PRIVACY POLICY
CHINA
A. Your privacy is important to Hays
Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy outlines Hays’
policy on how we manage the personal information we hold about our
customers and others. It applies to all operations within Hays
Specialist Recruitment (Shanghai) Company Limited including visitors
to our website.
It is the policy of Hays to respect the confidentiality of
information and the privacy of individuals.
This Privacy Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take
account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and
practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing
environment. Any information we hold will be governed by the most
current version of this Privacy Policy.
Please carefully and fully read and understand this Privacy Policy.
We will use our best efforts to ensure that the information you
submit to us remains private and is used only for the purpose you
agree to. This Privacy Policy reflects our commitment to you.
B. Hays' Privacy Policy is based on transparency
We are committed to being transparent about how we use personal information.
Where our documents ask for personal information, we will
generally state the purpose for its use and to whom it may be disclosed.
This Privacy Policy applies to the personal information of our
candidates, temporary workers, clients, suppliers, and website users.
C. Types of personal information collected by Hays
Personal
information that we
collect and hold usually
falls into the following categories:
- Personal information submitted and obtained from each person seeking employment and other sources in connection with applications for work, including your
- Name
- Age/date of birth
- Nationality/citizenship/place of birth
- Sex/gender
- Photograph
- Contact details
- Education details
- Language skills
- Training and employment history
- Work experience
- Qualifications
- Emergency contacts and details of any dependants
- Referee details
- Immigration status
- Social security number and other tax-related information
- Diversity information
- Details about your previous and current remuneration, pensions and benefits arrangements
- Aptitude test results
- Opinions about your work performance (eg references) and other information obtained by us in connection with your possible work placements
- Sensitive personal information such as your health data[1], personal identification document(s) details, and financial information (eg bank details)
- Work performance information
- Information about incidents involving you in the workplace
- Your performance appraisals
- Our assessment of your ongoing performance and prospects
- Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo
- Our identification of your training needs
- Any workplace rehabilitation
- Our management and resolution of any complaint, inquiry or investigation in which you are involved
- Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal information
- Undertaking criminal reference checks
- For research, development, business systems and infrastructure testing and other business purposes to assist us in providing our services to you and providing our services to our clients
- Information submitted and obtained in relation to your absences from work due to leave, illness or other causes
- IP address
- the dates, times and frequency with which you access our services
- CCTV footage if you attend our premises
- Information obtained to assist Hays in managing its client and business relationships
[1] By "health data",
we refer to "injury or illness that may prevent you from
performing certain work-related tasks or passing a medical
examination if required" in the candidate registration form.
Please note
that the above list of
categories of personal
information we collect is
not exhaustive.
D. How we collect your personal information
(i)
Information you provide to
us directly
We generally
collect your personal
information directly from
you through the following means:
- When you submit your personal information on the Hays website: In some instances we may need specific information about you, such as name, address, email address, telephone number etc. We will collect this information if you apply for a job or sign up for a service via our website, for example. We may also ask you for other information such as the types of jobs you are interested in and your workplace concerns in order to provide you with the best possible service and internet experience
- When you complete our candidate registration form or provide any other information in connection with your application
- When you communicate with us via email/SMS/telephone/ instant messaging app such as WeChat.
(ii)
Information we collect
about you indirectly
We may also
collect certain information
from you indirectly when:
- You provide your information to a third-party and consent to them providing your information to us (eg Job-boards)
- We receive any reference about you
- We receive results of inquiries that we might make of your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body
- We receive the results of any competency or medical test or background checks
- We receive any complaint or other information from or about you in the workplace
- We receive any information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you were involved
- We receive any information about a workplace accident in which you are involved
- We collect information about you from public domain sources
- We receive your personal information from our recruitment services providers; and
- As a result of your online behaviour on our website
If you do not
give us the personal
information we seek, we may
be limited in our ability to
locate suitable work for you
and we may be limited in our
ability to place you in work.
