Privacy policy.
BeHeard Aotearoa Limited (we’ll use we, us, and our from now on) complies with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 (we’ll use the Act from now on) when dealing with personal information. Personal information is information about an identifiable individual.
We know maintaining client confidentiality and protecting personal information is important. Given the nature of our business, we have access to personal information and this policy explains how we will collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information. By accessing and using our services and website, you consent to the collection, use, storage and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this policy.
This policy does not exclude any of your rights under the Act. For further information on the Act, check out www.privacy.org.nz.
We may change this policy by uploading a revised policy onto our website. The change will apply from the date that we uploaded the revised policy. This policy was last updated on 22 March 2023.
Collecting personal information
We will only collect personal information relevant to our business relationship with you.
When we work with a business, we may collect personal information about the business, and its employees. This may happen:
when you provide that information to us to help us provide our services to you (as outlined in the Statement of Work or Consultancy Services Order);
through any contact you have with us (e.g., phone, email, or registration), or when you use our services generally; or
through third parties (where you have authorised this) or publicly available information.
We may also collect other confidential information from you about your organisation. This may include commercially sensitive information.
The personal information we collect from candidates generally include personal details such as your name, address, telephone numbers, email address, date of birth, education and employment history and other CV-related content, and bank account details.
We will collect this information directly from you when you:
register to use our services (including completing any form);
use our services; or
communicate or interact with us, whether by email, telephone or otherwise.
We also collect or obtain personal information:
that you clearly choose to make public, including on social media platforms such as LinkedIn; and
from authorised third parties such referees, researchers, credit reference agencies and law enforcement agencies (including information such as public information, references, results from referees or former employers, competency or medical tests, or background checks such as credit and criminal record checks).
You may choose to not provide us with any information, but not doing so may affect our ability to provide you with our services.
Holding and using personal information
We will use the personal information we collect:
to provide services to you;
to verify your identity and application details;
to communicate with you
to market our services to you. This may mean we will contact you electronically and/or sending you BeHeard Aotearoa publications and invitations;
to carry out our business which includes maintaining your account, planning, training, developing our services, research and analysis;
for identifying possible conflicts of interest;
to enforce our agreement with you in any way;
to fulfil our legal requirements (for example, disclosure to law enforcement agencies or the courts);
to protect and/or enforce our legal rights and interests, including defending any claim;
to improve the services that we provide to you;
to conduct research and statistical analysis (we’ll anonymise the data);
for internal business purposes (e.g., invoicing and receipting) or for specific purposes we tell you about; or
for any other purpose authorised by you or the Act.
Disclosing personal information
We generally do not share your personal information with others unless this is necessary for the purpose for which you gave us the information. While it is unlikely, we may be required to disclose your information to comply with legal or regulatory requirements. We will use reasonable endeavours to notify you before we do this, unless we are legally restricted from doing so.
We may disclose information we retain about you, including your personal information, to the following third parties or their agents:
prospective employers and referees, as part of a job application process;
third party service providers, including any sub-contractors, to enable us to provide our recruitment and related services;
government departments or law enforcement agencies (including the Police);
liquidators, administrators or other persons appointed to administer your financial affairs; and
debt collection services or credit reporting agencies.
any business that supports our services and products, including any person that hosts or maintains any IT system or data centre that we use to provide our website or services (see the Security section of this policy below);
a credit reference agency for the purposes of credit checking you;
another company within our group;
any other person authorised by you.
A business that supports our services may be located outside of New Zealand. This may mean your personal information is held and processed outside of New Zealand. We are committed to:
taking reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised use, activity, loss or disclosure; and
on written request, or as required by law, return or destroy your information belonging to you.
Accessing and correcting your personal information
Subject to certain grounds for refusal set out in the Act, you have the right to access your readily retrievable personal information that we hold and to request a correction to your personal information. We will first need evidence from you to confirm that you are the individual the personal information relates to.
If you request a correction, we will make it if we think the correction is reasonable and we are reasonably able to change the personal information. If we do not make the correction, we will take reasonable steps to note on the personal information that you requested the correction.
If you want to access or correct your information, simply email us at info@beheard.nz. Your email should provide evidence of who you are and set out the details of your request (e.g., the personal information, or the correction, that you are requesting).
Information Storage
Our primary data storage is via the cloud, however, if the work requires it, we may physically store the personal information we collect at a BeHeard Aotearoa workspace. If the personal information is in a physical format, it will be stored in a secure environment.
Security
We take technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised processing of your personal information and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to your personal information.
Notification of Data Breach
While precautions are taken to ensure all personal information (physical or digital) is treated with security, if we become aware of any breach of security that results in the accidental or unauthorised disclosure of or access to your personal information, we will take steps in accordance with the Act, including:
notifying you of the data breach in writing as soon as reasonably practicable after becoming aware of the breach;
promptly taking reasonable steps to minimise harm and secure the personal information in question;
assisting you regarding your obligations to provide information to your affected users; and
notifying other relevant parties such as the Privacy Commissioner and CertNZ.
Internet use
While we take reasonable steps to maintain secure internet connections if you provide us with personal information over the internet, that is at your own risk.
If you follow a link on our website to another site, the owner of that site will have its own privacy policy relating to your personal information. We suggest you review that site’s privacy policy before you provide personal information.
Cookies
We use cookies (an alphanumeric identifier that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive so that we can recognise your browser) to monitor your use of our website. You may disable cookies by changing the settings on your browser, although this may mean that you cannot use all the features of our website.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, our privacy practices, or if you would like to request access to, or correction of, your personal information, you can contact us at info@beheard.nz.