This privacy notice (“Privacy Notice”) applies to people applying for jobs (“you””your”) with  Hachette UK Distribution Limited (“Hachette Companies” ”companies” “company” “we” “us “our”) (read about us here).

 

The Privacy Notice, sets out the ways in which we collect, use and share the personal data (your Personal Information) of candidates who apply for jobs with us. It also explains what rights you have to access or change your Personal Information.

 

We are your Data Controller which means that we decide how your Personal Information is held, used and protected. We are required under data protection laws to notify you of the information set out in this Privacy Notice.

 

This Notice applies to Personal Information of job candidates and potential candidates for employment and any recruitment events or recruitment programs. It does not apply to any Personal Information of employees or independent contractors or authors or customers of the Company.

 

It applies to any Personal Information submitted in an application by post or in an on-line application such as an application tracking system or video interview system or via a third party recruitment agency or via any other recruitment solutions, partners and methods e.g. LinkedIn.

 

Please read this notice and keep it together with any other privacy notice you may be provided with when we collect or process your Personal Information.

 

This Privacy Notice sets out your rights under all applicable data protection and privacy legislation in force from time to time in the UK including the retained EU law version of the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (UK GDPR); the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) (and regulations made thereunder)  and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426) as amended and the guidance and codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner.

 

We take your privacy and our responsibility to protect your information seriously.

 

WHO WE ARE

 

Hachette UK Distribution  Limited (company number 3541391) is a company registered in England, with the registered address  set out below. We are part of the Hachette UK Group of companies.

 

For anything relating to this Privacy Notice you can contact us as follows:

 

FAO: The DPO (Legal Department)

Address: Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ, UK

Email: privacy@hachette.co.uk

 

COMPLIANCE WITH DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

 

We will comply with all applicable data protection laws.

 

Under the Data Protection Principles contained in the applicable data protection laws the Personal Information we hold about you must be:

 

• – used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way
• – collected only for a valid purpose that has been clearly explained to you and not used in a way that is incompatible with these purposes
• – relevant to the purposes you have been informed about and limited to these purposes
• – accurate and kept up to date
• – kept only as long as necessary for the purposes you have been informed of
• – kept securely

 

WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

 

Personal Information

 

Personal Information means any information about a living individual from which that individual can be identified. The information you provide to us might include:

 

• – your name, postal address, email address, phone number, contact details;
• – age range
• – nationality
• – ethnicity
• – religion or belief
• – sexual orientation
• – caring responsibilities
• – disability/long-term health condition and their affect
• – neurodiversity
• – gender
• – trans status
• – socioeconomic diversity
•     – secondary school education
•     – highest level of education
•     – university attended (if applicable)
•     – parents level of education
•     – occupation of main household earner when you were 14
•     – access to free school meals
•     – regionality
•     – where you grew up
• – details of your educational history, qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
• – test results or psychometric profiles of any assessments you agree to take in relation to the application for a job with our company
• – bank account details;
• – your current salary or remuneration and benefits, leaving date and reason for leaving (where provided by candidate directly or indirectly via a third party recruiter or previous employer);
• – proof of and documents showing your entitlement to work in the UK;
• – your status in relation to the EU Settlement Scheme.
• – location of previous employment and workplace;
• – copy of passport and driving license;
• – recruitment information, CV and cover letters, references or previous employers;
• – photographs;
• – video interviews or video profiles provided as part of your application.

 

Special Category Information

 

You may provide us with more sensitive information, known as Special Category (“Sensitive”) information which may include details about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious, philosophical or similar beliefs, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sexual life or sexual orientation. In particular, as part of the eArcu online application process you may be asked to voluntarily provide Sensitive information relating to your nationality, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability/long-term health condition and their affect, neurodiversity,  gender and trans status (referred to as “D&I Data”).  If you supply this kind of Sensitive information to us, it will be treated differently and we will explain why we are collecting it. We will only process Sensitive information where you have given your explicit consent. Where we process Sensitive data to help us ensure equality of opportunity or treatment in our publishing business and it is lawful, we may rely on our legitimate interests. See the section below on “How we use your information” in relation to Sensitive data to find out more about our use of your Sensitive information.

 

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION

 

We collect your information during the recruitment process directly from you (namely through our eArcu online application process) or from third parties.

 

Information we receive from third parties:

 

We collect information as appropriate to each applicant from third parties such as:

 

• – recruitment agencies and other recruitment partners and solutions including online services such as LinkedIn or other relevant background check agencies or other company employees who have interviewed you;
• – medical practitioners with your consent;
• – referees;
• – previous employers.

