Teams call - should have been a closed session with HR

happyc84

Had a formal meeting with HR online and  Line Manager, Meeting was on-line, All parties confirmed that it was only them online.

Half way through the online meeting, an extra person appeared - it was one of the parents of the HR person who was walking across the room.
Probably nothing can be done but not very professional. would you raise a complaint, meeting was supposed to be private. . Anyone had this happen to them before?

Thanks

Marvel1

I think online would mean there is no other person in the meeting - with their camera off for example.

Hasbeen

happyc84 said:

Had a formal meeting with HR online and  Line Manager, Meeting was on-line, All parties confirmed that it was only them online.

Half way through the online meeting, an extra person appeared - it was one of the parents of the HR person who was walking across the room.
Probably nothing can be done but not very professional. would you raise a complaint, meeting was supposed to be private. . Anyone had this happen to them before?

Thanks

So all parties confirmed that it was only them on line. Correct

So a parent walked across the room, so working from home then?

I would not even consider raising a complaint. It was private, did parent stay and listen and look at you, take part, even know you?

Happened all the time when News casters etc were working from home and people usually children entered the room. LOL

Just worry about the outcome of your meeting!

YBR

Are you likely ever to meet  the HR person's parent? If not how much does it matter if they overheard something?

Personally I wouldn't raise a formal complaint - WfH is difficult to manage for most people.
Almost all my colleagues have some story to tell about kids/pets/deliveries or something similar, and I have too.

I agree it is disappointing though, for something that's clearly meant to be confidential. 

Dakta

Whilst it's obviously neither pleasant or professional, for the last year we've been working in a very unusual set of circumstances where people have been scrambling to use corners of their household (me with a tiny corner desk under the stairs for example) in order to work from home. As a result of this I can't cant the number of moderately and more so business sensitive chats I've been in when someones wife comes out of nowhere, looks horrified and retreats or doesn't realise and plonks a coffee down at the attendees desk or whatever.

It's not ideal, and in your case it wasn't a great moment at all but we're all a bit realistic about it. We can't literally control people in our households and mistakes happen across the board.

happyc84

Thanks for the feedback, was tempted to call out HR on this but will keep this to myself. 

TadleyBaggie

Was the HR person using a headset, i.e. could someone the same room as the HR person have heard you?

Marcon

TadleyBaggie said:

Was the HR person using a headset, i.e. could someone the same room as the HR person have heard you?

If they weren't then probably the whole house could hear - but the time to raise any concern is at the time it happens, not afterwards.

Jsacker

Marcon said:

TadleyBaggie said:

Was the HR person using a headset, i.e. could someone the same room as the HR person have heard you?

If they weren't then probably the whole house could hear - but the time to raise any concern is at the time it happens, not afterwards.

Well, maybe, but there's also nothing wrong with raising the concern after the event, too. Some people feel more comfortable taking that approach.

Using an example, but if someone were racially abused by a colleague they may not feel comfortable raising the concern at the time it happens, but that wouldn't make a complaint a day or so later invalid would it?

To the poster; it might, at a huge huge push, be considered a UK GDPR data breach (need to point out that I'm only familiar with the pre-Brexit GDPR) if the person had no headphones on and was likely heard by friends/family. I refer to the following: 

How do I work from home securely? | ICO

Consider confidentiality when holding conversations or using a screen You may be sharing your home working space with other family members or friends. Try to hold conversations, where they are less likely to overhear you and position your screen where it is less likely to be overseen.

So I would tentatively say that you *might* have a complaint about your personal data being overheard by someone else. The problem is that it is potentially such a minor issue that the ICO, even if they side with you (very possible, mind), will do absolutely nothing about it. Would also depend on a few technical things, such as how much they overheard and whether you can get the Teams footage (not strictly needed but always helps). The doors could be opened for a civil claim against the employer IF the ICO sides with you, but that would be nominal (a few hundred quid at best) and leave a bitter taste in your employer's mouth to say the least!

So in a nutshell, I don't think that's a good hill to die on! But at the end of the day it is your choice my friend!

Marcon

Jsacker said:

Marcon said:

TadleyBaggie said:

Was the HR person using a headset, i.e. could someone the same room as the HR person have heard you?

If they weren't then probably the whole house could hear - but the time to raise any concern is at the time it happens, not afterwards.

Well, maybe, but there's also nothing wrong with raising the concern after the event, too. Some people feel more comfortable taking that approach.

If OP didn't like the possibility of the conversation being overheard, the only way to stop that happening was to say something at the time. Indeed, if they did raise it now, that's likely to be HR's response!

happyc84

Marcon said:

Jsacker said:

Marcon said:

TadleyBaggie said:

Was the HR person using a headset, i.e. could someone the same room as the HR person have heard you?

If they weren't then probably the whole house could hear - but the time to raise any concern is at the time it happens, not afterwards.

Well, maybe, but there's also nothing wrong with raising the concern after the event, too. Some people feel more comfortable taking that approach.

If OP didn't like the possibility of the conversation being overheard, the only way to stop that happening was to say something at the time. Indeed, if they did raise it now, that's likely to be HR's response!

Sometimes it's only after the event that you think hold on a minute what happened there. This was for a confidential HR meeting about me, where my health was discussed, and I was surprised that the company HR person could be so casual.

 if the error had been on my side, would have been interested to see what the company response would have been.