Ways to Ensure Your Employees Don’t Spill Company Secrets

Whether you’re in the food industry or handling state secrets, ensuring company secrets stay within the company is a challenge almost all employers face. Here are a few successful ways to ensure your employees don’t spill your company secrets…either voluntarily or unknowingly.

Hire People After Carefully Screening Them

Hiring the right employees is vital if you want to avoid spilling your company secrets in the long run. Employees with a history of spilling secrets can easily be avoided with a little careful screening. Make sure you know the person you are hiring by researching about them prior to employing them.

Remember that the word of mouth can be pretty strong, so don’t underestimate rumours you hear.At the same time, it’s also vital to remember that some employers are not very happy about letting go of efficient employees; so, the rumours you hear can also be an attempt to sabotage said employee leaving their previous work place.

Let Only Key Employees Know Important Secrets

There’s a common belief that a secret is best kept when it’s guarded by minimum number of people. While this is very true, especially when it regards to sensitive company information. It’s also a fact that having a small number of key employees handling said information makes it easier to track where the leak is happening, if you ever get wind that your secrets are spilling. Get into a habit of passing information in a need to know basis, so that employees don’t feel they’re being excluded.

Keep Your Employees Happy

If you think it through, one of the most successful methods of safeguarding company secrets from being intentionally or maliciously leaked, is having loyal employees. Loyal employees are more often those who are happy with their job, so take all necessary steps to ensure your employees are content with you and their job.

Something as simple as providing them with adequate health insurances, or allowing them paid leave when deserved can make employees more than happy to work in your company. Don’t forget to also make the work environment pleasant for your employees.

Keep An Eye On Information Shared With Those Who Share Involuntarily

It is in the nature of humans to make mistakes…and some of these mistakes are made involuntarily. If you’ve come to understand that a particular employee involuntarily over shares, either when having casual conversations or even during “happy hour”, it will be a good idea to keep an eye on said employees. Do your best to keep them out of the “loop” so that they don’t accidently share company secrets.

Sign A Confidential Contract

A confidential contract is a great way to ensure employees don’t spill sensitive information to the competitors. Ensure that they understand they will be prosecuted if they willingly or unwillingly share company secrets to those competing against your company. It’s also a great idea to prevent them from joining a competing company at least for 6 months after their employment with you.

Digitally Monitor Employees That Seem Suspicious Of “Jumping Ship”

As an employer, there comes a time in which you become aware of certain employees preparing to “jump ship”¾most likely to join a competitor. Trying to hold back these employees can be pointless; they are no longer loyal to your company. Instead, digitally monitor their movements to ensure spilling your sensitive data isn’t a part of their “severing package”.

 

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