Privacy policy
Last Revised: January 2011
We at Young Samuel Chambers Ltd, along with our subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, “YSC”), respect your concerns about privacy. This Privacy Policy describes the types of personal information we obtain including through our websites at www.ysc.com and surveys.ysconline.com (the “Websites”), how we may use the information and with whom we may share it. The policy also describes the measures we take to safeguard such information. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Privacy Policy a person using our services or otherwise submitting data to us shall have no greater rights under this Privacy Policy than the person would have under the applicable laws of their place of residence.
Your Consent
To carry out our services, we need your permission and consent to collect, process, store and transfer certain information about you. This information may be personal information (such as information revealing age, education and work history) and may include sensitive personal information (such as information revealing racial or ethnic origin).
By accepting this Privacy Policy, by registering with us, by participating in any of our online feedback or assessment processes, or by otherwise using our services, you consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information, which may include sensitive personal information, by YSC under the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Your Obligations
As part of our feedback and assessment process, we may request or you may volunteer details of a third party for collection of feedback. It is your responsibility to inform any third party, whose contact details and personal information you provide to us, that you have disclosed this information to us. You should obtain the prior consent of any such third party before disclosing their personal information to us and inform them that they can contact us should they have any questions about how we use their data.
If we have contacted you as a result of your details being disclosed to us by a participant in the assessment process, we confirm that we will use your personal details and any information that you subsequently submit to us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
The transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure, and we therefore cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk.
Information we collect from you
YSC provides Business Psychology Consulting, including but not limited to Leadership Development and Assessment, Executive Coaching, Talent Management, Organisational Design and Online Surveys.
We may obtain the following personal information about individuals in connection with the fulfilment of our services:
- name and contact details;
- education and employment history;
- psychometric questionnaire answers;
- demographic details, such as age, gender, ethnic origin;
- performance data, such as ratings, benchmarking data, performance ratings, psychometric results; and
- subjective opinions obtained from yourself (when responding to questions) or from others (when providing feedback about you).
Our YSC Online website provides online feedback and assessment services. We develop and use online individual and collective feedback and assessment tools for analysis and research purposes. Our feedback and assessment tools were created to provide personal or organisational data to our client organisations. This data is primarily used for selection and/or development. When you visit the YSC Online website you may be asked to provide personal information about yourself including your name, contact details, gender, age, other personal details and details regarding your employment. We also collect the domain names, e-mail address and other personal data of those who communicate with us.
Use of your information
We use the information we collect from you for purposes connected with the delivery of our services, including:
(A) Client obligations
We may use information about you in order to fulfil the obligations of our engagement with our clients (“Services”). This may entail disclosing such information to consultants, strategic partners, and coaches involved in the assignment, and/or to our client (as detailed below). Your personal information may be used to provide reports, ratings and services to our clients. These reports and Services may be used by our clients in the development of individuals in an employment, recruitment or human resources context.
(B) Benchmarking, evaluation and validation
The information we collect about you may be added to a central database to enable us to explore and uncover patterns in relevant leadership qualities captured during assessments, in order to provide norms to support evaluation and validation of our Services. The data may also be added to a benchmarking database to assist calibration and to monitor trends and insights.
(C) Communications
Your information may be added to a central database to enable us to maintain our relationship with you. If you contact us by e-mail or via our websites we may keep a record of your contact information and correspondence, and we may use any information you provide in your message to respond to your inquiry. We may also send you marketing information and general YSC updates unless you tell us not to.
(D) Other
Your information may also be used for contractual obligations with clients such as accounting, billing and audit, security, administrative and legal purposes, systems testing, maintenance and product development.
Data Transfers and Disclosure
Disclosure within YSC
Your personal information may be transferred to other offices, affiliates or subsidiaries of YSC since we work in teams on a global basis. This may also result in your data being transferred to, and stored in, countries other than the country in which your information was originally collected. The recipient countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country from which YSC initially obtained the information. When we transfer your information to other countries, we will protect that information according to the standards described in this Privacy Policy.
Disclosure to clients
We may disclose your information to clients who have engaged YSC in the delivery of services for which you are providing information – for example a written report, or ratings, following our engagement with you. We may also provide to clients reports, analysis and norms generated from a database within which your personal information has been integrated so that it is anonymous. We cannot and do not assume any responsibility for the actions or omissions of third parties, such as clients, including providing YSC with incorrect information, or the manner in which they use personal information received from YSC.
