How do you engage new employees in security awareness?
We all know what it’s like to start a new job. An employee is shown around the office on the first day. The toilet is pointed out, coffee/tea making etiquette explained and new starters are then given a pile of paperwork to read through and sign. Minds are on the new job and making a good impression. But in that pile of paper there are some references to security awareness and behaving responsibly with company data. The paper is often skimmer through or even missed.
In our experience, we’ve seen security guidelines and policies hidden away deep inside employee handbooks or referenced by the employee handbook and hidden in the depths of a file server. So how do we ensure that our new employees start off on the right foot for security and continue to act in a secure manner?
Make security a priority
Top tip to raise security awareness for new employees:
- Don’t hide lengthy security policies in the new starter pack. Include a one pager that shows a maximum of 5 do’s and don’ts of looking after business information
- Make security ongoing and digestible. Consider regular email bulletins, which make just one point at a time so that information overload doesn’t occur
- Use security champions such as line managers. Employees should be able to talk to someone about security and get advice whenever they like. This includes talking about any incidents that should be reported
- Engage with employees about security regularly in team meetings
- Try to resonate with new employees by putting security into the context of your business and if possible their department areas or their roles
It’s important that you engage with new employees about security as early as possible. If you can explain the benefits of security to them and they understand it, they are likely to spread the good work around the rest of the your company and potentially teach your existing staff.