More than one-fifth (21%) of respondents plan to exercise their rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to have their data removed from current and previous employers, according to research by analytics organisation SAS.
Its survey of 2,000 UK consumers also found that 22% of respondents will request to access the personal data that their current employer and past employers hold about them.
The research also found:
- 17% of respondents will ask their employers to stop using their personal data for marketing purposes.
- 21% of respondents will seek human intervention over automated decisions for performance assessments at work.
- 19% of female respondents will exercise their right to erase their personal data from employers, compared to 23% of male respondents.
- 48% of respondents plan to activate their rights under GDPR, and 15% intend to activate their rights in the same month that GDPR comes into force (25 May 2018).
Charles Senabulya, vice president and country manager at SAS UK and Ireland, said: “Finding customer zero is a huge challenge for some organisations. Personal data is often stored in thousands of databases and organisations will need to find, evaluate and categorise every piece of data relating to each customer to ensure compliance.
“Overcoming this challenge presents an opportunity for organisations as they form a new type of relationship with their customers that is bound by integrity, understanding and respect for their individual choices. We are entering a new data era that requires a firm grip of customer data. One that rewards consumers as well as protects their right to privacy.”
Read more about the implications of GDPR for employers in Ruth Buchanan: The new General Data Protection Regulation is just around the corner.