Keeping confidential information confidential

Admin, HR and operations staff see what the rest of the company does not: salaries, medical certificates, disciplinary letters, supplier prices, customer lists. In a town where everyone knows everyone, the panel's real question is: “If your cousin asks what her colleague earns, what happens?” They ask it directly (“How do you handle confidential information?”) or as a scenario (“A manager's relative wants to see a staff file. What do you do?”).

A strong answer has three layers: what you treat as confidential, the daily habits that protect it, and what you say when someone asks. A weak answer has only the first sentence: “I keep secrets.”

• Habits the panel wants to hear: staff and customer files in a locked cabinet; digital files in password-protected folders shared only with the people named in the policy; the screen locked when you leave the desk; salary sheets never printed to a shared printer and left there; no photos of documents on your personal phone; no work details discussed at home, in the taxi or in WhatsApp groups.
• The need-to-know rule in one sentence: information goes to the people who need it to do their job, through the official channel, and nowhere else.

1. 1A colleague or relative asks: refuse warmly and quickly. “I'm sorry, I can't share anything from the files; it's the same rule for everyone.” Then change the subject; no explanation is needed.
2. 2A manager without authority over that file asks: “I can share it once the HR manager approves; shall I ask her?” You are not refusing, you are routing the request.
3. 3Someone senior insists: agree to follow up in writing. “Please send me the request by email so I can attach it to the file.” Most improper requests stop at that sentence.