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Data ethics in the financial sector: We need to take on the challenges together

The members of Finansforbundet trust that the data their employers hold about them are handled responsibly. There is greater concern about how employee data are used and will impact our professional lives in the future, shows an analysis.

5 min
English / Dansk

We leave digital footprints every day in our working lives. These trails are called employee data, and they say something about who we are, when we work, how we work and with whom we work.

Employee data can be used to streamline work processes, assign tasks and improve well-being and the working environment. Data can also be used to determine whom to hire, promote, give a raise to or fire.

Data ethics and employee data have moved up the agenda in our society – thanks to legislation in the area and the general technological development. Especially on the international scene, we see a tendency for employers to use new technology and software that can monitor and inform on the productivity, behaviour and whereabouts of employees.

80 per cent have no or only limited knowledge of which data their employer uses specifically and for what purpose. From the report “Dataetik i den finansielle sektor” (data ethics in the financial sector) prepared by the consulting firms Wilke and cph:learning for Finansforbundet.
- From the report “Dataetik i den finansielle sektor” (data ethics in the financial sector) prepared by the consulting firms Wilke and cph:learning for Finansforbundet.

An inherent condition of the job

In the financial sector in Denmark, there is widespread trust among employees and managers that data about them are recorded and used responsibly.

Financial undertakings make use of system logging, and they process financial and consumption data of their employees to detect potential money laundering and terrorist funding.

Telephone conversations and correspondence on share trading are used to document concluded agreements.

Many therefore consider employee monitoring as an inherent condition for performing tasks in the financial sector.

There is greater concern about how data are used and will impact our professional lives in the future than about how data are used today.

This is indicated in the report “Dataetik i den finansielle sektor” (data ethics in the financial sector), a report prepared by the consulting firms Wilke and cph:learning for Finansforbundet. The report looks at the role of employee data and data ethics in the financial sector and features expert interviews and offers insight into the members’ knowledge and experience of the use of employee data.

The background to the report and Finansforbundet’s interest in the area are to keep the union at the forefront of the possibilities and challenges that might follow from the increased use of data and technology in a work-related context.

What the members of Finansforbundet say

The more insight you have about the workplace’s use of employee data, the less concerned you are about the use of these data now and in the future.

80 per cent are positive or neutral about the fact that their workplace uses employee data to improve, for example, processes, the working environment and efficiency.

80 per cent have no or only limited knowledge of which data their employer uses specifically and for what purpose.

47 per cent are concerned about how data about them could be used in the future.

56 per cent do not know if their workplace has a policy on the use of employee data.

1 in 10 knows that they have access to the data their workplace records about them.

Less than 1 in 10 knows what happens to the data held about them when they stop working at the workplace.

Source: Dataetik i den finansielle sektor (data ethics in the financial sector)

Not the individual's problem

In the Danish financial sector, employers and employees have a close and trustful dialogue on what is reasonable to measure.

Even so, the report has found that many know little about which specific employee data their employer registers and uses about them.

The members express a desire for insight and reassurance that employee data are used sensibly and for relevant purposes. But it is not necessarily their own responsibility to grasp and ensure the concrete application of the data processing.

The members would like to see Finansforbundet and the union representatives engage in the challenges of employee data at the workplaces. Data ethics is not the responsibility of the individual, but a challenge we must address together.

What is employee data and data ethics?

Employee data are any form of data trails that we leave, from the time we apply for a job at a company to the time we stop working there. It concerns information that we or others have given, information from systems we work in and information from devices we are surrounded by, for example when we use our work phones, filing systems, Outlook and the internet/intranet.

Data ethics is about employing a good practice when collecting, using and sharing data. It goes beyond abiding by the rules that already apply through, for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Danish Data Protection Act. Data ethics and GDPR will often exist in symbiosis whereby data ethics may guide the business and its employees in those dilemma-ridden grey areas of the law that leave room for different interpretations.

Since 2021, it has been required by law that all large enterprises must supplement their yearly management’s review with a statement on the enterprise’s data ethics policy. This applies to all banks and data centres. Attention has specifically been given to the responsible management of customer data – following from the work to become GDPR compliant. In some companies, the statutory requirement has given rise to a broader discussion of the values and principles that should characterise the future use of data and IT, including employee data.

Source: Dataetik i den finansielle sektor (data ethics in the financial sector)

United in data ethics

In a digitised society, thousands of data trails are stored every single day. How do we achieve transparency of the type of data being stored at the workplace? And what these data are used for? Get knowledge and inspiration here.

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