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HR: Leading the Charge in the Data Privacy Revolution

Over the past decade, technological advancements have generated an unprecedented surge in enterprise data, particularly within Human Resources. This “people data,” critical for compliance and organizational decision-making, continues to grow exponentially. Despite many companies having data and document retention policies, enforcement is often inconsistent, leaving organizations vulnerable as governments introduce new data privacy regulations at an accelerating pace. For global companies, this complexity is even more pronounced.

Traditionally perceived as a cost center, HR is uniquely positioned to lead the transformation toward better data privacy practices. By embracing this challenge, HR can not only mitigate security risks but also enhance its strategic influence within the organization. Data privacy is a universal concern that captures the attention of boards and executive teams across all industries and geographies, creating a pivotal moment for HR to step forward as a leader.

HR as the Guardian of the Most Sensitive Data

HR systems house some of the most sensitive information within any organization: personal identifiers, financial details, and even family information. This data is a prime target for cyberattacks, with legacy HR systems and outdated employee portals often serving as weak points. Unlike payment data, which can be changed after a breach, personal data remains static, creating a long-term risk that can be exploited repeatedly.

HR’s responsibility for safeguarding sensitive data extends beyond traditional cybersecurity measures. While IT focuses on preventing external access to networks and assets, HR must ensure that application-level data access is rigorously restricted. Effective data privacy strategies should operate under the assumption that cybersecurity defenses may fail, emphasizing the importance of proactive data governance.

A Strategic Opportunity for HR

HR’s role in data privacy isn’t limited to risk mitigation—it’s an opportunity to elevate its strategic importance. By integrating HR data with organizational analytics, HR can deliver valuable insights that extend beyond its function, answering critical questions such as:

• Where are security incidents occurring geographically, and which regions or offices are most affected?
• Which business functions pose the greatest risk for data security and privacy?
• Are terminated or high-risk individuals still accessing sensitive systems?

By leading the charge on data privacy, HR can drive transformative change, protect critical organizational assets, and position itself as a strategic partner in shaping the future of enterprise data governance. The time for HR to take the lead is now.

Compliance Risk over time

An inverse relationship with Overall risk over time

The graph above illustrates the evolving relationship between data age, compliance risk, and overall risk within an organization. As data ages, its risk profile changes significantly—posing unique challenges for enterprises managing large data sets.

Data Retirement / PII Lifecycle

Risk exposure of data is a function of volume (# of records), time accessible, and frequency accessed.  It is complicated by the fact that individual countries are passing laws to limit data privacy risk and data retention faster than many companies and HR departments can adapt.

In the U.S. laws are often directed at minimum retention periods whereas in EU nations the laws are typically more limiting to maximum retention periods.  This results in a complex data life cycle strategy for organizations where rules must be enforced for physical purging of certain data and documents typically based on an employee’s citizenship and/or work location.

The graph represents the data life cycle specifically in HRIS systems today.  Most regulatory reports, customer reports, and interfaces pull data only through the last 3 years of history while the older data remains idle in the system(s) without Analytics applications in place.

The average HRIS has a lifespan of 7-10 years.  This results in 60-80% of the data (data that is greater than 3 years in age) sitting mostly unused for any reporting, but still facing even more risk than active data.

Unfortunately, because the data is viewed as “history” it is often dumped into data warehouses and unsecured databases since implementation partners and IT departments will not convert full history into transactional systems due to the additional workload and cost.  In many cases the improvised security is insufficient to protect PII (Personally Identifiable Information).  Often, users and corporate compliance departments are unaware of the underlying technical exposure.

How does Fuse help?

• Identification of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in data and documents.
• Tagging of documents and data with retention policy rules
• Consolidation and Security of legacy and current data and documents
• End to end PII lifecycle management from import to purging of data and documents
• Manage Personal data for terminated employees, enable data portability GDPR requirements, right to be forgotten requests.