Data protection notice: Why Come to the Office? project
Collection, processing, reporting and archiving of research material
In the first phase of the research, statistical analyses of employees' experiences of remote work and their connection to well-being at work will be carried out from research material funded by the WORK2030 programme that was part of Prime Minister Marin's governmental programme. The anonymous material includes extensive employer and employee surveys compiled in 2021 and 2022.
In the second phase of the research, individual interviews will be conducted in five Finnish organizations applying self-directed hybrid work. In each organization, 15-20 employees will be interviewed. The results of the interview will be supplemented by a workspace review at the employer's premises and an online survey aimed at a larger group of employees. This data collection will take place during 2023. In the third phase of the research, two workshops will be organized, to which the research participants will be invited, and the development proposals initially prepared by the researchers will be elaborated into good practices of hybrid work.
The research follows the principles of good scientific practice (TENK) and valid data protection guidelines. The research is conducted in accordance with general ethical principles (EU rights) and in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Before the start of the qualitative data collection of the second phase of the study, an ethical preliminary assessment by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health will be carried out.
The information collected in the study is treated as strictly confidential. The law obliges investigators to remain silent in matters concerning an individual respondent. The collected material is stored in electronic form at Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Recordings of interviews and workshops are converted into written form by transcribing. The transcriptions are made by an external company that complies with the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement. The online survey is carried out with the Webropol application, the material of which is accessible only to the researchers. The workspace review focuses on the workspaces of the personnel groups participating in the study and does not collect or use information about individual persons.
The members of the research team process the interview, online survey, workspace review and workshop material as files stored on a secure network disk, which do not reveal the respondents' personal information. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health's information systems are protected by firewalls, and their access rights require a username and password issued by the information administration. Only those persons who have been granted access to the material have access to it. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health stores personal data and materials in a building with an access control system. The data is processed in such a way that the individual respondent is not identifiable. For analysis, names and other identifiers are removed from the material, and identifiers are replaced with codes.
The research project ends on 31 October 2024. The material can be used for scientific purposes also in other studies anonymously and in such a way that the person cannot be identified from it. The material is archived at Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, including all personal data (in identification form).
The rights of research subjects
Participation in the study is voluntary. For all materials, the legal basis for processing personal data is public interest. Consent to participate in the research is evidenced by answering the questionnaire and verbal or written confirmation in the case of interviews.
Research participants have the right to receive a copy of their own data in the resulting research register, excluding data that Finnish Institute of Occupational Health cannot identify as relating to you. The subject also has the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incorrect information.
In addition, the research subject can withdraw consent at any stage of the research, in which case the collected material will not be used for research purposes but will be stored permanently. The performed analyses are cancelled to the extent that it is technically possible. The subject has the right to file a complaint about the processing of personal data with the data protection authority (Data Protection Ombudsman).
Privacy Policy
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, 00250 Helsinki, phone 030 4741 (switchboard) is responsible for the personal register.
Data protection officer of Finnish Institute of Occupational Health: p. 030 474 2429 or e-mail tsv [at] ttl.fi.
A description of the data protection policy of Finnish Institute of Occupational Health's research activities is available on our website below.