Privacy policy

PRIVACY PRINCIPLES OF HELVETICA PARTNERS SARL

Helvetica Partners has long recognized the importance of protecting the privacy of sensitive information regarding employees, candidates, clients, suppliers, and partners. The nature of our profession requires us to collect and handle sensitive information, and we are responsible for safeguarding this information for as long as it remains in our possession.

Helvetica Partners complies with Swiss and European data protection laws to the extent that they apply. This privacy statement provides the necessary information to understand how we collect, use, and manage the personal data of the individuals concerned.

You are reading the French version of our privacy policy: in case of doubt, this version takes precedence, as versions in other languages are translations of the French version.

DATA CONTROLLER

Your data is processed by Helvetica Partners Sàrl (“we,” “Helvetica Partners”), registered in the Geneva Commercial Register, which acts as the data controller. However, we may use subcontractors to delegate some processing activities, and this document describes the measures taken to ensure the security of your personal data in such cases.

This privacy policy applies to the personal data of any individual using our services (“you”):

• Users of our website;
• Individuals we seek to place (our candidates, consultants, and temporary workers);
• Contact persons at our clients, suppliers, and business partners;

Additionally, this privacy policy describes:

• The types of personal data we collect and process;
• How we process and protect this information, how long we retain it;
• With whom we share it;
• Your rights concerning your personal data and how you can exercise them.

WHAT DATA DO WE COLLECT?

This depends on the nature of our relationship.

Most of the time, we record your contact information, such as name, postal address, email address, and phone numbers.
As a user of our website, we record information about your usage (IP address, date and time, requested service, etc.), and we also record cookies. You can consult our Cookie Policy.

If you ask us to provide services such as placement with our clients, we also record the necessary information, usually contained in a CV, such as:

• Your date of birth, gender, nationality, work and residence permits;
• Your professional qualifications; your educational and work background; your language, IT, or other skills; your career interests; or any other information that may qualify you for a job;
• If you provide them, your photo, criminal record, and credit reports.

If, additionally, we hire you as a temporary worker or consultant for one of our clients, we also record administrative or financial information, such as:

• Your bank details, AVS number (social security), and ID document information;
• Contractual, salary, tax, or other information necessary to process your contract and fulfill our obligations as your employer;
• If you provide them, contact details of emergency contacts.

Please note that your application documents may also contain sensitive data as defined by Article 3, letter c of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP), or special categories of personal data as defined by Article 9 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This may include, for example, data concerning political opinions, religious beliefs, physical or mental health, or a photograph revealing ethnic origin. By providing such information in your application documents, you acknowledge that we may store, process, and transmit this information.

HOW DO WE USE THIS INFORMATION?

We process all data on legal bases, falling under at least one of the following categories:

• Your oral or written consent;
• Compliance with a legal, regulatory, or contractual requirement (such as ensuring the processing of your salary or social contributions);
• Our legitimate interests, described in the following section.

WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA TO:

• Create and manage your accounts on our website;
• Manage our contracts with you, including salary processing and payment;
• Manage our client-supplier relationships;
• According to our website’s terms of use, send you promotional material, newsletters, or alerts about open positions;
• Perform direct marketing activities, such as promotions, offers, surveys, contests, newsletters, market research, or special events;
• Respond to your requests and complaints;
• Operate, evaluate, and improve our business (including analyzing, optimizing, and developing our services; managing our communications; analyzing data; and performing internal functions such as accounting);
• Protect against fraud and other illegal activities, identifying and preventing them, as well as in the event of lawsuits or other claims; and
• Comply with legal requirements, industry standards, contractual obligations, and internal policies.

In addition to the activities mentioned above, if you are a candidate, consultant, or temporary worker with an account on our website or who has applied through us, we also use your personal data to:

• Evaluate your suitability and qualifications for a position;
• Provide you with job opportunities and employment;
• Provide human resources services, including benefits programs, placements, payroll, performance management, and disciplinary actions;
• Offer additional services, such as training, career counseling, and outplacement services;
• Conduct statistical data analysis, such as analyzing our candidate, consultant, and temporary worker database; evaluating individual performance and capabilities, including skills assessments; identifying skills shortages; matching people to potential job opportunities, and analyzing recruitment trends.

