AIBU to think writing confidential HR notes on a train is inappropriate?

This HR woman isn't the only one who behaves inappropriately on trains. Article on the BBC today about Wi-Fi on trains:

On a typical journey, Rebecca estimates she can manage only about half the tasks she would normally be able to get through at her desk. When she has audio calls, she forewarns her colleagues she might lose connection.
"I just wouldn't risk having an important video call," Rebecca says, citing how unstable the connection often is. "I would never plan one."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8pn4l03r7o

No, we don't want to hear your audio calls or hear or see your important video calls.

And another person the journalist spoke to:

As a teacher, she says she often wants to work on the train, but says the connection usually isn't good enough.

Why should she? She was a member of public who just happened to see the employee of a company breaching confidentiality.
Why are people blaming the op when it’s the HR woman who broke the law! HR woman should have kept confidential info private not had it out on public display on a train!!!

Fair point.

I agree, but employers are vicariously responsible for the actions of their employees. A prudent employer makes sure its staff are regularly trained and re-trained on such matters, particularly where they have a statutory responsibility.

I'd say you're the one behaving inappropriately in this scenario. Should've asked the person you were snooping on for their opinion. And also emailed their colleague for their take.

Our work has a policy in relation to tech use that specifies no work on laptops on public transport. For this reason!

Absolute stupidity from that employee.

So imagine if instead of writing and instead of someone else it was You that HR was loudly talking about / naming/ recounting details of a disciplinary. It’s not a bit of chit chat or gossip - it’s a ( supposedly) specially trained and qualified professional spilling the tea in a fully visible and public place. Absolutely no difference to a doctor naming and talking about embarrassing/ confidential cases. It’s completely and utterly reprehensible , and a million miles away from one co worker slagging off another co worker. It’s a CASE which may even ( and often does) result in legal action. Either the people not getting this have never worked in their lives or they have no moral compass/ extremely low expectations of employers.

Could have typed the notes with xx as name and changed when in a private setting to actual name/initials.

Really? "Don't work on confidential documents, or talk about confidential matters in a public space".
I can (just about) understand someone w/o HR training might need reminding, especially if it's a one-off project or something, but I'm baffled this isn't basic HR training.

Well they should be….

It’s hardly rocket science is it!

How about let them just know you can see a lot of confidential information. Just in case they weren't aware.

But late for that, seeing that it was two days ago.

But the point is, anyone dealing with personal or confidential information should not need to be told not to do it in a public place.

And as for all the posters saying this poor little woman shouldn't be expected to do her job properly and professionally because - because - because - Is it any wonder women sometimes aren't taken seriously in the workplace when other women have this attitude?

How about let them just know you can see a lot of confidential information. Just in case they weren't aware.

I can't speak for HR employees but everyone needs periodic reminders of this kind of thing.

A report about a GDPR breach which is also a GDPR breach 😂 if you think they're making trouble definitely report it.

Isnt it ironic...dont you think?

😆

I'm going to watch her in concert in 3 weeks

People are remarkably careless about their own privacy, never mind anyone else's.

I was in my garden once when a woman on a first floor balcony in the flats behind was having a long phone conversation with a social worker about her child. If I could hear her, any number of other people in the flats and in the back gardens could also hear.

Another time I was trying a new cafe in my local High Street. While I was there the assistant was on a long phone call to the DSS. That wasn't the only reason why I didn't go back, but it was one of the reasons.

I was on a train to Kings Cross. A woman was on the phone talking through the eviction of a family from their home including the reasons why. Appalling.
whole carriage was glaring at her.
Obviously never been introduced to confidentiality.

Surely it's drummed into HR employees?
I've never worked in HR and not really in any sort of confidential field and I know all this.

Except a lot of people are used to working remotely and having to work whilst travelling and I suspect they never give it a second thought. I think companies where employees have laptops should provide privacy screens as a matter of course, at least to people who travel as part of their roles. Our information security training covers not making confidential phones in public, not using apps on your phone or your laptop where others can see the information, but the cyber security elements are the ones everyone focuses on and remembers.

It seems like something that shouldn't even need to be stipulated.
It's obvious, isn't it?

You should contact the company, a few years ago I saw a guy marking International GCSE papers on the train. It so happened to be a school from my country. I confronted him about it and he was so embarrassed. I contacted the Cambridge Exams Syndicate and they told me they would look into it. I didn’t have his name so not sure if they did anything about it.

I used to work in local government, I'm pretty sure they actually stipulated that we weren't to use our laptop for any confidential documents in a public place. I would contact the company.

But people like this - and people who will act in worse ways than merely starting a thread on MN - do exist, and that is why GDPR laws exist and why anyone working in a public space, be it a train or anywhere else, should be very selective about what they work on in those spaces.

Even in the office, I think work on things like disciplinaries/grievances/health records/ promotions/payrises/redundancies, etc, those docs should be worked on in private areas, not the main open plan areas that most offices tend to be in these days.

The reason GDPR laws and now the Data (Use and Access)Act, exist is because persons become at risk for all sorts of reasons when companies are careless with their data.

At some point this stops being “the information was visible” and starts being “I spent a good chunk of my train journey reading a stranger’s screen.”

Should she be more careful with confidential information? Possibly. But you’re hardly making the case that people can't read it when you’ve managed to compile a detailed briefing note on a complete stranger’s employment dispute from the seat behind.

The fact that it’s visible wouldn’t really be a problem if people like you didn’t exist .