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Privacy notice

As part of our compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) in Australia & Information Privacy Principles (IPP) in New Zealand, Hays Specialist Recruitment (Australia) Pty Limited in Australia and New Zealand Zealand and its related companies (including without limitation Emposo) requests you read the following information regarding how we collect your personal and sensitive information (sensitive information relates to Australia only) and how we maintain, use, store and disclose your personal and sensitive information in connection with your possible or actual work placements and otherwise in connection with your interactions with Hays.

We may collect personal or sensitive information about you when

• You complete one of our registration forms or provide any information in connection with your application or otherwise
• We receive any reference about you
• We receive results of inquiries that we might make of your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body
• We receive the results of any competency or medical test or background checks including but not limited to work rights, credit and criminal record checks
• We receive any complaint or other information from or about you in the workplace
• We receive any information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you were involved
• We collect information about you from public domain sources

Your personal and sensitive information may be used in connection with

• Your actual or possible work placement
• Career guidance or management
• Our assessment of your performance and prospects or any training needs
• Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo
• Informing you of possible work opportunities or other events such as training or information sessions or our direct marketing to you by mail/email/SMS by Hays and its related companies
• Any workplace rehabilitation
• Our management and resolution of any complaint, inquiry or investigation in which you are involved
• Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal or sensitive information
• Undertaking checks to verify your work rights status, criminal history and any other background checks, including credit checks for positions in New Zealand involving significant financial risk and otherwise as permitted by law
• For research, development, business systems and infrastructure testing and other business purposes to assist us in providing our services to you

Your personal and sensitive information may be disclosed to

• Potential and actual employers and clients of Hays and trusted third parties, who may be based outside of Australia and New Zealand

• Hays and its group companies' employees (including without limitation Emposo) and potential employers located in:

  • Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France & Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland & Austria, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden & Denmark, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, USA (and any other countries where Hays may provide its services in the future) regarding possible or actual work placements and to assist us in providing our services to you. For example, Hays group company employees in India who assist with maintenance and development of our IT systems and infrastructure located in Australia, and Hays employees in the UK as required due to Hays’ ultimate holding company being Hays plc listed on the UK stock exchange 

• Referees
• External providers used in providing our services to you - eg on-line inductions and training providers, background checking agencies - eg criminal record, work rights, and credit checking
• Third party outsourced IT, including cloud-based storage providers, and document storage providers where we have an appropriate processing agreement (or similar protections) in place providing us with specialised and efficient database management, development and storage who may be based in Europe
• Marketing technology platforms and suppliers who assist us with the provision of marketing communications to you, and customer feedback survey providers, such providers being based in the USA or Germany
• Third parties used by our clients as part of their recruitment, administration, screening and selection processes
• Internal and external auditors of Hays or our clients when we are required to share this data with them upon request in order to comply with our contractual or regulatory obligations
• Third parties who assist us by developing services and processes to optimise and improve the quality and efficiency of recruitment services
• Third party contractors/service providers, job boards, job platforms, job aggregators, software providers and cloud-based databases for the purposes of assisting us to provide you with our services, and/or to improve the services we offer you. Such service providers/contractors may be based outside of Australia and New Zealand, including the USA and Canada
• Our insurers
• A professional association or registration body that has a proper interest in the disclosure of your personal and sensitive information
• A Workers Compensation body
• Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information
• If Hays merges with or is acquired by another business or company in the future, (or is in meaningful discussions about such a possibility) we may share your personal data with the (prospective) new owners of the business or company
• Artificial Intelligence Tools such as algorithms or machine learning (including those provided by third parties)

For any disclosures outside of Australia or New Zealand as the case may be, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipients of such information do not breach the APP’s or IPP’s in relation to that information. We will take reasonable steps to ensure, for instance pursuant to a contractual agreement, that your personal information receives an adequate level of protection, for example your information will be stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities. We have put in place appropriate procedures with the third parties we share your personal information with to ensure that (a) your personal information is treated by those third parties in a way that is consistent with and which respects the privacy laws of Australia or New Zealand as appropriate and (b) will only use your information for the purpose of providing services to Hays and will not use your information for any other purpose.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

We also sometimes use automated systems such as filtering tools, or occasionally more complex tools which use an element of artificial intelligence, such as algorithms or machine learning (including those provided by third parties), to help us quickly, efficiently and more accurately to analyse data we have about you and other Candidates, as well as data we hold on our Clients' needs, and this ultimately helps us to make decisions based on this data. This can include applying tools which use algorithms (such as filtering tools or machine learning) to Candidate personal data in order to help us come up with the best possible shortlist for a particular role. Such technology should reduce significantly the amount of time needed to consider when Candidates might be the best fit for relevant jobs. This should in turn make the recruitment process much more efficient and effective, which, we hope, will improve your overall experience with us. 