 

Information about how you use our website and apps:

 

We will also collect certain information about how you use our website and apps and the devices that you use to access them. This includes your IP address, geographical location, device information (such as your hardware model, mobile network information, unique device identifiers), browser type, referral source, length of visit to the website, number of page views, the search queries you make on the website and similar information. This information is collected by Google Analytics on our behalf using cookies and similar technology on our website. For more information on cookies please read our Cookie Policy.

 

Our website may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications. By clicking on those links or enabling these connections you may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these websites and are not responsible for their privacy policies. Please ensure that you read the privacy notices on any such external websites.

 

HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

 

We use your information lawfully. We do not sell your information to third parties. However we may share your information as set out in the section ‘When we share your information’.  The details of how we use your information and the legal bases for our use are set out below:

 

Where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations such as to check you are legally entitled to work in the UK

 

Where it is necessary for our ‘legitimate business interests’ (legitimate interests) or those of a third party and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

 

This means our legitimate interests in conducting and managing our business and our employment or working relationship with you.

 

Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we make sure that we take into account any potential impact that such use may have on you. Our legitimate interests don’t automatically override yours and we won’t use your information if we believe your interests should override ours unless we have other grounds to do so (such as your consent or a legal obligation). If you have any concerns about our processing you have rights and choices which include the right to object (please see the section headed ‘Your Rights and Choices’).

 

We may use your information for the purposes listed below on the basis of our legitimate interests:

 

• – to process any job applications you submit to us;
• – to work with our third party recruitment agency to process any job applications you submit to us;
• – to decide whether to recruit you;
• – to inform and structure interviews as part of the recruitment process;
• – to make decisions about your appointment;
• – to contact you in case of suitable vacancies;
• – to reimburse you any agreed expenses;
• – to enable us to comply with our policies and procedures and to carry out our legal obligations and enforce our legal rights, or to protect your rights, property or safety or those of our employees;
• – to detect and prevent fraud and unauthorised access or illegal activity;
• – to operate a safe and lawful business where we have a legal obligation.

 

We will use your Sensitive information in the following cases:

 

• – where necessary to carry out any employment law obligations in relation to your application;
• – where it is needed for the public interest such as for equal opportunities monitoring and reporting;
• – we will use your Personal Information relating to health to comply with your employment law rights to health and safety at work;
• – we will use your Personal Information relating to health in conjunction with our occupational health advisers to assess your fitness to work;
• – we may also process it where you have already made the information public;
• – where you have given your explicit consent for example in a survey;
• D&I Data which you may choose to voluntarily provide as part of our eArcu online application form will only be processed with your consent and used to ensure we are effectively attracting and recruiting from a diverse range of candidates in line with our ongoing diversity and inclusion initiatives; and
• – where your Personal Information is required for legal claims.

 

If you do not provide Personal Information:

 

If you fail to provide certain Personal Information when requested we may not be able to process your application appropriately.  However, please note that there is no obligation or requirement to provide any of the D&I Data that may be requested as part of our eArcu online application process.  To be clear, should you decide not to provide such D&I Data as part of our online application process that will not stop us either receiving, reviewing or considering your application.

 

WHO PROCESSES YOUR INFORMATION FOR US

 

Your information may be processed by our staff or by the staff of third parties we work with to deliver our business. Processing can mean any activity that involves the use of information about someone that can identify them. All uses, for example, obtaining, recording, storing, disclosing, organising, retrieving, deleting and destroying are types of data processing. We take measures to ensure that third parties processing your information on our behalf are acting lawfully in accordance with our instructions and are subject to appropriate confidentiality requirements. We also have adequate technical and organisational safeguards in place in our company and with third party processors to protect your information. Third party processors of your information include:

 

• – our website hosts and operators, IT services and support providers, database operators, site analytics providers and software developers;
• – eArcu, who operate our online application process – a copy of eArcu’s privacy notice can be found at https://earcu.com/privacy/;
• – our couriers and delivery services;
• – our auditors, technical consultants and legal advisors;
• – our fraud detection services.

 

WHEN WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

 

We may share your information within the Hachette UK Group of companies, in particular the company where the job vacancy is.

 

We may share your Personal Information with third parties:

 

• – recruitment agencies and other recruitment solutions and partners including online services such as LinkedIn;
• – psychometric testing service provider;
• – other third parties (including legal or other advisors, regulatory authorities, courts and government agencies) where necessary to enable us to enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees or where such disclosure may be permitted or required by law or where we have a legal obligation to do so

 

Where appropriate we require relevant third parties to enter into an agreement committing to compliance with all relevant data protection laws and we require them to have appropriate security measures in place to protect your information from unauthorised access, processing or use.

