80% Indian employees think their workplace data at hacking risk: Accenture

While 74 per cent of Indian workers say new technologies to collect workforce data put trust at risk, recent data scandals make 80 per cent feel that their employee information might be hacked too, a new report from Accenture said on Thursday.

More than five in 10 C-level executives (51 per cent) from India said their organisations are using new technologies to collect data on their people and work to gain more actionable insights.

However, fewer than one-third (31 per cent) were confident the companies are using the data responsibly.

"It's clear that in the digital economy, workforce data offers enormous opportunities to create more innovative, agile and productive organizations.

"Yet related ethics and privacy issues can erode employee trust, and negatively impact organisation value and performance," said Anindya Basu, Geographic Unit and Country Senior Managing Director, Accenture in India.

The good news was that nearly all Indian workers (99 per cent) were open to the collection of data on them and their work, but only if it improves their performance or well-being or provides other personal benefits.

"Three-fourth of them (75 per cent) would exchange their work-related data for more-customised compensation, rewards and benefits, and 88 per cent would do so for more customised learning and development opportunities," the findings showed.

Globally, said the report, business leaders will need to implement responsible workforce data strategies if they are to build the employee trust that will help generate sustained revenue growth.

"$3.1 trillion of future revenue growth is at stake for large companies, depending on how their workforce data strategies affect employee trust," the report noted.

Companies that put in place responsible data strategies could see revenue growth up to 12.5 per cent higher than those fail to adopt responsible data strategies, added the report based on global surveys of 1,400 C-level executives and 10,000 workers across 13 industries including 100 C-level executives and 750 workers from India.

"Business leaders who put in place the right framework and guardrails will emerge winners and enjoy a trust dividend of as much as a 6.4 per cent increase in future revenue growth," Basu added.

--IANS

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