Two-thirds of organisations believe that employers should be permitted access to the vaccine statuses of their employees, according to a survey law firm McCann FitzGerald and Mazars.

The firms’ annual survey on the impact of the GDPR on organisations in Ireland also reports a declining level of enthusiasm towards the EU regulation.

For example, belief that the GDPR is beneficial for individuals has declined by 14 points year-on-year (83% to 69%); belief that compliance with the GDPR places an excessive administrative burden on organisations has grown by 16 points (53% to 69%); and belief that compliance with the GDPR will be beneficial for organisations’ relations with their employees, customers and other stakeholders in the long term has fallen by 5 points (76% to 71%).

Respondents also indicated more anxiety about liability for non-compliance with the regulation. 57% of surveyed organisation expressed concerns about fines for GDPR non-compliance, up from 46% last year. Over three-quarters agreed that the risks associated with GDPR non-compliance are increasing, while almost seven-in-ten said they were now more concerned about GDPR non-compliance than they had been in May 2018, when the regulation was introduced.

Furthermore, over two-fifths (43%) said that they are concerned about civil actions from data subjects.

In Association with

Respondents, a majority of whom are employed in organisations with over 250 employees in Ireland, span the financial services, public, technology, and other sectors.

Paul Lavery, Partner and Head of Technology & Innovation at McCann FitzGerald LLP. Commented: “This year’s survey shows a decided shift in views towards the GDPR. In recent years, a gradual trend towards increasing comfort with the GDPR, and an appreciation of its benefits to individuals and organisation could be observed.

“However much of this positive outlook has slid backwards in this year’s figures. A growing view that the application of the regulation to areas such as employee vaccine status or the international transfer of data have not been in the interest of businesses might be contributing to this perspective.”

Liam McKenna, Partner at Mazars’ consulting services practice, stated: “Many businesses are observing the impact of fines for non-compliance, such as the high-profile penalty levied against WhatsApp by the Data Protection Commission last year, and understand the increasing need to ensure their own compliance.

“That fewer respondents say they have reported a data breach to the Data Protection Commission this year, with this number falling from 69% to 61% in the last 12 months, gives optimism that businesses are continuing to improve at managing such issues.”

Photo: Amy Brick of McCann FitzGerald with Liam McKenna (centre) and Paul Lavery. (Pic: Naoise Culhane)