Bowen
 
New Job Postings     BOWEN's Best Candidates     Contact BOWEN    BOWEN Blog
About Bowen Job Seekers Recruitment Flexible Workforce Management Outsourced HR
 

Privacy Policy

BOWEN Workforce Solutions, Inc. ("BOWEN""") respects the privacy of individuals in all aspects of our business operations. Since our inception in 1974, we have been committed to protecting the personal information of job seekers, contract professionals and career resource patrons (career transition participants and clients) in delivering services to our clients and workers. Your personal information is only collected, used and disclosed by BOWEN in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable law.

Why Do We Collect Personal Information?

BOWEN requests certain pieces of information in order to provide service excellence to job seekers, contract professionals, career resource participants and other clientele. In addition to your contact details, your résumé, and a description of the type of work you are looking for, your file may include the following:

  • Our interview notes.
  • Information obtained through reference, background and pre-screening checks.
  • Educational records and results.
  • Reference letters.
  • Skill testing results.
  • Performance assessments
  • Independent contractor verification and profile documentation (GST, WCB, Insurance, Proof of Incorporation, etc).

For temporary staffing and contract professional arrangements, we also require the following:

  • Information required for us to deliver payroll or invoice payment services to you or clients for whom you work, including banking details, tax deductions, vacation allowances and other typical payment data.
  • Information about you and your beneficiaries, as required, to enroll in benefits packages, deal with workers' compensation issues or other insurance matters.

We use your information to:

  • Understand your qualifications, needs and preferences.
  • Find suitable work opportunities for you that will give you the career satisfaction you are looking for.
  • Assist you through job departure and transitioning into a new situation.
  • Fulfill our clients' requests for information about job candidates, career transition participants and members of their contingent or flexible workforce.
  • Assess and develop our business and operations to better service job seekers, contract professionals, career resource patrons and our clients.
  • Provide payment and other HR functions to you for temporary staffing and contract professional engagements.
  • Personality profiling.

BOWEN will not collect more personal information than is needed to fulfill these purposes, unless requested by the client and consented to by the job seeker, contract professional or career resource participant.

When Do We Disclose Personal Information and to Whom?

Your Personal information is never traded, sold or leased by us to any external companies. You can be assured that your information is only disclosed for BOWEN's legitimate business purposes or as required to meet legal and regulatory requirements, for example to comply with a court order or government audit.

Through our normal business practices, we may disclose job seekers' and contract professionals' personal information to our clients when we feel there is a potential for a job placement. As a job seeker/contract professional, you are relying on us to share such information as it represents part of your marketing efforts. We only provide your information to clients if there is a job opening that is well-suited for you, and we only provide information required and requested to make an informed decision regarding a job candidate.

Through the standard follow-up process of our career transition programs, we may disclose career transition participants' progress through our program. Information is minimal and only provided to indicate the value that you and the corporate client are receiving from the service.

We may share information with our affiliates, partners, contractors or other companies (collectively "representatives") that we use to provide full human resource services. However, we only disclose such limited information as may be required for the function that will be performed by the representative on our behalf. Every contract we enter into with a representative must clearly outline that party's obligation to protect your personal information and live up to the principles of privacy.

Examples of companies we share your limited personal information with include:

  • Organizations that perform background checks, including criminal, drug testing, driver abstracts, educational and credit checks as required by the client.
  • Employee testing centers.
  • Technology application service providers forming part of our processes.

Have You Consented?

Having read this policy and by using our services and therefore providing BOWEN with your personal information, we imply your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as specified in this policy.

Wherever possible and when necessary, we obtain your express consent for particular uses and disclosures of your personal information. In most cases, you will provide your express consent as part of an application, employment or other contract that you may enter into with BOWEN for delivering your services to clients.

We imply your consent if we feel we are using your personal information for purposes that are obvious to you. For example, if you list the names and phone numbers of your previous employers on your résumé for reference checking purposes, we will not seek your express consent before checking these references.

How Long Is Your Information Retained?

We retain your information as long as you are utilizing our services, or longer if required by law. For temporary workers and contract professionals, that means we retain all your information as long as you remain on contract with or through us (or one of our clients), and for seven years thereafter. For permanent placements and career transition participants, we retain your information for a minimum of one year after you accept a permanent employment position or complete your career transition program. We will also retain your information for as long as you may agree by express consent contained in any agreement between us.

How Do We Keep Your Personal Information Secure?

We have procedures and policies in place to ensure that your personal information, in both paper and electronic format, are secure. For example, we require the following:

  • Filing cabinets remain locked when not in use or attended to by appropriate staff member.
  • Access to electronic and paper files is limited on a need-to-know basis depending on job function.
  • Password selection criteria and expiry make unauthorized access more difficult.
  • Staff training on the importance of privacy and security.
  • Utilizing firms that abide by the laws of privacy to recycle/destroy paper documentation.

Our Website at www.bowenworks.ca and our OutSmart' contractor management tool provide a platform for your questions about our services and the ability for you to electronically provide information about yourself, such as your résumé and profile data. The information provided through the Website is protected by the security policies of the Internet Service Provider known as WebTrust that hosts our website. Your information resides on the website only for the time it takes to be transferred to our internal network. Our internal networks are protected from intrusion by use of firewalls, routers as well as other password-protected security mechanisms and information in transit between offices is encrypted within virtual private networks. We have no control and take no responsibility for the inherent risks of interception if you provide personal information to us via unencrypted e-mail.

How Can You Access Your Personal Information and Check Its Accuracy?

You are the source of personal information pertaining to you held by BOWEN, as well as third parties, such as those providing references, educational institutions or those conducting background checks. Should you require, you may make a written request to our Privacy Officer for access to the personal information we hold. Upon payment of a small administrative fee to address handling/shipping costs, we will provide you with a copy of your personal information that we have on file. Should you wish to avoid handling/shipping costs a copy of your information can be picked up at our office by appointment.

BOWEN strives to maintain accurate records of your personal information; however, your verification and updating role in this is imperative. In an ongoing effort to ensure we have current information, we ask you to provide us with your most up-to-date information. Please write to the address below or visit our website to let us know of any personal information you have given to us in the past that is incomplete, inaccurate, or no longer relevant. It will be our pleasure to make appropriate modifications.

Contact Us With Any Questions or Concerns.

BOWEN takes responsibility for the management and confidentiality of the personal information we collect. If you have any concerns about this policy, or believe that BOWEN is not abiding by it, please write to our Privacy Officer at:

BOWEN Privacy Officer at:
BOWEN Workforce Solutions, Inc.
Suite 101 - 525, 7 Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3V5