Disclosure to service providers
YSC works with third parties (including freelance associates) who provide services to YSC which may include, but are not necessarily limited to, website hosting and IT consulting services; data analysis; attorneys, accountants, and other administrative and back-up and security services. As part of providing those services, such third parties may be provided with access to personal information. In addition, our software development partners may use personal information for purposes of modifying, improving, refining and validating their technology, and research and development. Where we disclose your information to third parties, we will obtain reassurances from the third party that they will protect that information according to the standards described in this Privacy Policy.
Business Transfers
YSC reserves the right to disclose or transfer any and all personal information that we collect to a third party in connection with a strategic alliance with such third party, or in the event of a sale of our company or one of our affiliates, or a merger or consolidation involving YSC or one of its affiliates, or a sale or transfer of assets or of any portion of our business or the business of one or more of our affiliates.
Required by Law
YSC may also be required by law to disclose personal information to law enforcement agencies or government bodies.
Using YSC Websites
When an individual participates in our online feedback or assessment processes through YSC Online (a wholly owned subsidiary of YSC) he or she is considered to have given their informed consent to participate in the process. This fundamental concept underlies all current and anticipated data protection protocols and legislation. In order for individuals to give their informed consent, they must understand the purpose of the feedback or assessment process, the intended use of the data, and how the data are protected. These protocols are described within this document and we strongly encourage all YSC clients and individuals taking the assessments to read these protocols. Failure to comply with any of these safeguards will constitute grounds for termination of any data transfer arrangements between YSC and the person(s) or entity(ies) concerned. The log-on protocol requires all individuals participating in YSC Online activities to give their informed consent before they can complete the feedback or assessment process.
Cookies
You should be aware that information and data may be automatically collected through the use of cookies. Cookies are small text files that store basic information that a website can use to track on-line traffic flows, recognise repeat website visits and record information about your on-line preferences. They often include an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from our Websites, which is then stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies do not attach to your system and damage your files but observe user behaviour and compile aggregate data that we then use in order to improve our websites. Our Website uses cookies to remember users' email addresses or log on details. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the Websites during future visits.
Users of our Websites have the opportunity to set their own cookie preferences on their computers. These preferences can be to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. However, by opting not to receive cookies at any time, certain features of our Websites cannot be provided and so accordingly you may not be able to enjoy our Websites to their fullest extent. All web browsers are different and to learn how to change your cookie preferences, check the "Help" menu of your browser.
Website usage data
With or without cookies, our Websites keep track of usage data, such as the source address that the page request is coming from (i.e. your IP address, domain name), date and time of the page request, the referring website (if any) and other parameters in the URL (eg search criteria). We use this data to better understand website usage so we know what areas of our Websites users prefer. This information is stored in log files and is used for aggregated and statistical reporting.
Other websites
Our Websites may contain links to other websites which are outside our control and are not covered by this Privacy Policy. If you access other websites using the links provided, the operators of these websites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours.
Types of submissions
Please do not post proprietary information to our Websites. Any material, information or any other communication you transmit or post to our Websites will be considered non-proprietary and we will have no liability for it. By posting proprietary information to our Websites you are licensing YSC and its designees to copy, disclose, distribute, incorporate and otherwise use the communications in all data, images, sound, text and other things embodied therein for any and all commercial or non-commercial purposes. Users of our Websites are prohibited from posting or transmitting to or from this site any unlawful, threatening, libellous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate any law.
Access, Correction and Deletion
It is your right to request access and correction of the information we have stored about you at any time. You may furthermore request deletion of the information we hold about you. If you wish to issue a request for access, correction or deletion, please contact us using the contact details at the end of this Policy.
How Long We Keep Your Information
The periods for which we retain your personal information depend on the purposes for which we use it. However in certain circumstances we may destroy or delete any of your personal information that we hold. Please note that our policies on privacy will be overridden where we are required or permitted to disclose personal information under law or the terms of any court order.
We maintain appropriate administrative, organisational, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect your personal information against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use.
Updates to Our Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. The date the privacy policy was last updated is included at the top of this Policy.
How to Contact Us
If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, or if you would like us to update information we have about you or your preferences, please contact us by email at info@YSC.com.
You also may write to us at the following contact details:
YSC Ltd, The YSC Building, 50 Floral Street, London, WC2E 9DA, UK.
