France has long been the subject of criticism for their discrimination issues when hiring employees. To combat this CNIL has released recommendations for racial and diversity workplace surveys.
Here are the main insights based on the latest CNIL recommendations:
- Design surveys to be anonymous from the start
- Avoid cross-referencing data that could re-identify employees - the surveys should be processed in isolation and not cross-checked with other records
- Avoid direct ethnic/racial origin questions
- The best legal basis for processing these surveys would be legitimate interest, so define a legitimate purpose
- Ask for consent if the data collected will be sensitive
- Ensure participation is voluntary
- Inform employees of their rights before giving them the survey
- Consider using trusted third parties for analysing results
- Set clear retention periods (max 6 months recommended)
- Conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments
- Anonymise results before distribution
Do you follow the above principles in your workplace? Want to learn how to implement these?
We teach all the above in our IAPP approved courses