Your personal and sensitive information may be disclosed to

If you do not give us the information we seek

• We may be limited in our ability to locate suitable work for you; and
• We may be limited in our ability to place you in work

Additional information contained in our privacy policy

Our privacy policy which is located on the bottom of our website, www.hays.com.au or www.hays.net.nz contains further information about the type of information we hold and how we manage your information, including how you can, subject to some exemptions, access personal and sensitive information about you that we hold and request that it be corrected. It also sets out how you can complain about any alleged breaches of the APP or IPP and how we will deal with any complaints.

Changes to our privacy notice

If at any time our privacy notice or privacy policy changes, the updated details will be available on the privacy policy on our website. Any information we hold about you will be governed by the most current version of the privacy policy.

Contact details

Information Statement: your rights as a candidate in NSW and QLD

• We will not charge you a fee for the purpose of finding employment including in contravention of the QLD Industrial Relations Act 1999, s408D
• We will not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct (such as advertising a position as being available when we know no such position exists or knowingly giving misleading information to you about the nature of a position) and we will make all placements as required under applicable legislation
• We and our employees have a working knowledge of State and Commonwealth legislation affecting the placement and employment of persons seeking work
• If you believe that we have acted inappropriately, illegally, or in a false and misleading way you may contact the relevant department (eg Office of Fair Trading in NSW or the Department of Justice and Attorney-General in QLD, GPO Box 69, Brisbane, 4001) for information on possible action that may be taken

Privacy policy

Your privacy is important to Hays

Your privacy is important to us. This statement outlines Hays policy on how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use, store and disclose the personal information we hold and reflects our commitment to you. It applies to all operations within Hays Specialist Recruitment (Australia) Pty Limited (‘Hays’) in Australia and New Zealand, and its related companies (including without limitation Emposo) including visitors to our website.

It is the policy of Hays and its related companies to respect the confidentiality of information and the privacy of individuals. Hays and its related companies are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (as amended) (Australian Act) in Australia; and by the Information Privacy Principles (IPP) contained in the Privacy Act 2020 in New Zealand (New Zealand Act).

The Hays privacy policy will be reviewed and updated from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing environment. Please regularly check our privacy policy so that you are aware of these updates and changes. Any information we hold will be governed by the most current version of the Hays privacy policy.

The Hays privacy policy is based on transparency

We are committed to being open and transparent about how we manage personal information.

Types of personal information held by Hays and when and how it is collected

This Privacy Policy applies to the personal information of our candidates, temporary workers, clients, suppliers and website users.

Personal information includes information regarding your contact details, work experience, qualifications, aptitude test results, opinions about your work performance (eg references), incidents at the workplace, and other information obtained or received by us in connection with your possible and actual work placements.

Sensitive information (Australia only)

Sensitive information is a special category of personal information under the Australian Act. It is information or opinion about you, including membership of a professional or trade association or membership of a trade union; criminal record; health information, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, or sexual preferences or practices. As outlined in the Australian Act, sensitive information can, in most cases, only be disclosed with your consent.

