Large workforce changes can lead to personal data mismanagement

Honda, the Japanese car manufacturer, builds 160,000 Honda Civics a year in Swindon, which is its only car factory in the EU.

The company has just announced that it will no longer produce work from its Swindon plant by 2021. This will mean a loss of more than 3,500 jobs, says the BBC.

The move was apparently prompted by global changes in the car industry, such as the decline of diesel and the rise of electric cars, and not, as many believed, prompted by the oncoming Brexit date.

Honda sells more cars outside of Europe than inside Europe, and has decided that the “relative size” of the marketplaces makes the Swindon production site unnecessary. However, its European HQ will remain in the UK for the time being.

The effects of this announcements upon affected employees is currently unknown, though Unite and local recruitment agencies are already involved. Business Secretary Greg Clark has promised to work with local MPs, civic and business leaders and union reps, to help Honda workers get new skilled jobs.

“The automotive industry is undergoing a rapid transition to new technology,” Greg Clark said.

“The UK is one of the leaders in the development of these technologies and so it is deeply disappointing that this decision has been taken now.”

Ian Howells, senior vice-president for Honda in Europe, told the BBC: “We’re seeing unprecedented change in the industry on a global scale. We have to move very swiftly to electrification of our vehicles because of demand of our customers and legislation.

“This is not a Brexit-related issue for us, it’s being made on the global-related changes I’ve spoken about.

“We’ve always seen Brexit as something we’ll get through, but these changes globally are something we will have to respond to. We deeply regret the impact it will have on the Swindon community.”

TENSOR EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ARE DIGITAL AND SIMPLE TO USE

When companies are undergoing huge staffing changes in order to address the modernisation direction – electrification for the automobile industry and automation in retail delivery, for example, it is vital that they have good workplace management software to make the transition as smooth and fault-free as possible.

If the employee information is not stored in one easy to access place, then errors can crop up in bulk situations. This is already a known issue with many workplaces, with a study by HR solutions provider CIPHR from late 2018 showing that a third of HR teams failed to delete employees’ personal data once the set retention date has passed.

Companies are taking a risk by overlooking this sort of data management, due to the new GDPR regulations which require companies to only store personal data that they have a clear and lawful need for.

Whether your employees’ personal data is stored in an old-fashioned filing cabinet or simply in many different folders on your computer system, a Time and Attendance UK workplace management system can help.

Beside checking attendance and worked times, the WinTA Time and Attendance suite also includes a dedicated HR module. This allows you to record and amend a vast amount of personal information about your company staff, including basic details, course attendance, educational history, language skills, professional institute memberships, skills, etc.