Privacy Policy

Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Privacy Notice

Introduction:

This Notice explains how we obtain, use and disclose your personal information, in accordance with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”).

Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd (and including this website, www.bioss.co.za) are committed to protecting your privacy and to ensure that your personal information is collected and used properly, lawfully and transparently.

Who we are:

Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd is a niche consultancy focused on improving organisational and people effectiveness.

This is achieved through a blend of assessment, consulting and technology solutions. Our core lines of business are Psychometric and Capability Assessments, Talent Management and Structural and Talent Analytics.

The type of personal information we collect:

We currently collect and process the following information:

  • We collect and process your personal information mainly for the purposes of Psychometric and Capability Assessments. For this purpose we will collect contact details including your name, date of birth, highest qualification, ID number and organisation.
  • We collect information directly from you where you provide us with your personal details or through your organisation or the organisation where you are applying for a position. Where possible, we will inform you what information you are required to provide to us and what information is optional.

How we get the personal information and what we use it for:

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

We will use your personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and agreed with you. In addition, your information may be retained for research, assessment storage, legal or user experience optimisation purposes, enabling us to provide you with an enhanced assessment experience.

  • To gather contact information;
  • To confirm your eligibility for the specific assessment process in question;
  • To conduct customer satisfaction research or for statistical analysis;
  • For audit and record keeping purposes;
  • For research purposes.
  • To enable our global users to provide information and feedback to participants, either as individuals, or in management development programmes run by trained and accredited Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Associates and company or organisation HR professionals.
  • Where you have expressly consented, to inform and support a selection process. When your personal information is used in this way, questionnaire data will always be interpreted by a trained Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Associate and never handed directly to those responsible for the selection process.
  • To understand the development of strategic decision making and leadership which forms part of a long-term research project, the results of which are constantly fed back to refine and develop our assessment instruments.

Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd will only disclose your personal information and results to trained and accredited Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Associates, all of whom are bound by contract to comply with the POPIA.

These Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Associates may in turn disclose your personal information and results to the organisation you work for or are applying for a position at under arrangements made between you, the Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Associate and the organisation concerned.

If you are completing your assessments in South Africa but are working for a company based outside South Africa or for an international organisation, your data may be transferred to that company or organisation under arrangements made between the Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd Associate and the company/organisation concerned.

Please note that Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd does not use your personal information for marketing and will not release your personal information and/or results to any other person or entity without first obtaining your permission.

  • We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:
  • Recruitment Companies;
  • Employers;
  • Organisations recruiting new personnel.

We use the information that you have given us in order to:

  • Check for valid previous assessment results;
  • Process assessments;
  • Research purposes;
  • Store in our assessment database.
  • To enable our global users to provide information and feedback to participants, either as individuals, or in management development programs run by trained and accredited BIOSS Associates and company or organisation HR professionals.
  • Where you have expressly consented, to inform and support a selection process. When your personal information is used in this way, data will always be interpreted by a trained BIOSS Associate and never handed directly to those responsible for the selection process.
  • To understand the development of strategic decision making and leadership which forms part of a long-term research project, the results of which are constantly fed back to refine and develop our assessment instruments.

We may share this information with:

  • We may disclose your personal information to our service providers who are involved in the delivery of products or services. We have agreements in place to ensure that they comply with the privacy requirements as required by the Protection of Personal Information Act.

We may also disclose your information:

  • Where we have a duty or a right to disclose in terms of law or industry codes;
  • Where we believe it is necessary to protect our rights.

When will we process your personal information:

In terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the justification grounds on which we base our processing on consists of the following:

  • The data subject or a competent person where the data subject is a child consents to the processing. Kindly note that you have the right to withdraw your consent;
  • The processing is necessary to carry out actions for the conclusion or performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party;
  • The processing complies with an obligation imposed by law on the business;
  • The processing protects a legitimate interest of the data subject;
  • The processing is necessary for the proper performance of a public law duty by the business;
    Or
  • The processing is necessary for pursuing the legitimate interests of the business or of a third party to whom the information is supplied.

How we store your personal information:

Unless you notify us to the contrary, Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd will retain named individual results as follows:

Psychometric data for a period of 3 years.

M/CPA® capability and data for 3 years.

ELDI® performance data for a period of 3 years.

Because of the nature of the CPA/MCPA, where the projections are valid for long periods, and you may wish to access these at any time in the future, we will archive CPA/MCPA results beyond the 3 years retention. Beyond this time period, data may be ‘pseudonymised’ upon request, which is defined in the POPIA as “the processing of personal data in such a way that the data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information.”

In addition, we will use aggregated data held anonymously for longer-term analysis and normative study.

Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd implements appropriate technical and organisational security measure to protect your personal information. Our online questionnaires are hosted in the Republic of Cyprus in a secure https environment.

The data from Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd assessments that are hosted on our online database are held in the Republic of Cyprus under secure arrangements. Further details of our server and network security can be provided on request.

Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd maintains secure data storage in the Republic of South Africa and in the Republic of Cyprus. Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd and all Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd staff are registered with the Data Protection authorities as required.

Your data protection rights:

  • You are entitled to access your personal data by sending a written request to Sonia Jardim (info@bioss.com). We may charge you a fee for this service as set out in terms of Condition 8 of POPIA.
  • You may also request Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd to correct or supplement any of your personal data which Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd will undertake as soon as practicable.
  • Request the destruction of your personal data: Sonia Jardim (Information Officer) will consider your request in light of any other laws or regulations prohibiting Bioss Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd from destroying your personal data.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please contact us at info@bioss.com if you wish to make a request.

Contact details:
Name: Sonia Jardim
Address: 24 Lucas Lane Bedfordview
Phone Number: 011 450 2434
E-mail: info@bioss.com

How to complain:

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at info@bioss.com.

You can also complain to the Information Regulator if you are unhappy with how we have used your Information.

Their contact details are as follows:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)
33 Hoofd Street
Forum III, 3rd Floor Braampark
P.O Box 31533
Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
Complaints email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za