art cybersecurity measures prevalent in the industry. We can also benchmark the security practices of our competitors who are known for their data security. We can work with a third party who will be solely responsible for handling the privacy and security of the data.

c. Some of the self-service products which can be implemented by the HR may include the areas such as collecting the salary information, feedback mechanisms etc. The particular feature which will be important for those products to work efficiently would require attributes such as ease of use, less time engaging and user-friendly access to the product. The self-service product should easily be accessible to the employee where he would need to spend the minimum possible amount of time. The information that is needed by the HR should be specified clearly to undergo a smooth collection of information. The entire process of data collection should be of minimum possible time so that employees proactively use such self-service products.

d. SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:
The faster pace of gathering and managing the data.
Easy to recollect the data whenever required.
Reduced cost of handling paperwork.
Great reduction in time which can be used for other specific tasks to increase productivity.
Making the most of digital devices and access to internet/intranet.

Weakness:
Data will be exposed to the internet without accurate security measures.
The threat posed to the data privacy due to the leaking of important & sensitive information.
Dependency on electronic devices which can be problematic in case of unavailability of electricity.

Opportunities:
Increasing efficiency with implementing new and upcoming technologies.
Using best industry practices followed by the industry/competitors.
Sharing of information or data at any corner of the functioning of the firm.
Leveraging the information to analyze trends and draw out important information and trends.

Threats:
Increasing cost of implementing new technologies.
The threat of extinction of existing technologies and hence making our HRIS outdated.

Hence, Above facts showcase the SWOT analysis of HRIS in an organization.