The document discusses confidentiality in the workplace. It defines confidentiality and identifies precautions to maintain it. Examples of confidential information include personal details, medical information, and information about people's behaviors. Confidentiality is important in various professions and its breach can have legal and financial consequences. Specific instances where confidentiality may be broken include risks of harm, compliance with law, or public interest whistleblowing. Maintaining confidentiality is vital for trust between employees and employers.

1. CONFIDENTIALITY IN
THE WORKPLACE

2. I hear
no evil!
I see
no evil!
I
speak
no evil!

3. At the end of the session, the
participants are expected to:
1. define confidentiality
2. identify precautions to maintain
confidentiality in the workplace
3. develop awareness and accountability of
breaching confidentiality
4. state their realizations regarding the
importance of confidentiality.

4. If something is confidential, it has
been ‘given in confidence’, that is, in
the trust that it will be kept secret.
The root of the word is ‘confide’ or to
tell someone something secret, often
reluctantly.

5. Confidentiality pertains to the
treatment of information that an
individual has disclosed in a relationship
of trust and with the expectation that it will
not be divulged to others without
permission in ways that are inconsistent
with the understanding of the original
disclosure (UCI Office of Research, 2019).

6. Workplace confidentiality can be
defined as keeping the employee,
customer and client information private.
Usually, it is seen that organizations take
a number of steps to ensure that client
information remains confidential but when
it comes to employee information, they
may not be so particular.

7. Confidentiality, and the ability to keep
information secret when necessary, is
important under a wide range of
circumstances. There may be many
times, both at home and at work, when
someone tells you something, or you
become aware of information, that should
not be spread further.

8. PRIVACY is all
about people.
CONFIDENTIALIT
Y is all about
data.

9. 1. Personal information (names, addresses,
contact details and so on)
2. Medical or health information, and
3. Information about people’s behaviour or
habits and activities.
Note: Some types of information are
protected by law, including personal
information.

10. 1. Personal and Professional
Relationships
2. Business
3. Medical Field
4. Education
5. Research

11.  Doctors and other healthcare professionals have information about their
patients’ medical history and current conditions. This type of information
could affect people’s ability to obtain jobs, bank loans, mortgages and life
insurance.
 Accountants hold information about their clients’ income, outgoings and
tax status. Any leaks could result in reputational damage at the very least.
 Lawyers may have information about current court cases. For example, in
the UK, Family Court cases are currently bound by rules on confidentiality
that mean that nobody is permitted to disclose certain details of the court
case to third parties.
 Journalists often hear confidential information in the course of their work.
They may, for example, be asked not to disclose their sources, or to hold
certain information for a period to avoid prejudicing a court case.
*Over and above the legal requirements, many professionals are
expected to abide by guidance from their professional body on
confidentiality, and the professional body has its own ways of enforcing
compliance.

12. 1. Failure to properly secure and protect
confidential business information can lead to
the loss of business/clients.
2. In the wrong hands, confidential information
can be misused to commit illegal activity (e.g.,
fraud or discrimination), which can in turn
result in costly lawsuits for the employer.
3. The disclosure of sensitive employee and
management information can lead to a loss of
employee trust, confidence and loyalty. This
will almost always result in a loss of
productivity.

15. No discussion on confidentiality could
be considered complete without
touching on gossip.
Gossip is defined as idle talk or
scandal. It is, therefore,
unsubstantiated information that is
spread by way of conversations and
discussions

18. What to do?

22. 1. If there’s a significant risk of the client harming themselves
or someone else, particularly if a child or vulnerable person
is involved.
2. When sharing the information is required to comply with the
law. If it came to light that your client’s company was
breaking a law, depending on the circumstances, you may
have an obligation to report this, or risk appearing complicit
by association.
3. If the matter falls under the scope of the Public Disclosure
Act 1998 (“Whistleblowing”). Strictly speaking, this
legislation is there to protect employees. But if the matter is
of a serious enough nature and/or it’s in the public interest
to breach confidentiality, this law might protect consultants,
too.

23. 1. Be open and sincere. Admit if the fault was on
company's side and accept responsibility.
2. Provide details. Explain why the situation took place.
3. Mitigate. Make conclusions out of the disaster and
describe solutions for affected users. If possible,
prepare a special offer for the affected audience.
4. Educate. Explain how to prevent similar issues in the
future.
5. Invite to dialogue. Involve your clients, industry
experts, analysts, media people and general public to
the broader discussion about the source of the
problem.

24. A subject teacher was asked by
her student about his grades. The
teacher opened her class record
and let the student list all his
scores and allowed him to
compute. After which, he asked
for the grades of his classmates
for comparison. Is the teacher
allowed to do so? Why?

25. As an encoder, you have access
on the personal information of the
employees stored in the computer.
One of the customers ask for the
address and family background of a
certain employee. Are you allowed to
do so? Why?

26. One day, you overheard your
supervisor and Human Resource (HR)
discussing about upcoming promotions.
There are two employees who are
potential candidates but the other lacks
sufficient documents and evidences for
exemplary performance. He happened to
be your friend. Are you going to tell the
information to your friend?

27. A study is being conducted looking at the
effectiveness of a drug on depression. The
participants are asked to record feelings of violence,
suicide, anger and despair, both before they began
taking the medication and after three weeks of being
on the medication. Each category is assigned a
numerical value to display a range of feelings from
very likely to least likely. The study is dependent on
honest answers, the participants have been promised
confidentiality. If 30 of the 100 participants report that
they feel more suicidal since taking the medication, is
the researcher required to report all thirty of the
participants?

28. Reflect:
*Cite instances where you
have broken
confidentiality and recall
what have you done to
resolve such.
*What are your
realizations after the
session today?

30. https://explorable.com/privacy-in-research
https://www.directlineforbusiness.co.uk/small-
business-insurance/knowledge-centre/tips-
for-consultants/what-is-breach-of-
confidentiality
-UCI-Office of Research
(https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/confidenti
ality.html)