The sections below relate to our candidates and temporary workers

Collection

We may collect personal or sensitive information about you when:

• You complete one of our application forms or provide any information in connection with your application or otherwise
• We receive any reference about you
• We receive results of inquiries that we might make of your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body
• We receive the results of any competency or medical test or any background checks, including but not limited to work rights, credit or criminal record checks
• We receive any complaint or other information from or about you in the workplace or otherwise
• We receive any information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you were involved
• We collect information about you from public domain sources

Purposes and use for which we collect personal information

Your personal and sensitive information may be used in connection with:

• Your actual or possible work placement
• Career guidance or management
• Our assessment of your performance and prospects or any training needs
• Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo
• Informing you of possible work opportunities, relevant candidates, or other events such as training or information sessions or our direct marketing to you by mail/email/SMS by Hays and its related companies
• Any workplace rehabilitation
• Our management and resolution of any complaint, inquiry or investigation in which you are involved
• Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal or sensitive information
• Undertaking checks to verify your work rights status, criminal history and any other background checks, including credit checks for positions in New Zealand involving significant financial risk and otherwise as permitted by law
• For research, development, business systems and infrastructure testing, and other business purposes to assist us in providing our services to you

If you do not give us the information we seek

• We may be limited in our ability to locate suitable work for you
• We may be limited in our ability to place you in work

Disclosures

We may disclose your personal information (including to trusted third parties) for the purposes for which it is primarily held or for a related secondary purpose and in some cases we may only disclose information with your consent. Your personal and sensitive information may be disclosed to:

• Potential and actual employers and clients of Hays and trusted third parties who may be based outside of Australia and New Zealand

• Hays and its group companies employees (including without limitation Emposo) and potential employers located in:

  • Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France & Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland & Austria, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden & Denmark, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, USA, (and any other countries where Hays may provide its services in the future) regarding possible work placements or to assist us in providing our services to you. For example, Hays employees in India who assist with maintenance and development of our IT systems and infrastructure located in Australia and Hays employees in the UK as required due to Hays’ ultimate holding company being Hays plc listed on the UK stock exchange

• Referees
• External providers used in providing our services to you - eg on-line inductions and training providers, background checking agencies - eg criminal record, work rights, and credit checking
• Third party outsourced IT, including cloud-based storage providers, and document storage providers where we have an appropriate processing agreement (or similar protections) in place providing us with specialised and efficient database management, development and storage, who may be based in Europe
• Marketing technology platforms and suppliers who assist us with the provision of marketing communications to you, and customer feedback survey providers, such providers being based in the USA or Germany
• Third parties used by our clients as part of their recruitment, administration, screening and selection processes
• Internal and external auditors of Hays or our clients when we are required to share this data with them upon request in order to comply with our contractual or regulatory obligations
• Third parties who assist us by developing services and processes to optimise and improve the quality and efficiency of recruitment services
• Third party contractors/service providers, job boards, job platforms, job aggregators, software providers and cloud-based databases for the purposes of assisting us to provide you with our services, and/or to improve the services we offer you. Such service providers/contractors may be based outside of Australia and New Zealand, including the USA and Canada
• Our insurers
• A professional association or registration body that has a legitimate interest in the disclosure of your personal and sensitive information
• A Workers Compensation body
• Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information
• If Hays merges with or is acquired by another business or company in the future, (or is in meaningful discussions about such a possibility) we may share your personal data with the (prospective) new owners of the business or company
• Artificial Intelligence Tools such as algorithms or machine learning (including those provided by third parties)

For any disclosures outside of Australia or New Zealand as the case may be, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipients of such information do not breach the APPs or IPPs in relation to that information. We will take reasonable steps to ensure, for instance pursuant to a contractual agreement, that your personal information receives an adequate level of protection, for example your information will be stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities. We have put in place appropriate procedures with the third parties we share your personal information with to ensure that (a) your personal information is treated by those third parties in a way that is consistent with and which respects the privacy laws of Australia or New Zealand as appropriate and (b) will only use your information for the purpose of providing services to Hays and will not use your information for any other purpose.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

We also sometimes use automated systems such as filtering tools, or occasionally more complex tools which use an element of artificial intelligence, such as algorithms or machine learning (including those provided by third parties), to help us quickly, efficiently and more accurately to analyse data we have about you and other Candidates, as well as data we hold on our Clients' needs, and this ultimately helps us to make decisions based on this data. This can include applying tools which use algorithms (such as filtering tools or machine learning) to Candidate personal data in order to help us come up with the best possible shortlist for a particular role. Such technology should reduce significantly the amount of time needed to consider when Candidates might be the best fit for relevant jobs. This should in turn make the recruitment process much more efficient and effective, which, we hope, will improve your overall experience with us.

