Privacy at Work Place

Introduction

Privacy is the word we give to being able to keep certain information to ourselves and to control what happens to our personal information. It also refers to being able to do things without interference by others. Privacy issues can arise in all aspects of life. Federal privacy laws regulate the collection and handling of personal information through minimum privacy standards. These are known as the National Privacy Principles (NPPs). The NPPs apply to all private sector businesses with an annual turnover of more than $3 million, all private health service providers nationally, and a limited range of small businesses. Although some small businesses are not required to abide by federal privacy laws, all businesses should aim to comply with the privacy principles as a matter of best practice (Lloyd, 20-25).

Personal information is information that identifies a person. There are some obvious examples of personal information such as a person's name or address. Personal information can also include photos, credit history information, bank account details and even information about what a person likes, their opinions and where they work - basically any information where the person is reasonably identifiable. Personal information can be sensitive in nature such as information about a person's race, ethnicity, political opinions, membership of political associations, membership of professional associations and trade unions, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual preferences, health and genetic information or criminal records. The NPPs provide higher privacy standards when organisations are handling an individual's sensitive information. Best practice employers apply the same higher standards even where they are not covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to ensure that sensitive personal information is handled appropriately (Pivec, 10-18).

Employers will have access to personal information about employees. This information may be sensitive and employees may wish to keep this information private. This means that employers will need to think about the way in which they collect, use and disclose information they obtain from employees. In many cases, federal privacy laws will not apply when it comes to employee records. Federal privacy laws only apply to employee personal information if the information is used for something that is not directly related to the employment relationship between the employer and the employee. Nonetheless, best practice employers think carefully about any personal information that they have about their employees and treat that information in accordance with the privacy standards set out in the NPPs. It is good privacy practice for employers to tell employees when they collect their personal information. In doing so, the employer could tell the employee why they are collecting the information and who the employer might pass that information on to (Yan, 42-48).

Best practice employers allow employees to access personal information about themselves which is held by their employer. Employees should also be able to have that information corrected or verified if it is incorrect, out of date or incomplete. For the success of any organization, motivation of the human resource play an important role, if employees ...