We may also use your information for other purposes, provided we inform you specifically at the time of data collection or with your oral or written consent.

WHAT ARE OUR LEGITIMATE INTERESTS? 

As the data controller, Helvetica Partners may process personal information for legitimate business purposes, including:

• Analyzing, optimizing, developing, or modifying our services;
• Identifying and preventing fraud;
• Improving the security of our network and information systems;
• Better understanding the interactions of our website visitors;
• Direct marketing purposes, as well as measuring the effectiveness of promotional and advertising campaigns;
• Sending postal communications that we believe may be of interest to you.

Whenever we process data for these purposes, we take great care to ensure that your rights are considered and respected. You have the right to object to such processing, and for more information on how to exercise this right, please refer to the section How to Exercise Your Rights below.

HOW LONG DO WE RETAIN YOUR PERSONAL DATA?

We retain personal data in our systems for as long as necessary for processing or to fulfill legal obligations or legitimate interests. We determine this retention period by considering:

• The necessity of having the data to provide agreed services to you;
• Our legitimate interests, as described in this document;
• Compliance with our legal obligations, for example as an employer of employees, consultants, and temporary workers.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE SHARE?

We do not disclose the personal data we collect about you except in the circumstances described in this privacy policy or specific provisions related to certain activities.

We may share your personal data with our suppliers, who perform services on our behalf and under our instructions. We have required our suppliers to process your data confidentially, and we do not allow these suppliers to use or disclose your personal data except for providing the services on our behalf or to comply with legal requirements.

Furthermore, we may disclose personal data about you (i) if required by law or legal process; (ii) to law enforcement authorities or upon lawful request for disclosure; and (iii) when we believe disclosure is appropriate to prevent bodily harm, damages, or financial losses, or in connection with suspected illegal or fraudulent activities.

We also reserve the right to transfer your personal data in the event of a total or partial sale of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, dissolution, or liquidation).

DO WE TRANSFER YOUR DATA ABROAD

We may transfer your personal data outside of Switzerland to EU countries (subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation) or other countries. When we transfer your personal data to countries that do not have equivalent data protection levels as the EU or Switzerland, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for the sufficient protection of your personal data. We particularly follow the guidelines of the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?

The legal framework may grant you the following rights concerning your personal data. You can exercise several of these rights by contacting us at delegue.rgpd@helvetica-partners.com:

• Right to information: You have the right to receive a range of information, whether your personal data has been collected from you or not.
• Right of access and rectification: You have the right to access your personal data to verify that it is processed lawfully. You also have the right to correct or complete your personal data to ensure accurate processing.
• Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) and right to restrict processing: You have the right to ask us to delete your personal data or to stop processing it if we cannot delete it.
• Data controller’s notification obligation: Any rectification, erasure, or restriction of the processing of your personal data must be communicated to you unless such communication is impossible or requires disproportionate effort.
• Right to data portability: You have the right to recover your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and the right to transmit your personal data to another controller.
• Right to object: You have the right to object at any time to our processing of your personal data for reasons specified in the law, without having to justify your decision.
• Right to object to automated decision-making: This also includes profiling and typically governs the use of cookies.
• Right to be informed of a data breach: You have the right to be informed of any personal data breaches that may pose a high risk to your rights and freedoms as soon as possible.

When processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future.
To exercise your rights regarding the processing of your personal data, please refer to the section “How to exercise your rights” below.

UPDATES TO OUR PRIVACY STATEMENT

This privacy statement may be adapted at any time to reflect changes in our privacy practices or the legal framework. In case of significant changes, we will strive to inform you, notably through a message on our website. In any case, we recommend that you check the version of this statement, with the version published on our website being authoritative.

HOW TO EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS

To exercise your rights or to request the deletion of your data, you can send an email to delegue.rgpd@helvetica-partners.com.

Please keep in mind that if you exercise your right to object, this may affect our ability to perform and provide services for your benefit.

HOW TO CONTACT US

For any questions or comments regarding this privacy statement or our data processing, you can write to:

Helvetica Partners Sàrl

Data Protection Officer

Chemin des Aulx 5,

1228 Plan-les-Ouates (Geneva), Switzerland

Email: delegue.rgpd@helvetica-partners.com