E. Purposes for which we use, process and hold your personal information
We
primarily use and hold
your personal
information for the
following purposes:
- Your actual or possible work placement
- Career guidance or management
- Our assessment of your performance and prospects or any training needs
- Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo
- Informing you of possible work opportunities, relevant candidates, or other events such as training or information sessions or our direct marketing to you by mail/email/SMS/WeChat/instant messaging tools/APP etc
- Any workplace rehabilitation
- Our management and resolution of any complaint, inquiry or investigation in which you are involved
- Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal or sensitive information
- Undertaking checks to verify your work rights status, criminal history and any other background checks, including credit checks for positions involving significant financial risk and otherwise as permitted by law
- For internal research, development, business systems
Hays
may process your
personal information
using individual
automated
decision-making
technology to shortlist
suitable candidates. You
may request further
information on how we
shortlist candidates by
contacting Hays and
opt-out from such process.
F. Our clients and suppliers
Clients
If you are a Hays client, we need to collect and
use information about you, or individuals at your organisation,
in the course of providing you or offering you our services.
We collect client personal information that we receive from
you or collect or receive from other sources. Personal
information from other sources may include, where appropriate
and in accordance with any applicable laws and requirements, we
may seek more information about you or your colleagues from
other sources generally by way of due diligence or other market
intelligence; from third party market research and by analysing
online and offline media (which we will do ourselves or employ
other organisations to do for us). To the extent that you access
our website or read or click on an email from us, where
appropriate and in accordance with any applicable laws and
requirements, we will also collect your information
automatically or through you providing it to us.
The main reason for using information about clients is to
enable us to introduce ourselves to you and to ensure that the
contractual arrangements between us can properly be implemented
so that the relationship can run smoothly. This will involve
providing you with our various recruitment and related services
and/or providing services to your employees, such as training
courses. The more information we have, the more bespoke we can
make our service.
We
manage your
information in order
to facilitate this by:
- Storing your details (and updating them when necessary) on our database, so that we can contact you in relation to recruitment activities
- Keeping records of our conversations and meetings, so that we can provide targeted services to you
- Undertaking customer satisfaction surveys
- Processing your information for the purpose of targeting appropriate marketing campaigns for our services, to do this we use marketing technology platforms and suppliers
- We also provide services to your employees such as training courses, which will require us to use their personal information in order to grant them access to these services
Suppliers We
need a small amount of
information from our
Suppliers to ensure
that the contractual
arrangements between
us can properly be
implemented so that
the relationship can
run smoothly, and to
comply with legal
requirements. We need
contact details of
relevant individuals
at your organisation
so that we can
communicate with you.
We also need other
information such as
your bank details so
that we can pay for
the services you
provide (if this is
part of the
contractual
arrangements between us).
We
use your data in
order to facilitate
this by:
- Storing (and updating when necessary) your details on our database, so that we can contact you in relation to our agreements
- Offering services to you or to obtain support and services from you
- Performing certain legal obligations
- Helping us to target appropriate marketing campaigns, to do this we use marketing technology platforms and suppliers
G. Disclosures of your personal information
(i)
Parties in the
work placement
process:
We
may share your
personal information
with the following
categories of recipients:
- Potential and actual employers and clients of Hays
- Other recruitment agencies or related service providers
- Referees [2]
[2] If at any time you provide personal information
of a referee to us, you warrant and represent that (a)
you have already given written notice to the third party
of the intention to use their personal information for
referee purpose.
(ii)
Related entities
We
may disclose your
personal information
to our group
companies, including
Hays employees and
potential employers
located outside of
China, for the
purposes for which
it is primarily held
or for a related
purpose and we
require and have
obtained (or will
obtain) your
separate consent as
required by
applicable laws
before processing
your information
and/or providing you
with any services.
(iii) Hays' business partners or vendors
We disclose your personal information to third party
business partners or vendors for the purposes for which it
is primarily held or for a related purpose and we require
and have obtained (or will obtain) your separate consent as
required by applicable laws before processing your
information and/or providing you with any services.
These
third parties may include:
- Other recruitment agencies or related service providers
- Job-board vendors
- External providers of online training and induction eg mandatory on-line Operational Health and Safety Induction
- Our insurers and brokers
- A professional association or registration body that has a proper interest in the disclosure of your personal information
- A Workers Compensation body
- Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information
- Accountants, auditors, company secretarial services and professional advisers
- Landlords, agents and property services organisations
- Travel and other services providers
- IT, data, network, technology, internet, social network and business process service providers and organisations
- Marketing and event organisers, venues and companies
- Survey service providers
Information
of the third-party
vendors of Hays are
available on these
links: https://www.hays-china.cn/en/sub-processors-list.
