Publication

The Rise and Challenge of DSARs, One Year on From the GDPR and the DPA 2018

May 2019

Authors:

Earlier this year, we distributed a survey to ask about your experiences with data subject access requests (DSARs) made by employees since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We thank those who took part and are pleased to report our findings, which show a sharp rise in the number of employee DSARs resulting in significant burdens on employers in terms of the time and cost involved in processing them.

Our research found:

71% of all organisations surveyed had experienced an increase in the number of employee DSARs since May 2018
Of those that had seen an increase in DSARs:
- 67% had experienced an increase in costs associated with the process of responding to DSARs
- 27% have acquired new personnel to deal with this growing trend
- 20% have adopted new software/technology
DSARs were commonly raised in connection with a workplace issue, with 92% of businesses that had experienced an increase confirming they had dealt with DSARs connected to a grievance, disciplinary or other workplace problem
For just under a quarter (24.4%) of all respondents, DSARs involved employees seemingly just wanting to know about what the organisation held on record about them

Matthew Lewis Leeds

Francesca Fellowes Leeds