You are the director of human resources and director of customer relations for Soundwave Company Bakery, a regional chain of coffee shops with twenty-five locations. Soundwave Company Bakery provides the communities it serves with coffees, teas, muffins, scones, croissants and other beverages and freshly baked treats.
Each location has thirty employees that bake in the kitchen, prepare hot drinks, take customer orders, prepare orders, clean and manage the online and mobile app ordering. There are over 750 employees in total that work for Soundwave Company Bakery, either in the twenty-five store locations or at the corporate headquarters.
The employees of Soundwave Company Bakery keep payroll hours through a system specifically created for the company. The system then submits all necessary information to the payroll company that provides the direct deposit compensation or live check compensation to employees. The system is not at all affiliated with any other Soundwave Company Bakery technology. The system is completely separate from the data received through mobile apps, online ordering or in-store customer payment methods.
The president of the company was just made aware that there has been a security breach within the company’s unique employee payroll system. Unfortunately, the company is unaware of the exact nature of the breach, but sensitive employee information, such as social security number, date of birth and bank account information, has been compromised. The situation is now under control and all is secure.
The president first wants you to decide how to notify employees of Soundwave Company Bakery of the security breach and what exactly to tell them. The president would like you to determine if there are tips or services we should offer our employees so that the company security breach does not impact them negatively. The president also wants you to decide whether or not the employees should be told to not discuss the breach with people outside of the workplace.
Second, the president wants you to decide whether or not the company should tell the public about the security breach. The laws in the area do not require disclosure unless the breach affects the general public. Since the breach was confined to the employee system, it is not required. The president wants you to weigh the pros and cons of informing the public about the breach and the pros and cons of not informing the public about the breach.
