Blog
Where are we on emailed payslips and data security?
24th November 2023
With so many businesses still emailing payslips and suffering from issues such as lost passwords, unopened payslips, or employee engagement challenges, we thought it would be a good time to revive the topic and explore the reasons you really don’t want to be emailing payslips in 2024!
As you might have seen in our previous posts on Payslips and GDPR and Payslips & GDPR: password-protected emails, this payslip delivery method is fraught with challenges; from the time it takes your teams to retrieve lost passwords, all the way to the threats of personal or organisational data breaches.
Email and data security
Email increases the potential for human errors such as mistyped email addresses or wrong recipients – or perhaps emails that sit in outboxes and don't get sent at all! Cyber criminals can easily intercept email data, which puts companies at risk of a serious data breach.
But password-protected emails are safe, aren’t they?
Not really. Think about it – how are passwords for password-protected emails circulated? Via email, of course! And if an employee has the choice to create a password of their own choosing, they’re likely to choose one that they already use for other online accounts.
Lost passwords
A nightmare for data security reasons but consider the resource implications of assisting employees with lost passwords - particularly your leavers. Without access to an ex-employer’s HR system, leavers would have no choice but to get in touch for a password reset to access their old payslips. This translates as hours of unnecessary time spent by your HR and payroll teams!
Emailed payslips contain no benefits for employees
Aside from being outdated and insecure, PDF payslips deny employees all the great benefits that they would receive in a cloud payslip. For example, Experian’s PayDashboard payslip connects employees' pay with their rewards, benefits, credit scores, government eligibility...PLUS allows them to share pay info with lenders for faster access to mortgages and other loans. All this on top of the security of a self-service portal that leavers can access for up to 6 years after leaving their employment.
Businesses that have been emailing payslips so long they’re reluctant to embrace a secure cloud solution will eventually have to make the move. GDPR aside, the attraction and retention of a workforce of mostly millennial and Gen-Z staff will force businesses to adopt the tech solutions that these employees will come to expect. The alternative is to create a frustrating employee experience, risk high churn rates and potentially devastating data breaches.