 

HOW WE LOOK AFTER YOUR INFORMATION

 

We look for opportunities to minimise the amount of Personal Information we hold about you.  Where appropriate we anonymise and pseudonymise your information. It is held in electronic and paper form. We use appropriate technological and operational security measures to protect your information against any unauthorised access or unlawful use, such as:

 

• – ensuring the physical security of our offices, or other sites;
• – ensuring the physical and digital security of our equipment and devices by using appropriate password protection and encryption;
• – maintaining a data protection policy for, and delivering data protection training to, our employees;
• – limiting access to your Personal Information to those in our company who need to use it in the course of their work.

 

HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION

 

We will retain your information during the term of your interaction with us or for as long as we reasonably require the information for our legitimate interests or for the purposes of exercising our legal rights and obligations or for as long as we have your consent to do so in the case of diversity and inclusion information about you.

 

Save where information is provided via the online application tracking system as described in the section below, we retain information relating to the applications of unsuccessful candidates in any recruitment for six months after the start date of the successful candidate. This includes application forms, letters, CVs, interview scoring sheets and any recruitment related correspondence. This is to enable providing references and to ensure that relevant information is available for any post-employment or post contract query relating to HMRC or Employment litigation.

 

If you are successful, your information will be kept along with any other employee related Personal Information you provide us in your personnel records for the duration of your employment with us and for seven years (7) after this date in accordance with our document retention policy.

 

Where you have provided your Personal Information via our online application tracking system, we will retain information stored on your candidate profile for a period of 24 months re-calculated from each time you access your account. The 24 month period will first begin when you create an account with us. After 24 months of inactivity on your account, your account will be deleted. You may delete your account (and the Personal Information we hold on your account) or update your account at any time – you can do this on your account profile or by contacting us. Any diversity and inclusion data submitted on our online application tracking system will be anonymous and aggregated. This unidentifiable data will be used for diversity and inclusion reporting and auditing purposes by the HR team.

 

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF YOUR INFORMATION

 

Our company is located in the UK but we use service providers in other countries and we are part of a group of publishing companies located in different parts of the world.

 

We may therefore transfer your personal information out of the UK. Some countries do not have the same level of protection for personal data as the UK. Whenever we send your personal data to a country that does not have an adequate level of data protection we will take all steps necessary to ensure that it is protected and processed safely. Where appropriate we will use the International Data Transfer Agreement to ensure your personal data has similar protection as in the UK.

 

AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

 

Automated Decision Making occurs when Personal Information is used by an electronic system to make a decision without human intervention for example where a computer reviews applications.

 

You will not be subject to automated decisions which have a significant impact on you based solely on automated means unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and have notified you.

 

We do not envisage making any decisions about you by automated means but we will notify you in writing if this position changes.

 

KEEPING THE INFORMATION UP TO DATE AND ACCURATE

 

Please keep us informed if your Personal Information changes during your application. This is important so we can ensure that the information we hold about you is correct and up to date.

 

YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES

 

You have choices and rights in respect of the information that we hold about you, including:

 

Your right to request access to the information that we hold about you (“data subject access request or DSAR) This is the right to receive a copy of any information we hold about you in a structured, commonly-used, machine readable format or in another format of your choice;

 

You will not have to pay a fee to obtain access to your information unless your request is clearly unfounded or excessive. In such case a reasonable fee may be charged.  We may require you to provide us with information to help confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information. This is to make sure that the personal data is disclosed to a person lawfully.

 

Your right to ask us, in certain circumstances, to delete information we hold about you;

 

Your right to ask us to correct information we hold about you if it is inaccurate or incomplete;

 

Your right to ask us, in certain circumstances to restrict processing of your information;

 

Your right to request that we transfer your information to another service provider in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format;

 

Your right to Object

 

You have the right to object to our using your information on the basis of our legitimate interests (refer to section ‘How we use your information’ above to see when we are relying on our legitimate interests). If you want to do this you can contact us using the details in the section ‘Who we are’.

 

Your right to withdraw Consent

 

The right to withdraw your consent for our use of your information in reliance on your consent (refer to section ‘How we use your information’ to see when we are relying on your consent), which you can do by contacting us using any of the details in the section ‘Who we are’.

 

You have the right to receive a copy of any information we hold about you in a structured, commonly-used, machine readable format or in another format of your choice;

 

All the above rights may be exercised by contacting us at contacting us at privacy@hachette.co.uk or by sending us a written request by post to Carmelite House 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ, UK for the attention of the DPO (Legal Department).

 

Your right to Complain

 

Please contact us if you have any questions or are unhappy about the way your information is used. We hope we will be able to resolve any problems or issues you may.

 

You also have the right to lodge a complaint about us and our use of your information to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/) or the relevant authority in your country of work or residence.

 

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

 

We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will post any changes to the Hachette UK website (www.hachetteukdistribution.co.uk) .

 

This Privacy Notice was issued on 10 October 2023.