You can be a company over 90 years old and still be very responsive. In Beauce, the agricultural company Couvoir Scott is a pioneer in terms of compliance with Law 25 which governs the protection of personal information in Quebec.
This Beauceron SME is not a start-up specializing in the latest digital innovations. The family agricultural business, which employs 150 workers in Scott, Beauce, is in its fourth generation of managers with its general manager, Sébastien Morin, who is the great-grandson of the company’s founder.
The SME born in 1931, which produces chicks intended to become broilers for clients of Couvoir Scott, had the issues of Law 25 explained to it by its consulting service provider, the company Praxo located in Sainte -Marie, a few kilometers away. Rather than postponing the project until later, the company decided to take up the challenge immediately, as it prepared to digitize its archives since its creation.
If the issue was not a concern before awareness of data protection, “we realized that as it grew, the company held more and more personal information,” explains Laurence Brousseau. For example, around fifty foreign workers come each year to work in the company, which helps them in their efforts to obtain their social insurance number (NAS). “We asked ourselves how to manage all this information efficiently and securely. »
The project requires questioning. “We have to be willing to say to ourselves that perhaps we are not doing things as we should,” explains Laurence Brousseau. From this observation, “we can ask ourselves how to improve processes so as to be compliant”.
The company has made a number of changes in recent months. The archives dating back to the creation of the SME have been digitized to be stored securely. Employee files, previously printed on paper, are now hosted on a secure platform, separate from the company server, with limited access.
“We have arrived at a process that works well for us, which determines who does what, which person has access to which files,” illustrates the director of human resources. Now, upon receipt of an application email including a CV, an internal process ensures the protection of the candidate’s personal information. The same method was applied to sharing documents with external suppliers and subcontractors.
A register has been set up to record erroneous sending of emails containing sensitive information. “If I have the wrong recipient, I fill out the form to report the incident,” explains Laurence Brousseau. A process is then initiated with the recipient to destroy the personal information. “Everything is done to limit as much as possible the fact that information ends up where it should not be. »
It is not because it complies with Law 25 that the company considers itself safe from any incident. “We do the best we can and we are satisfied with what we do,” summarizes Ms. Brousseau.
It is thanks to its culture and values that the company has become compliant, considers Laurence Brousseau. “It’s part of our values not to wait until you get a fine to comply. We are always ready to clear the way, she congratulates herself. This is what leads us to help other companies to explain to them how to hire foreign workers. We like doing things right! »
Laurence Brousseau concedes that there are still a few things to complete to be in full compliance with Law 25, but everything will be completed by the end of the year, she assures, emphasizing the extent of the protection brought by this approach: “We did it for the company, for our customers, for our suppliers, for our employees. This brings peace of mind to everyone. »
