February Privacy Lab – Employee/Applicant Data: The Interplay of Privacy and Diversity Efforts
Employee/Applicant Data: The Interplay of Privacy and Diversity Efforts
With underrepresentation of diverse groups in the tech industry, and given that diverse workplaces can lead to better products and more successful companies, many Silicon Valley companies are undertaking efforts to improve diversity in their workforce. However, this requires the collection of information (from both applicants and employees) that can be considered sensitive, such as ethnic origin. In the US many companies believe that ensuring diversity justifies information collection, however, thelaws or norms in other countries may not allow or severely restrict collection and use of such information. How do companies address this potential conflict? In addition, if they can collect such information, how do they protect it, especially given that some data sets are so small that they can’t really be anonymized for reporting purposes? And how do they give people control over information about themselves, including the right to revoke or delete it? Join us for an important conversation about the tension between two competing goods.
Hosted by The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University.
Panelists:
- Alicia Gray – Trust & Privacy Manager, Mozilla
- Shoshana Isaac – Employment Attorney, Mozilla
- Jackie Wilkosz – Senior Privacy Council and HR Privacy Lead at Intuit
- Susana Fernandez, Data & Analytics Manager at Intuit
- Colleen Chien, Associate Professor at Santa Clara Law School (Moderator)