You
may also contact
Hays if you would
like to obtain the
names and their
contact details of
third parties which
have received your
personal information
from Hays for their
own processing
purposes, if any,
and the types of
personal information
which will be
disclosed to these
third parties. We do
not disclose
information about
your individual
visits to the Hays’
website, or personal
information that you
provide, such as
your name, address,
email address,
telephone number etc
to any outside
parties, except when
such disclosure is
in compliance with
Personal Information
Protection Law
(PIPL) or other
applicable laws in China.
H. Overseas transfer of personal information
For any transfers outside of China as the case may be, we
take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipients of such
information do not breach the PIPL in relation to that
information. We will take reasonable steps to ensure, for
instance pursuant to a contractual agreement, that your
personal information receives an adequate level of
protection, for example your information will be stored on
secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities.
If we transfer your personal information outside of
China, we will obtain your separate consent to your personal
information being forwarded or transmitted to our offices[3]
or entrusted service providers, including those
internationally and where you have applied for a specific
role, to employers in that country.
These overseas recipients are Hays overseas entities as
set out in https://www.hays-china.cn/en/hays-entities-list
and third party vendors as set out in https://www.hays-china.cn/en/sub-processors-list.
You may also contact Hays if you would like to obtain the
names and their contact details of overseas recipients which
have received your personal information from Hays, if any,
and the types of personal information which will be
disclosed to these overseas recipients.
These overseas recipients will only process your personal
information through the means and for the purposes as set
out in this Privacy Policy.
You may exercise your rights under the PIPL against these
overseas recipients by contacting the Hays Privacy Officer
by email at privacy@hays.cn or by
contacting the recipient directly through the details
provided on their website.
You further understand and agree that your information
may be transmitted, processing and stored out of China and
to other countries or regions by Hays and its entrusted
service providers. We require and have obtained, or will
obtain, your separate consent (if and as required by
applicable laws) before such transmission, processing and storage.
At Hays, we train our staff to respect the
confidentiality of customer information and the privacy of
individuals. Hays have appointed a Privacy Officer to ensure
that our management of personal information is in accordance
with this Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Officer can be
contacted by email at privacy@hays.cn.
[3]
Australia, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada,
Chile, China, Czech
Republic, France
& Luxembourg,
Germany &
Austria, Hong Kong,
Hungary, India,
Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Malaysia,
Mexico, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Poland,
Portugal, Singapore,
Slovakia, Spain,
Sweden, Denmark,
UAE, United Kingdom,
USA (and any other
countries where Hays
may provide its
services in the
future) regarding
possible or actual
work placements and
to assist us in
providing our
services to you.
I. How do we store personal information?
Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important
to us, whether you interact with us personally, by phone,
mail, over the internet or other electronic medium. We hold
personal information in a combination of secure computer
storage facilities and paper-based files and other records
and take steps to protect the personal information we hold
from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
We may need to maintain records for as long as they are
necessary for us to provide our services to you and achieve
the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. However, when
we consider that your personal information is no longer
needed for the purposes as set out in this Privacy Policy,
we will remove any details that will identify you or we will
securely destroy the records.
J. Information collected from visitors to our Hays China website
In
general, we gather
information about
all our website
users collectively,
such as what areas
users visit more
frequently and what
services users
access the most.
This information
helps us to
determine what is
the most beneficial
for our users, and
how we can
continually create a
better overall
website experience
for you.
What are cookies and how do we use them?
- A ‘cookie’ is a bite-sized piece of data that is stored on your computer's hard drive. They are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system. We use them to track your activity to help ensure you get the smoothest possible experience when visiting our website. We can use the information from cookies to ensure we present you with options tailored to your preferences on your next visit. We can also use cookies to analyse traffic and for advertising purposes
- If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. We also provide information about this in our marketing preferences page on the Hays website
- Further information regarding cookies is in the ‘Cookies Policy’ below
How
to reject cookies
- If you don’t want to receive cookies that are not strictly necessary to perform basic features of our site, you may choose to opt-out by changing your browser settings
- Most web browsers will accept cookies but if you would rather, we didn’t collect data in this way you can choose to accept all or some or reject cookies in your browser's privacy settings. However, rejecting all cookies means that you may not be able to take full advantage of all our website's features. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences
- For more information generally on cookies, including how to disable them, please refer to aboutcookies.org. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer
Cookies policy
What's a cookie?
