{"id":3433,"date":"2026-03-30T12:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T11:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=3433"},"modified":"2026-03-30T13:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:20:21","slug":"ssssh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=3433","title":{"rendered":"Ssssh …"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The 21 Group has received a request to partly redact a blog comment because of a claimed breach of confidentiality. In this instance, we have agreed to do so, whilst pending legal clarification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidentiality is context-dependent<\/strong>. There are legitimate, even necessary reasons to keep certain Human Resources (HR) matters private: protecting victims\u2019 identities in instances of serious sexual assault, preventing the suborning of witnesses and complying with data-protection laws. Professional ethics reflect this: the code<\/a> of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) requires safeguarding confidential and personal data. In practice, assuring some confidentiality (e.g. keeping details of complaints limited to need-to-know personnel) can encourage reporting. For minor matters, allowing resolution to remain private can sometimes be efficient and preserve morale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, confidentiality becomes problematic when it is\u00a0overused (or — to use a word beloved of HR — weaponized). Secrecy\u00a0must not\u00a0be used as a default cover-up of wrongdoing. Confidentiality is ethically wrong if the aim is to push harassment or misconduct issues under the carpet. The Arbitration and Conciliation Advisory Service (ACAS) and CIPD stress that any confidentiality must explicitly exempt whistleblowing and unlawful acts, such as discrimination or victimisation. In general, after an HR investigation is over, there is limited need for full confidentiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A persistent problem is the use of confidentiality to obscure institutional failings, including within HR itself. This is common elsewhere as well. The instinct to invoke confidentiality to contain reputational damage is well established in public life. For example, Boris Johnson repeatedly argued that the Sue Grey Report into ‘Partygate’ during Covid lockdown should be “confidential” \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If employ\u00e9es do not trust the process \u2013 for example, if they suspect that a “confidential HR investigation<\/em>‘ means \u201cyou can\u2019t tell anyone about bad mistakes made by HR<\/em>\u201d \u2013 they may go straight to outsiders. The growing willingness of individuals at universities to approach the press is one clear sign of this breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legally and ethically, the line is drawn at misconduct. Confidentiality should not cover unlawful or discriminatory acts. For instance, in consultation with the UK Parliament, CIPD warned that poor confidentiality practices may “camouflage inappropriate or discriminatory behaviour\u201d. Likewise, the UK government\u2019s Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) reforms target harassment and discrimination explicitly, while preserving NDAs use for genuine commercial secrets. When processes lack openness about outcomes, employees are more likely to perceive injustice. Protecting individuals\u2019 privacy (e.g. not naming victims in sexual harassment cases) can sometimes be valid, but total secrecy undermines the trust and the fairness central to justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidentiality is <\/strong>a fair practice when used sparingly to protect privacy and due process, but it is often abused and then becomes the default shield for errors or misconduct. Practices perceived as \u201cgagging\u201d prompt anger and disengagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Image is of the Bodlean Library, Oxford University. The file is licensed under the Creative Commons<\/a> Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported<\/a> license. Attribution: 23 dingen voor musea)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 21 Group has received a request to partly redact a blog comment because of a claimed breach of confidentiality. In this instance, we have agreed to do so, whilst pending legal clarification. Confidentiality is context-dependent. There are legitimate, even necessary reasons to keep certain Human Resources (HR) matters private: protecting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3433"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3448,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3433\/revisions\/3448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}