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

All our work policies are quite clear that we shouldn't do work like this in public. I am astonished people don't engage their brains

It's wildly irresponsible and unprofessional

Of course it's a breach of GDPR!

This take seems about right. What the Op saw is hardly very juicy to anyone outside the company. It’s quite possible when working on a train someone else from your company could be on the seats behind unknown to you, and doing sensitive work on a train is not a good practice. But I can’t imagine feeling so strongly about this that I would think complaining to the employer and the harm it could cause to the stranger you are complaining about is justified. Some are raising the question of whether it is the peepers responsibility to mention to the HR person on the train - it’s not really a question of responsibility it’s a question of being spineless. The stance that the HR person is committing a breach that you think is worth reporting is contradictory to making no attempt to stop the duration of the breach.

Sorry yes it's Arlanymor who was going on about being normal and telling the random person on a train.

That was in relation to this, forgot to quote! 😳

You asked for it - it is just as well that you no longer work in HR.

Sorry, not sure if you're addressing that to me, but that was the point I was making. You address the individual in your organisation not a random on the train

You do understand that this is referring to incidents within the organisation?

I can't believe you have had a long career in HR and write that post.

Yet another "tell me you don't know anything about GDPR without telling me you don't know anything about GDPR"

Deeply ironic that the employee's grievance was about a data breach. Sounds like the company could do with a refresher. But maybe not from HR!

"I have done the training and thankfully a normal person delivered it to me and who made clear that if you are concerned you can talk to the person directly first"

That is quite literally what was said

No, Karen is a vile misogynistic slur used to silence women. I'd never use it and call anyone out for doing so.

Beryl was the first random name that popped in my head. Replace with Bob, Carol, Anne or your office person of choice, the message remains the same, your interpretation of gdpr is incorrect.

Pedantic attempts to belittle don't make you seem more reasonable.

I've seen all sorts from people sitting right next to me and doing things like preparing financial statements of public companies for earnings releases. Then again you'd have to be really obviously staring to read anything. I just saw the heading. I used to work for a listed UK bluechip and we were explicitly told we were not permitted to work on anything other than public documents in public. There was a whole classification system so you couldn't make a mistake about the document type.

Absolutely report. I work in a legal role and this is a breach. Particularly if on a local train and names are mentioned

But you think it's okay that that stranger was working on their laptop with the details about someone who had a grievance about the way their personal data hadn't been protected in view of other passengers. Would you be happy with your personal info on show in these circumstances?

You actually can! I have seen many people working in a train and have never once looked at their screen. Working on a train and/or using that time to catch up with colleagues is often the only way of keeping on top of work for many people these days. She probably thought as no one was sitting next to her that it was ok. Unlucky for her someone with nothing better to occupy them was peering through the gap. Yes she should have had a privacy screen but you absolutely should not have been gawping at what she was doing. As for reporting her FFS get a life. Do you know the person she referred to? If not no harm done.

I work in HR. I know that if I wanted to work in public, such as on a train, I wouldn’t write anything identifiable. I’d type it with X’s and fill these in later in the office. But I’ve been doing this job 25 years! Maybe someone less experienced might not consider that…

Where does that quote come from - no one said that, did they? Literally did not. But if you equate just having a quiet word in someone's ear to crossing the Khyber then I don't know what to tell you.

Didn't once say that. 'Beryl' is that new 'Karen'? The superiority is off the scale.

As for the "the training tells you you should address it with the individual first" I think that's far easier/more appropriate to do with colleagues than with a random stranger on a train!

You claimed some authority but clearly aren't as qualified as first indicated.

Whatever your interpretation is it doesn't change the responsibility under legislation. No amount of stroppy indignation changes the situation and "just" revealing personal information by failing in one's duty to keep that data secure isn't the minor indiscretion you're implying.

I've worked in loads of companies where on the first days you have to go through training courses on not discussing work on public transport, not working in a coffee shop etc.

Although to be honest I see people doing it all the time. It's quite interesting to read some of the pointless rubbish people are writing as part of their "serious" job, I often wonder why they don't just put the laptop away and listen to a podcast or something!

Edited to say I meant this as a reply to a previous comment.

Let’s be real here. Someone on the seat behind has managed to read, either on a laptop or written notes (I haven’t seen which it was) the name of the HR employee and the company they work for, along with the name of the employee under investigation. Was this person writing in font size 40? And if you’d read my comment you’d see I no longer work I HR - so feel free to leave a juicy little reply along the lines of “Just as well” etc etc etc. Whatever has taken place here, I can’t imagine a situation where I’d be reading someone’s laptop on a train, and proceeding to either a) write a post about it on Mumsnet and/or b) contact the company to say did you know someone in your HR team is writing notes on a train and I managed to read them by looking through the gap in the seat. What the hell.

How utterly wrong. You'd think they'd have a screen protector on if working in public places! But it's just awful to do this in a public place fgs there must be other less confidential stuff to do elsewhere, right?!

I think may be a breach of GDPR, it's def a confidentiality breach. What you do depends on what you want out of it - should they be disciplined for example?

I think you need to seriously brush up on current legislation as this is a blatant data breach under GDPR legislation.

If you give similar advice in an HR role you're leaving your organisation vulnerable to significant penalties.