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Updated May 2023
IFOW and your information
The Institute for the Future of Work (the Institute) is an independent research and development institute shaping a fairer future through better work. We work to (i) advance education into changes to the world of work (ii) prevent and relieve in-work poverty through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (‘4IR’) and (iii) promote equality at work. Our organisation has grown out of the Future of Work Commission.
If you want to make a request or have any questions, you can contact us at:
Institute for the Future of Work
Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA
You have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner if you feel we have not resolved your issue satisfactorily.
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF.
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)
As a Data Controller, the Institute is responsible for the data we collect about you. We are committed to protecting your privacy and to being transparent about how we collect and use your data. We follow the relevant legal requirements and take all reasonable precautions to safeguard personal information.
This policy provides further details about when and why we collect your personal information, how we use your information, how we ensure your privacy in maintained and about your information rights.
We will collect information about you, either:
1. Queries from our website (directly)
When you call us, enter your contact information into the website, ask to be added to our mailing list or express an interest in hearing about our activities.
We are permitted to process this personal data because, by having access to our privacy policy and then providing your information in this way, you are seen to have consented.
2. Research activities (directly)
When you participate in our surveys, polls, questionnaires, focus groups or other activities.
For each activity we will provide you with information about the project, your rights and obtain your written explicit consent.
3. Identifying new stakeholders (indirectly)
We complete desk-based research into stakeholders with an interest in topics covered by the Institute’s research, analysis and policy development. This means we could find your published, professional details and use them to provide information about the work we do.
We do this because it is in our legitimate interests to be able to identify new stakeholders and because. By publishing your professional contact details, it is assumed there is an expectation for the information to be used in this way however, potential stakeholders may object to this kind of contact at any time.
4. Automatically
When we collect technical information about your use of the website through Cookies – see Does the Institute use my information for marketing?
We are permitted to process your personal data in this way because it supports our ‘legitimate interests’. Collecting this information allows us to provide the website functionality. We do not use the information for analytics or share with third parties.
The information we collect will be stored electronically. The information includes;
Personal data
Basic details about you, such as your name, email address, employer, professional interests as well as sensitive personal data.
If you disclose this when you participate in our surveys, polls, questionnaires, focus groups or other activities (for example, you may discuss your health or sexual life).
Information for data subjects in the EU
Your submission of your personal data to the Institute constitutes your explicit consent to allow your personal data to be processed by the Institute in the United Kingdom. The UK is not a member of the EU and the GDPR does not directly apply. However, the UK has worked to implement the GDPR, and the Institute has ensured that there are measures in place to protect your personal data and reduce the risk for EU data subjects. Please see: How does the Institute protect my information?
The Institute works hard to ensure that only the right people have your information and that they are only given the information they need.
Your information will be shared internally across our teams such as our marketing or research staff so that we can deliver the services described above.
We do not share your personal data with other research organisations or stakeholders.
The Institute uses other companies (Processors) to deliver some of our services including organisations that enable or assist with the:
Provision of corporate data storage (Google Suite)
Provision of corporate data storage (Microsoft 365)
Email Provider (Google Suite)
Email Provider (Microsoft 365)
Mailing Lists (www.mailchimp.com )
Event Management (www.eventbrite.co.uk )
We have contracts in place with these organisations that prevent them from using it in any way other than how we instruct them to. These contracts also require them to maintain good standards of security to ensure your confidentiality.
Sometimes we will be required by law to share your information and will not always be able to discuss this with you directly.
Examples include:
Sharing with the police or tax authorities for the detection or prevention of crime
Where it is in the wider public interest – for example, to keep the public safe
Safeguarding children or vulnerable adults
When the court has told us we must share.
Data protection law provides you with a number of rights that the Institute is committed to supporting you with:
Right to access
You have the right to obtain:
Confirmation that your information is being used, stored or shared by IFOW
A copy of information held about you. We will respond to your request within one month of receipt or we will tell you when it might take longer.
Right to object or withdraw consent
When we collect, use, store and share your information because you have consented for us to do so, but you have a right to object to us doing this, and you may withdraw your consent at any time.
When you make such a request, the data will be removed or anonymised (anything that identifies you will be removed) to ensure it is no longer personal data.
We will then only use the anonymised data for technical, quality and business purposes. Our Data Protection Officer will be happy to speak with you about any concerns you have.
Right to correction and restriction
If information about you is incorrect, you are entitled to request that we correct it.
We will respond to your request within one month of receipt or we will tell you when it might take longer.
When you are making requests for correction or objecting to processing, you have a right to request that we do not further share the information whilst we process your request.
We will let you know once we are no longer restricting the information.
Portability
You have a right to request that we send you a copy of the personal data you have provided to us. You may do this by emailing us to make a request.
Complaints
You also have the right to make complaints and request investigations into the way your information is used. Please contact our Data Protection Officer or visit the link below for more information.
For more detailed information on your rights visit https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/
To make a request for any of the above, please email our Data Protection Officer on data@ifow.org.
Does the Institute use profiling or automated-decision making?
Some of our research activities may result in processing personal information to evaluate certain personal characteristics, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning employment activities. This is known as ‘profiling’.
We do not make automated decisions about you that could have a significant effect. We will simply use the profiled information to produce reports to inform wider debate and research.
Anonymised information will be added to our data base to allow us to undertake further research in this area.
You have a right to object to this and to find out the types of reports we are producing.
Our Data Protection Officer will be happy to speak to you about this if you have concerns or objections.
How does the Institute protect my information?
The Institute is committed to ensuring the security and confidentiality of your information. There are a number of ways we do this, including:
Staff receive regular training about protecting and using personal data
Policies are in place for staff to follow and are regularly reviewed
We check that only the minimum amount of data is shared or accessed
We use controlled access to systems to help ensure that the right people are accessing data – people with a ‘need to know’
We use encrypted emails and storage which would make it difficult for someone to ‘intercept’ your information
We report and manage incidents to make sure we learn from them and improve
We put in place contracts that require providers and suppliers to protect your data as well
If we send information outside of the EEA, we have EU approved assurances in place to protect it
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet can never be completely secure. Although we do our best to protect both your personal data and sensitive personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the website; any transmission is at your own risk.
The Institute will retain/store your emailed queries according to their particular nature and content.
Mailing lists and Customer Database records will be retained indefinitely in order to provide the requested communications.
Research information will be retained in accordance with defined periods for each activity – these will be notified to participants prior to obtaining consent.
If you withdraw your consent, your personal data will be removed from our systems.
Yes, but only with your consent or if we have an existing relationship and we believe you wish to hear from us. As listed under How does the Institute use my information? we will use your contact details to email you about new features and updates in relation to our research activities, events, blogs or newsletters.
You can ask not to be contacted in this way by using the unsubscribe link within the notifications and email.
Material changes to this policy or the way we process personal data will be notified to you directly and consent re-obtained where necessary.
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Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html
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