Job is making me feel drained. Had enough!!!

[Rubyritz]

I really fecking hate my job.

I've been there 3 months and I've had nothing but aggro.

There is really shit progresses and procedures. Nothing is told to you before hand so you learn basically as you fuck up.

The last straw today is I lost somehow a small piece of paper with a persons name on it and today's date. It was on company letter headed compliments slip.

The management have hit the rough. My manager was so rude and told me to go home and find it. I explained I put it safe and my work bag hasn't left the house since last week so how this has happened is beyond me.

What makes me laugh is last week management knew I had the piece of paper on me but didn't ask me to hand it in.

I can't see how it's a big issue. There is no major data on there I.e birthday, numbers, addresses, photos or details. Just a name and date.

What can they do? I've been told that it's going to senior management

You posted that you work for the local authority with young people and that the paper was for items people received. What sort of things?

The paper was a complements slip... with letter headed paper. No information was on the paper it was blank. The person just had to sign the paper and date it with the date.

We've had basic generic computer training for data protection. Nothin specific for our job roles and travelling.

I understand like the impacts ect and if it was like a full blown document listing date of birth and address and stuff but it's a name.

Just be like if I lost an appointment slip with my name on. Only difference is it's on local authority letter headed paper

Yes human error can lose you your job of course. I know a senior man who had his laptop stolen from his car with sensitive information on it. Bang. Career down the pan.

I should think it is a disciplinary matter. From May you would need to be declaring data breaches to the ICO. My knowledge tells me his is not sufficient to declare but it is certainly worthy of that consideration.

Sorry op. It sounds like you need to request data protection training.

Was it a clients name

It was their signature. But not a scribble signature.

So pissed off and stressed.

Forget about it. Tell them to ram their shitty job up their hole & have a Merry Christmas.

Nightmaremonkey- sounds good and tempting just not possible

You may well be invited to a disciplinary meeting, will it be your first one?

Just be open and honest about the mistake, think of ways to stop it happening again and apologise.

It’s not a massive data protection issue in regards to details, ask for support with training.

Very stressful for you but it’s workable

Sorry to hear you are so stressed - i know people who have done way worse and not lost their jobs. Probably not much comfort at the moment ...but good luck anyway.

I know I hear and see people doing worse regularly. But they are clever and get away with it.

Nothing has been said yet. I have spoken to senior manager and the advice was... think before you speak as I'm too honest great thanks for that.

I work with personal details including young people’s in care. Unfortunately if the information is protected (I.e a young persons address or information or anything that could identify them then there is potentially a big data protection breach. However I would hav expected you to be taught proper data protection rules and confidentially information storage. For example I would not have let that bit of paper leave the office and would have kept it in a locked file. If it’s not protected information i don’t see the issue.

Correct me if I am wrong. Hypothetically if i were to leave a piece of paper of paper on a train or bus with an individual name such as 'John Smith' or 'Mohammed Ali' by virtue of the name being so common I would not be in breach of ICO guidelines. The random date does not itself identify the individual. Would not a fairly common name need to be with another piece of information such as a phone number or other identifying detail to fall foul of the DPA?

Bear in mind that Data Protection laws have been written in the context of computer records so they cover things like protecting networked computers against malicious hacking and infiltration, the ability to easily disseminate personal data over the internet etc.

Paper records also need to be treated with care and confidentiality, but you or your company are hardly going to be hauled before the Information Commissioners Office for losing a piece of paper with someone's name on it that cannot be triangulated with other key information about that person. Extreme example could be if the person's name was written on a sheet of letterhead from the local STD clinic that would cause that person maximum embarrassment if it fell into the wrong hands.

It doesn't sound like that's the case here so I wouldn't worry about it, although I would be showing some sense of responsibility in terms of how you'll ensure it doesn't happen again.

Fun days- like I said previously we have to leave the office with information as we work across towns.I had to go out of office to get a signgature on the piece of paper as I was delivering some items to a person. I had no choice to take the paper. So it's not a storage issue it's more of a transportation issue.

Daisychain- luckily it's not STD letter 😂 but I guess it could be as bad as it's local authority letter head with the service name on. I know I have binned it on accident not lost it. Nothing I can do now.

I have raised with my manager the issue of carrying around letters. We have to carry more sensitive data to and from visits to the car to the office ect. Even if I get a folder or wallet there is no guarantee I won't loose it or it won't get stolen. It's unfair on staff IMO that we could loose jobs if this happened due to human error.
And no proper direct training has ever been given. It's wrong really and something I will bat back to management rather than them just penalising me.

Unfortunately management could respond by saying it is part of the job to carry information around, either in hard copy or electronic formats eg on a laptop. Might be worth checking your contract to see if it specifically or indirectly mentions anything that might make data handling, storage and transportation, an intrinsic part of the role. They might argue if you can't do what's required which includes responsibility for handling data, then maybe the job isn't for you. But that's just conjecture on my part.

It is a data protection breach and depending on the sensitivity of the organisation and 'letter head' could be viewed very seriously. It also contained a signature.
Your best course of action is to state you fully searched for it and can only conclude that you destroyed it in the waste. This in itself is far from ideal, as it is not confirmed it has been destroyed.
You could also say you haven't been fully trained as the procedures don't tell you how to transport data securely. However at the end of the day, you have made this error and need to face the consequences.

From the OP's first post:-

I can't see how it's a big issue.

Yes, and that comes across - it is a big issue to your department though. There is the data protection side and the fact that the department now have no proof that the service user received the items/service. Why wait to be asked to hand it in, why not add it to the correct file when you are in the office?

Also, as you lied in this instance it is hard to see why you think your colleagues think you are too honest!

Have another big look around for it, then say to work that it cannot be found. Check what the procedures are for dealing with paperwork when out of the office and even if there are none to be found, transfer the paperwork to the file as soon as you can.

Were you referred to HR almost as soon as you started over yawning in that meeting, then?

@cotswoldstrife- i didn't lie??? If I had I wouldn't be here!?!?

And i was stressing about it so obviously I know how big of an issue it is. I have 3 kids to raise with just my income so if I lost my job I would be so upset

I too would wonder why you had company headed paper in your bag. I'm not getting why it's so bad that you lost the piece of paper. Was it because your boss needed the name or because she thought it was confidential and you should have taken more care that it didn't get lost. Everything seems to be getting on top of you.

Even so worse things happen. It does sound they are very draconian in their approach to managing staff. I don't think you should worry overmuch about it and just wait and see what happens. Apologise and say you'll be more careful in future. Don't let them reduce you to a quivering wreck. And look for another job. Hope things work out.

you do sound very casual about data protection. eg "Even if I get a folder or wallet there is no guarantee I won't loose it or it won't get stolen". Losing it - that is your responsibility and you need to take care not to put it somewhere it could get stolen.

The laws are changing in the UK from May 2018. The example above is a data breach. Full stop - it is. It might be reportable to the ICO (or it might not). Read up on the GDPR and ask your manager about training. It is serious stuff. I am training my staff in January - I will be advising them that I will not be angry about an inadvertent data breach but it will be disciplinary If they dont own up and let us know.

You sound very stresssed and have my sympathy. I hope you are not unduly disciplined for a simple human error.

Good luck OP.