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GDPR: Everything you need to know

The countdown clock is ticking on the biggest change to the European data protection regime in 20 years.

General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, will completely transform how most organisations process and handle personal data. Designed to harmonsise data privacy laws across Europe and offer greater privacy and protection to individuals, GDPR will have a huge impact on your people systems and HR data.

So what does this mean for your business?

Organisations that have regular and systematic monitoring of individuals on a large scale may look to bolster their teams to comply with the new legislation. According to the law, larger organisations generally must have a Data Protection Officer (DPO) who’s duties generally include working closely and across your business to mitigate the chance of a breach.

THE ROLE OF DATA PROTECTION OFFICER

First off, do you need a Data Protection Officer (DPO)? DPO Network Europe has pulled together this handy decision tree which brings a visual dimension to your hiring decision.

A DPO SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTION

So what would the CV of a Data Protection Officer look like? At Hudson, we believe that your DPO could come from a number of different backgrounds with varying levels of experience. This could include legal, compliance and risk, information security or IT processes to name but a few.

Job specification

The Data Protection Officer is a mid – senior level hire or contractor. Their principal duties will include but are not limited to:

• Inform, advise and issue strong recommendations to the company and its employees about their obligations to comply with the GDPR and other data protection laws.
• Monitor compliance with the GDPR and other data protection laws – this could include managing internal data protection activities, advise on data protection impact assessments, train staff and internal audits.
• Be the ‘go to’ first point of contact for supervisory authorities and for individuals responsible whose data is processed.

Required competencies and attributes

Challenge/ing: building relationships and respect at the most senior levels within our organisation, both supporting but also challenging senior stakeholders demonstrating excellent influencing skills.

Collaborative: able to simplify complex data and cascade the information to the business/front line teams to support good decision making. The successful candidate will need to facilitate and influence activity as well as make recommendations across internal audit, information security functions as well as marketing, legal and compliance teams through to the most senior levels.

GDPR: A PROJECT TEAM FOR DELIVERY

The race is on to get ready for GDPR. So how and what steps should you take to build a project team for delivery?

Two thirds of UK firms are already sourcing project teams; a mix of interim and permanent employees to help meet the implementation EU’s GDPR compliance deadline. These project teams consist of Software Engineers, Principal Engineers, Project Managers and Business Analysts which scale as and when the necessary skills are required.

A combination of technical and soft skills will be key to the long term implementation of your GDPR programme.EAD HOW TO BUILD YOUR PROJECT TEAM HERE

GDPR – CHECK SALARIES AND INTERIM RATES FOR YOUR NEW HIRES

Check UK salaries and pay rates by job title and region to ensure you’re GDPR related hires are competitive.