Synectics plc
1 Introduction
1.1 Synectics plc and its subsidiary companies (“we”, “us”, “our”, the “Group”) are classed as data controllers under data protection legislation. This means that as well as being committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal information, we are also responsible for deciding how we hold and use it.
1.2 We are required under data protection legislation to explain how we collect and use personal information and have opted to do this via this privacy notice (“Notice”).
1.3 You have been provided with a copy of this Notice because you are applying to work for us (the “applicant”, “you”, “your”), and we will collect and use your personal information as part of the recruitment process.
1.4 It is important that you read this Notice as it explains how and why your personal data will be used (namely for the purposes of the recruitment exercise) and how long it will be retained for.
1.5 This Notice also provides you with certain information that must be provided by us under data protection legislation. If you have any queries or if you want to raise an objection to something in this Notice, please feel free to contact us using the details below.
You are entitled to object to us processing your personal data, in the ways summarised in this Notice. However, if we cannot legitimately complete the processing of your application, you will not be successful in your application to work for us.
2. Data protection principles
2.1 We will comply with data protection legislation, which means that your data will be:
2.1.1 used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
2.1.2 collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes;
2.1.3 relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes;
2.1.4 accurate and kept up to date;
2.1.5 kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about, and
2.1.6 kept securely.
3. What personal information do we hold about you?
3.1 In connection with your application to work for us, we will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:
3.1.1 the information in your curriculum vitae (“CV”) and/or completed application form including any covering letter or email provided by you;
3.1.2 information about you that we obtain from your referees;
3.1.3 any information you provide to us during an interview;
3.1.4 credit information,
3.1.5 psychometric test results, where applicable, and
3.1.6 background and criminal information, where applicable.
3.2 We may also need to collect, store and use “special categories” of sensitive personal information. This includes information about your (i) race or ethnicity (ii) religious beliefs, (iii) sexual orientation, (iv) political opinions, (v) general health and wellbeing (including medical conditions), (vi) health and sickness records and (vii) criminal convictions and offences (if any).
4. How do we collect your personal information?
4.1 We may collect personal information about you from the following sources:
4.1.1 you directly;
4.1.2 recruitment agencies, from which we collect the following data: your name, address, age, current salary, copy of your CV, email address, phone number, date of birth and confirmation of your right to work and previous employment references;
4.1.3 background check providers, from which we collect the following data: name, address, national insurance number and your email address;
4.1.4 credit reference agencies, from which we collect the following data: name, address, national insurance number and your email address;
4.1.5 the Disclosure and Barring Service in respect of any criminal convictions you may have;
4.1.6 the referees whose details you provided to us; and
4.1.7 your LinkedIn profile and print certain pages containing information you have posted (or allowed to be posted) on LinkedIn.
5. How will we use information about you?
5.1 We will use the personal information we collect about you to:
5.1.1 assess your skills, qualifications, and suitability as a potential employee of our organisation;
5.1.2 perform background and reference checks, where applicable;
5.1.3 communicate with you about the recruitment process;
5.1.4 keep records related to our hiring processes;
5.1.5 decide whether to invite you to attend an interview;
5.1.6 decide whether to offer you the position you applied for and therefore enter a contract of employment with you; and
5.1.7 comply with any other legal or regulatory requirements (not specifically covered above).
5.2 It is in our legitimate interests as a business to decide whether to offer you employment with us (or not) in the role for which you have applied.
5.3 If we decide to offer you the position, we will then take up the references you have provided, and we may carry out a criminal record check and driving licence and motor insurance checks (amongst others) before confirming your appointment.
6. If you fail to provide personal information
6.1 If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualifications or work history), we will not process your application any further.
7. How we use sensitive personal information
7.1 We will use your sensitive personal information to:
7.1.1 consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process (for example during a test or interview) to account for any disclosed disabilities; and
7.1.2 to ensure we carry out meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting (for example by keeping information about your race, gender, sexual orientation, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs).
8. Background checks
8.1 If we intend to offer you a position, we may, if we have not already done so, perform the following third-party background checks:
8.1.1 any criminal convictions you may have with the Disclosure and Barring Service;
8.1.2 credit reference check with one of our credit reference agency partners; and
8.1.3 take up references from the referees whose details you provided to us.
8.2 It is in our legitimate interest to perform these checks because due to the nature of our work and the sectors in which we operate it is necessary to perform background checks on potential employees in case something in their background makes them unsuitable for the role in question.
9. Automated decision-making
9.1 You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.
10. Data sharing – who do we share your information with?
10.1 We will only share your personal information internally within the Group and external third-party companies when it is necessary for us to make an informed decision about whether to employ you or not. For example, we may use your name and e-mail address to contact SHL Psychometric and Ability Testing as part of our recruitment processes.
10.2 The companies in the Group are subject to the terms of an intra-group data transfer agreement which requires them to protect your information, should they receive it.
10.3 All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
11. Data security – how will we keep your information safe?
11.1 We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
11.2 We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.
12. Data retention - how long will you use my information for?
12.1 If you have been unsuccessful in your application, we will retain your personal information for a period of six months after we have told you our decision.
12.2 We retain your personal information for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. After this period, we will securely destroy personal information relating to unsuccessful candidates.
12.3 If we wish to retain your personal information on file, on the basis that a further opportunity may arise in future and we may wish to consider you for that, we will write to you separately, seeking your explicit consent to retain your personal information for a fixed period on that basis.
12.4 If you have been successful and become an employee, the data we hold on you will become subject to a different data retention period, as set out in our Data Retention Policy.
13. What rights do you have over your information?
13.1 Under certain circumstances you have the right to:
13.1.1 request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it;
13.1.2 request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected;
13.1.3 request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below);
13.1.4 object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes;
13.1.5 request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it; and / or
13.1.6 request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
13.2 If you want exercise any of the above rights, please contact the Data Protection Officer (details below).
14. Right to withdraw consent
14.1 When you applied to work for us you provided consent to us processing your personal information for the purposes of the recruitment exercise.
14.2 You have the right to withdraw your consent for processing for that purpose at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact the Data Protection Officer (details below) or Human Resources at HR@synecticsplc.com. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your application and you will automatically be withdrawn from the process.
15. Data Protection Officer
15.1 If you have any questions about this Notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the Group’s Data Protection Officer as follows:
By post: Data Protection Officer, Synectics plc, Synectics House, 3-4 Broadfield Close, Sheffield, S8 0XN
By email: legalandsecretarial@synecticsplc.com
16. Complaints
16.1 You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to your country’s data protection body.