Privacy Information & Collection Policy

At VIPeople, your privacy is important to us. We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is respected and maintained at all times.   We comply with all applicable privacy laws, including the Information Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act 2020 and our existing confidentiality obligations.

This Privacy Information & Collection Policy explains how we collect information from you, including personal information and how we maintain, use, and disclose it. It also provides details about your privacy rights and our general rights and obligations concerning the information we keep on record.

The type of information that we typically collect and hold will vary depending on our relationship with you. These relationships are generally categorised as:

• Candidates/Employees – include all individuals who approach us or who are engaged by us in the process of seeking employment or performing work with us or for our Clients;
• Customers/Clients – include all individuals/companies who we deal with to provide recruitment/staffing solutions and services for their business; and
• Referees – include all individuals who we contact in evaluating our candidates’ capabilities and suitability for employment.

We may also collect personal information from you if you contact us, for example, by phone or e-mail, and do not fall into one of the above categories.

We collect your personal information as reasonably required to determine your employment suitability with us or through us. 

The main types of personal information that we collect about you are:

• Your name and contact details, including your address, e-mail address and phone numbers;
• Your date of birth;
• Your gender;
• Information in your cover letter;
• Resume and application forms including your skills, qualifications, work history, references, goals and interests;
• Details of your work rights in New Zealand and other countries;
• Your IRD number and KiwiSaver details;
• Information documenting your work history with or through us (including bank account details, salary, work performance information and salary sacrifice documents);
• E-mail communications that you send to us;
• Aptitude and psychological assessment results; 
• The results of police checks, working with children checks or other background checks;
• Medical reviews or assessments of you; and
• Other information that you, your referees or our Clients provide to us, including personal feedback and notes of our interactions with you and/or others concerning your suitability for work with us or through us.

We collect personal information on our Customers/Clients that is reasonably necessary to provide them with the best recruitment and staffing solutions and their business needs. 

The main types of personal information that we collect about our Customers and Clients are:

• Their contact details including address and telephone numbers;
• Details of their job title/description and organisational needs; 
• Records of our interaction with them and confidential feedback they may give us regarding our Candidates and Employees.

We will also need to collect Candidate/Employee’s Personal information from Referees, which is reasonably necessary to determine a candidate’s suitability for work with us or through us. 

The main types of personal information that we collect about Referees are:

• Their contact details including address and telephone numbers;
• Details of their job title/description; and
• Their confidential opinions about a candidate and their suitability for work with or through us. 

At the time of Reference Checking, we will ask the Referee if they wish to provide permission to disclose the information to the Candidate/Employee. Their instructions will be noted on the Reference Check.

Your personal information will be collected by VIPeople, for its own use and on behalf of other members or Customers/Clients of VIPeople, who might require access to your personal information in connection to recruitment and staffing services.

Personal information will be collected from you directly when you attend an interview with one of our staff members.  At this time, you will complete our registration paperwork, application form, or any other required information in connection with your application.

Personal information will also be collected when:

• We receive any reference for you;
• We receive results of inquiries that we might make with your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body;
• We receive the results of your work rights status;
• We receive the results of any competency or medical test;
• We receive performance feedback (whether positive or negative);
• We receive any complaint from or about you in the workplace;
• We receive any information about a workplace accident in which you are involved;
• We receive a response from a job advertisement – either written, verbal or e-mail;
• We receive any information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you are involved;
• You provide us with any additional information about you.

How we collect personal information about our Customers/Clients:

• We meet them or interact with them, and they express an interest in our services; 
• We make updates to our Terms of Business or Service Agreements; 
• When they provide their opinion or feedback regarding one of our Candidates/Employees.

How we collect personal information about Referees:

• A candidate provides us with the Referee’s contact details and informs us that the Referee has consented to such collection; and
• When we take referee notes and reports, including Referees opinions of a candidate’s suitability for work with or through us.

A user can visit our web site and browse without the need to disclose any personal information. When the VIPeople web site is visited, we record anonymous information such as the date and time of the visit, the server/I.P. address, which site was visited, and the information viewed and/or downloaded.  The information gathered cannot be directly matched to an individual and is only used for administration and statistical purposes such as error logging. The information cannot tell us anything about the user; it can only tell us how our web site was used. This information can help us determine what areas of our web site are most beneficial to our visitors.  VIPeople does not attempt to identify users or their browsing activities.

If someone wishes to visit the Candidate Registration web site and register on-line for employment opportunities or visit the Client resources site to register a vacancy, we collect some personal information about the user, which that person freely volunteers by filling in their details. The information required may include providing basic personal details such as name, address, phone number and e-mail address etc. The user may also submit their resume or a position description. The information gathered at this point is stored in our database for retrieval and use by VIPeople staff only and for the purposes for which it was intended.  By submitting personal information in this way, the user acknowledges and accept our Privacy/Collection Statement. 

When submitting a timesheet via our web site, the information is transmitted directly to our payroll division. It is only used for the intended purpose and is not disclosed to anyone outside the organisation. There is no personal information collection until the timesheet has been completed and submitted to VIPeople for processing.

We do not disclose any information gathered about a user’s visit to our web site or personal information provided through the Candidate Registration process to any other organisation outside VIPeople unless the user’s express consent has been given or if we are required to do so by law.

At times an e-mail may be sent to us from the link on our web site. The information collected through this e-mail will only be used for the purpose for which it has been provided. Personal details will not be added to our database unless specified by the user, nor will we disclose or use that information for any other purpose than the intended purpose.