What's a cookie?
- A ‘cookie’ is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive and which records your navigation of a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes
- Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system. If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. We also provide information about this in our marketing preferences page on the Hays website
How
do we use cookies?
- We use cookies to do two things:
- To track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns that emerge individually or from larger groups. This helps us to develop and improve our website and services in response to what our visitors want and need
- To help us advertise jobs to you that we think you'll be interested in. Hopefully this means less time for you trawling through endless pages and will get you into the employment you want more quickly
- Cookies are either:
- Session cookies These are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page, but they do not collect any information from your computer
- Persistent cookies A persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer, and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics and for personalisation (see below).
- Cookies can also be categorised as follows:
- Strictly necessary cookies These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when applying for a job, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet
- Performance cookies These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular
- Functionality cookies These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your username, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, font and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised
- Personalisation cookies These cookies help us to advertise details of potential job opportunities that we think may be of interest. These cookies are persistent (for as long as you are registered with us) and mean that when you log in or return to the website, you may see advertising for jobs that are similar to jobs that you have previously browsed
K. Your rights
(i)
Access to personal information
Subject to some exceptions, you can gain access to the
personal information that we hold about you.
To make a request to access your personal information,
you will need to complete an application form verifying your
identity and specifying what information you require. Please
contact our Privacy Officer for an application form.
We may impose a moderate charge in providing access. Our
Privacy Officer will discuss this with you.
You should also anticipate that it may take time to
process your application for access as there may be a need
to retrieve information from storage and review it in order
to determine what information is relevant.
(ii) Correction of
personal information
Hays endeavours to ensure that the personal information
it holds is accurate and up to date. We realise that
information changes frequently with changes of address and
other personal circumstances. We generally update your
personal information over the telephone. Please advise your
consultant when your personal details change.
If you have created a profile with Hays via our website,
you are able to update or delete your personal information
whenever you apply for a new position advertised. To do so,
simply click on apply for a position of interest, log into
your profile, and you will find options for editing or
deleting the information you have submitted.
Alternatively, you can contact our Privacy Officer for an
application form to request correction of your personal
information held by us.
(iii) Portability of personal information
You
can contact our
Privacy Officer if
you would like to
request us to
transfer your
personal information
to another personal
information processor.
(iv) Deletion of personal information
You
can request deletion
of your personal
information held by
us if (i) the
purposes of
processing have been
fulfilled, cannot be
fulfilled or the
personal information
is no longer
required for the
purposes for which
it was collected;
(ii) we have ceased
providing the
relevant products or
services for which
the personal
information was
collected, or the
data retention
period has expired;
or (iii) you have
withdrawn your
consent. However, we
will retain your
personal information
if we need the
information to
comply with our own
legal obligations,
for audit purposes.
(v) Enquiries and complaints
You can make further enquiries or complaints about our Privacy Policy to our Privacy Officer via privacy@hays.cn.
L. Feedback
We
have several areas
on our website where
you can submit
feedback. Any
feedback that is
submitted through
this area becomes
the property of
Hays. We may use
this feedback, such
as success stories
or responses to
surveys, for
marketing purposes,
or to contact you
for further feedback
on the site.
M. Changes to our Privacy Policy
We
will notify you of
any amendments to
the following
information in this
Privacy Policy by
updating the Privacy
Policy on the Hays
website in a
prominent manner:
(i) our name and
contact information;
(ii) the purposes
and means of
processing your
personal
information; (iii)
the types of
personal information
that we process;
(iv) the retention
period for each type
of personal
information; and (v)
means and procedures
for you to exercise
your rights under
PIPL. In addition,
if we make any other
changes to this
Privacy Policy, we
will post these
changes on our
website so that you
will always know
what information we
gather, how we might
use that
information, and
whether we will
disclose it to
anyone. If, at any
time, you have
questions or
concerns about our
commitment to your
privacy, please feel
free to email our
Privacy Officer at
privacy@hays.cn.
HP-026-07
© January 2026
For candidates using Hays Globalink services, please refer to
our UK privacy policy here.