HR teams handling sensitive files
How HR staff can handle complaint files, evidence photos, and employee records on a phone, alongside company policy.
An employee shows you a photo of a message on their phone and asks whether you need a copy. Or you are at a site visit and need to photograph something for a complaint file. It is easy to snap it and move on. That photo then lives on your phone, next to your own pictures, for as long as you forget about it.
In the moment
- Ask whether you need a copy at all, or whether the employee can send it through the approved channel.
- If you take a photo, note in your file when and why.
- Do not forward it through personal chat apps.
The same day
Move the file into your company's case system and delete the phone copy, then empty Recently Deleted. Check that your camera roll is not syncing to a personal cloud account. Your company's policy, and employment and data protection law where you work, decide where HR records may be kept. If your phone is managed by your employer, IT may be able to see some of what is on it.
If you must keep something on the phone
Sometimes a file has to stay for a few days. Keep it out of the camera roll, behind a lock that is not your phone passcode. A locked folder or a vault app can do this. VaultWell, coming soon, is one choice; ask IT and legal first. Keep the minimum, and set a reminder to remove it.
When people pass your phone around
Colleagues ask to see a photo from the team lunch. Keep work evidence separate, and you will never have to think about it in that moment.