Your personal information may be used in connection with:

• Your actual or possible work placement;
• Follow up with you to offer you work or ascertain your availability for work; 
• Checking your work rights status with any government department or body (or their agents);
• Payment for work completed on a temporary/permanent/contract assignment; 
• Your performance appraisals;
• Our assessment of your ongoing performance and prospects;
• Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo;
• Our identification of your training needs;
• Any workplace rehabilitation;
• Our Management of any complaint, investigation or inquiry in which you are involved;
• Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal information;
• Ensuring our internal business processes are running smoothly, which may include quality assurance audits, quality and services evaluations, fulfilling legal requirements and conducting confidential systems maintenance and testing; 
• To undertake directly or through agents, criminal reference, check with relevant government agencies; 
• Information relating to your date of birth will only be used to ensure our compliance with legislation (e.g. IRD), and for no other purposes. By providing your date of birth, you consent to us using it for this purpose.

Personal information that we collect, hold, use and disclose about Customers/Clients is typically used for:

• Client and business relationship management;
• Recruitment functions;
• Marketing services;
• Statistical purposes and statutory compliance requirements;  and
• Risk management.

Personal information that we collect, hold, use and disclose about referees is typically used for:

• To confirm identity and authority to provide references;
• Candidate suitability assessment; and
• Recruitment functions.

We may sometimes use personal information for marketing purposes but only in the following ways: 

• We will contact Employees while they have registered us with updates concerning employment opportunities and market information; 
• We will send subscribers to our website with news and job alerts to which they have subscribed; and
• We will contact Clients with whom we have a relationship, with market information and promotions; 
• When sending direct marketing material to you, we will provide you with the option of whether or not you wish to receive further marketing communications;
  • We will remain compliant with anti-spam legislation. Personal information disclosed to any third party for marketing purposes.

Your personal information may be disclosed to: 

• Potential and actual employers and Clients of VIPeople;
• Referees;
• Other members of VIPeople;
• Our insurers;
• A professional association or registration body that has a proper interest in the disclosure of your personal and sensitive information;
• The Accident Compensation Corporation; 
• Any government department or body (or their agents) to verify your work rights status;
• A designated, registered training provider in relation to training and personal development opportunities;
• Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information; and
• Prospective Customers/Clients to use to verify suitability for employment.

We will advise you of our intentions and gain consent before referring your personal information to our Customers/Clients for possible work opportunities.

We outsource several services to contracted service suppliers (CSPs). Such CSPs may be located overseas. As part of the outsourcing arrangement with a CSP, they may need access to some of your personal information. 

Typically, our CSPs would include:

• Software solutions providers;
• I.T. contractors and database designers and Internet service suppliers;
• Legal and other professional advisors; 
• Insurance brokers, loss assessors and underwriters;
• Background checking and screening agents; and
• Talent marketplace platforms. 

We take reasonable steps to ensure that terms of service with our CSPs recognise that we are bound by obligations to protect the privacy of your personal information. As such, we will not do anything that would cause us to breach those obligations. 

Once we establish and maintain an employment, staffing or placement relationship with you, we use the data you have provided us to comply with laws and regulations. Such laws and regulations may include but are not limited to employment law, tax and social security and national and international requirements (sanctions, regulation, and compliance). 

For the purposes mentioned above, VIPeople may transfer your personal data to other VIPeople entities and CSPs that provide services on behalf of VIPeople. Personal data is information that can be used to identify you, such as name, date of birth, identification number or other factors specific to your identity.

You can refuse to provide us with your personal information. However, if you do not give us this information, we may not be able to provide our services to you. For example, we may be limited in our ability to locate suitable work for you. If we encounter any limitations or restrictions due to insufficient information, we will communicate this with you and seek to resolve the issue.

We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. We have several safety measures in place to protect your information. For example, your personal information is stored in secured offices and in computerised databases, which require a login and password to gain access. Access to the database is only available to those who require such access. All staff are bound by a confidentiality agreement regarding company and Customer information. 

Visitors to our premises are always accompanied by a member of staff for the duration of the visit. We use secure methods to destroy or de-identify personal information as soon as the law permits and provided that we no longer need the information. When you advise us that you are no longer looking for work opportunities and therefore no longer have a relationship with us, we will destroy your personal information unless you advise us otherwise or unless it is a requirement by law such as retained tax/wages information or any other information policies.

Subject to some exceptions set out in the Information Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act 2020 (Principle 6 – Access to Personal Information and Principle 7 – Correction to Personal Information), you have a right to view and obtain a copy of any personal information we hold on you.

If you are able to establish that the personal information that we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete and/or is not up-to-date, we will take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If you wish to exercise your access and correction rights, you should contact your Manager or Recruitment Consultant. If there is a disagreement between us that the personal information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date, you may write a statement, which includes details of why you think the information is inaccurate, incomplete and not up-to-date. We can then place this on your file. 

The information provided by your referees or from our Customers/Clients (and which is about you) is often given on a confidential basis. Accordingly, disclosing the opinions given by a referee or Customer/Client may have an unreasonable impact on those individuals’ privacy. We would be breaching their privacy rights and our obligations by giving that information to you. If referees or Clients provide information about you on a confidential basis, you may not access this information, and we will not be able to share it with you without the consent of the Referee or Client (as applicable). 

External sites linked to or from the VIPeople web site are not under our control, and you are advised to review their specific Privacy Statements. 

Users should note inherent risks associated with the transmission of information via the Internet. You should therefore make your own assessment of the potential risk to the security of your information.