The sections below relate to our clients and suppliers

Clients: If you are a Hays client, we need to collect and use information about you, or individuals at your organisation, in the course of providing you or offering you our services.

We collect client personal data that we receive from you or collect or receive from other sources. Personal information from other sources may include, where appropriate and in accordance with any applicable laws and requirements, we may seek more information about you or your colleagues from other sources generally by way of due diligence or other market intelligence; from third party market research and by analysing online and offline media (which we will do ourselves or employ other organisations to do for us). To the extent that you access our website or read or click on an email from us, where appropriate and in accordance with any applicable laws and requirements, we will also collect your data automatically or through you providing it to us.

The main reason for using information about clients is to enable us to introduce ourselves to you and to ensure that the contractual arrangements between us can properly be implemented so that the relationship can run smoothly. This will involve providing you with our various recruitment and related services and/or providing services to your employees, such as training courses. The more information we have, the more bespoke we can make our service.

We manage your data in order to facilitate this by:

• Storing your details (and updating them when necessary) on our database, so that we can contact you in relation to recruitment activities. This information may be disclosed to Hays employees in India who assist with maintenance and development of our IT systems and infrastructure in Australia and Hays employees in the UK as required due to Hays’ ultimate holding company being Hays plc listed on the UK stock exchange
• Keeping records of our conversations and meetings, so that we can provide targeted services to you
• Undertaking customer satisfaction surveys, and the third-party platform we use to undertake this service is based in Germany
• Processing your data for the purpose of targeting appropriate marketing campaigns for our services, to do this we use marketing technology platforms and suppliers who assist us, and such providers may be based in the USA
• We also provide services to your employees such as training courses, which will require us to use their personal data in order to grant them access to these services

Suppliers: We need a small amount of information from our Suppliers to ensure that the contractual arrangements between us can properly be implemented so that the relationship can run smoothly, and to comply with legal requirements. We need contact details of relevant individuals at your organisation so that we can communicate with you. We also need other information such as your bank details so that we can pay for the services you provide (if this is part of the contractual arrangements between us).

We use your data in order to facilitate this by:

• Storing (and updating when necessary) your details on our database, so that we can contact you in relation to our agreements. This information may be disclosed to Hays employees in India who assist with maintenance and development of our IT systems and infrastructure in Australia and Hays employees in the UK as required due to Hays’ ultimate holding company being Hays plc listed on the UK stock exchange
• Offering services to you or to obtain support and services from you
• Performing certain legal obligations
• Helping us to target appropriate marketing campaigns. To do this we use marketing technology platforms and suppliers who assist us, and such providers may be based in the USA

Management of personal information

At Hays, we train our staff to respect the confidentiality of customer information and the privacy of individuals. Hays regard breaches of your privacy very seriously and any breach will result in disciplinary action being taken, dependent upon severity. Hays have appointed a Privacy Officer to ensure that our management of personal information is in accordance with this policy and the relevant Privacy Acts.

How do we store and protect personal information?

Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important to us, whether you interact with us personally, by phone, mail, over the internet or other electronic medium. We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files and other records and take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may need to maintain records for a significant period of time. However, when we consider information is no longer needed, we will remove any details that will identify you or we will securely destroy the records.

How do we keep personal information accurate and up to date?

Hays takes such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the personal information it holds and discloses is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading. We recognise that information changes frequently with changes of address and other personal circumstances. We generally update your customer information over the telephone. Please advise your consultant when your personal details change.

If you have created a profile with Hays via our website, you are able to review and edit your personal information at any time by logging into your account and reviewing your profile. You can delete your personal information or close your account by contacting the Privacy Officer. If you do choose to close your account with Hays, Hays may retain personal information from your account as and where required by law.

General information collected from visitors to our website

We gather information about all our website users collectively, such as what areas users visit more frequently and what services users access the most. We only use such data anonymously and in the aggregate. This information helps us determine what is most beneficial for our users, and how we can continually create a better overall website experience for you. We do not disclose information about your individual visits to the Hays’ website.

Your personal information collected on the hays.com.au and hays.net.nz websites

In some instances, we may need specific information about you, such as name, address, email address, telephone number etc. We will collect this information if you apply for a job or sign up for a service via our website. We may also ask you for other information such as the types of jobs you are interested in and your workplace concerns in order to provide you with the best possible service and internet experience.

