While hiring employees can be an exciting step to growth, it does come with its many challenges. An often overlooked challenge is the security risks that can come from inviting employees into your office. While most recruits won’t be looking to cause trouble, there are always some bad eggs out there. On top of this, accidents and mistakes can happen regarding security that you need to be careful of. To help keep your company secure when hiring employees, here are some of the important security measures to consider.
Background checks
The first line of defence when onboarding new hires is background checks. The likes of a criminal record search can help to identify any red flags (such as convictions of theft or violence) that could make a candidate potentially pose a risk to your workplace. You can also consider asking for references or confirming an employee’s past job performance or qualifications by contacting certain people. There could be certain credentials or experience that is crucial to building trust – by reaching out to governing bodies and past employers, you can confirm whether an applicant is telling the truth or making up lies.
Physical access controls
Right now, you might be the only person with a key to your office. When hiring employees, you need to consider whether you will always be around to let them in or whether they need a key of their own. It’s important to only give keys to employees that you trust to be alone in your workplace. Other access controls like keycards supplied by companies like Synergis could be an alternative option – unlike keys, a keycard can be digitally tracked to determine when it has been used, and remotely disabled if it gets lost or gets stolen, providing more transparency and control.
Data protection
Data protection is also essential when hiring employees. Not only do you need to introduce and train protocols for handling client and company data, but you also need to protect your employees’ sensitive data. Use secure cloud storage to store this data and create backups. Make sure that you are also abiding by regulations like GDPR and CCPA. This includes giving people the option to reject cookies, opt out of mailing lists and request deletion of certain data if they don’t want you storing it. This DQM GRC guide offers more tips for engaging employees in data protection.
Phishing training
Phishing is becoming a more common method of cyberattack in which a criminal poses as someone trusted (such as a client, supplier, bank, governing body or even a colleague) in order to extract sensitive information. Many companies are successfully targeted by phishing every day. Employees need to be trained to detect signs of phishing – such as checking email addresses and phone numbers against records, and never giving away passwords or financial information via these communication channels. There are courses you can pay to put your employees on, or you could simply dedicate some time during onboarding to personally train them about phishing.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: Susanne Plank