What are cookies and how do we use them?

• A ‘cookie’ is a bite-sized piece of data that is stored on your computer's hard drive. They are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system. We use them to track your activity to help ensure you get the smoothest possible experience when visiting our website. We can use the information from cookies to ensure we present you with options tailored to your preferences on your next visit. We can also use cookies to analyse traffic and for advertising purposes
• If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. We also provide information about this in our Marketing preferences page on the Hays website
• Further information regarding cookies is in the ‘Cookies Policy’ below

How to reject cookies

• If you don’t want to receive cookies that are not strictly necessary to perform basic features of our site, you may choose to opt-out by changing your browser settings
• Most web browsers will accept cookies but if you would rather we didn’t collect data in this way you can choose to accept all or some, or reject cookies in your browser's privacy settings. However, rejecting all cookies means that you may not be able to take full advantage of all our website's features. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.
• For more information generally on cookies, including how to disable them, please refer to aboutcookies.org. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer

Cookies Policy

What's a cookie?

• A ‘cookie’ is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive and which records your navigation of a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes
• Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system. If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. We also provide information about this in our Marketing preferences page on the Hays website

How do we use cookies?

• We use cookies to do two things:
  • to track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns that emerge individually or from larger groups. This helps us to develop and improve our website and services in response to what our visitors want and need; and
  • to help us advertise jobs to you that we think you'll be interested in. Hopefully this means less time for you trawling through endless pages and will get you into the employment you want more quickly
• Cookies are either:
  • Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any information from your computer; or
  • Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics and for personalisation (see below)
• Cookies can also be categorised as follows:
  • Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when applying for a job, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet
  • Performance cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular
  • Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your username, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, font and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised
  • Personalisation cookies: These cookies help us to advertise details of potential job opportunities that we think may be of interest. These cookies are persistent (for as long as you are registered with us) and mean that when you log in or return to the website, you may see advertising for jobs that are similar to jobs that you have previously browsed

Enquiries & complaints

You can make enquiries, requests to access/delete or correct your information, or complain about alleged breaches of the APP’s or IPP’s to our Privacy Officer:

Complaints

We aim to acknowledge receipt of all complaints within 10 working days and aim to resolve all complaints within 30 working days. This may not be possible in all circumstances depending on the contents of the complaint. In this situation, we will respond to your complaint in a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, in Australia you can contact the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC); or in New Zealand you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Access

Subject to some exceptions that are set out in both the Australian Privacy Principles and the New Zealand Information Privacy Principles you can gain access to the personal information that we hold about you.

To make a request to access your personal information, you will need to complete an application form verifying your identity and specifying what information you require. Please contact our Privacy Officer for an application form. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period (and in any event in compliance with any legal requirements) after the request is made and provide access to the information in the manner requested, if it is reasonable and practicable to do so.

We may impose a moderate charge in providing access. Our Privacy Officer will discuss this with you. You should also anticipate that it may take time to process your application for access as there may be a need to retrieve information from storage and review it in order to determine what information is relevant.

If we refuse to provide you with access to your personal information, we will notify you in writing of the reasons for the refusal and the process for escalation regarding this refusal.

Correction

You may request that we correct the personal information that we hold about you if you deem it to be inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period (and in any event in compliance with any legal requirements) and we will take reasonable steps under the circumstances to correct the information.

If we refuse to correct your personal information, we will notify you in writing of the reasons detailing our refusal to correct the information and the process for escalation regarding this refusal. Should we refuse you may ask us to place with the information a statement that the information is inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading and we will take such reasonable steps under the circumstances to associate the statement with your information. If you wish to exercise your rights of correction you should contact our Privacy Officer for an application form. We will not charge you for making the request to correct your information, correcting the information, or associating a statement.

Feedback

Hays have several areas on our website where you can submit feedback, under the ‘contact us’ section. Any feedback that is submitted through this area becomes the property of Hays. We may use this feedback, such as success stories or responses to surveys, for marketing purposes, or to contact you for further feedback on the site.

HP-020-23
© August 2023

For candidates using Hays Globalink services, please refer to our UK privacy policy here.