DECISIONWISE, LLC
EU – U.S. PRIVACY SHIELD POLICY
SWISS – U.S. PRIVACY SHIELD POLICY

For more information on the Privacy Shield Program, please visit the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Privacy Shield website at: https://www.privacyshield.gov/welcome

DecisionWise, LLC (“DecisionWise”) has adopted this EU – U.S. Privacy Shield Policy and SWISS – U.S. Privacy Shield Policy (collectively, this “Privacy Shield Policy“) to establish and maintain an adequate level of Personal Data privacy protection as it relates to transfers of Personal Data from the European Economic Area and from Switzerland.

DecisionWise complies with the EU – U.S. and SWISS – U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks (collectively, “Privacy Shield”) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries. DecisionWise has certified that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. DecisionWise complies with the Swiss -U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from Switzerland to the United States.

DecisionWise commits to cooperate with EU data protection authorities (DPAs) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) and comply with the advice given by such authorities with regard to human resources data transferred from the EU and Switzerland in the context of the employment relationship.

This Privacy Shield Policy further expands on the principles set forth in DecisionWise’s General Privacy Policy, Section 2.4.4.

Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaning given them in DecisionWise’s General Privacy Policy, as published on https://decision-wise.com/.

In this Privacy Shield Policy, an employer that has contracted with DecisionWise is called an “Employer.” An individual who accesses and transmits data for the Employer (they are employees of Employer and help coordinate DecisionWise’s service) are called a “User.” An individual who responds to our surveys or answers our questions is called a “Respondent,” and are most often an employee or vendor of an Employer. Anyone who visits our publicly-facing websites, such as https://decision-wise.com/, is called a “Visitor.”

“Data Subject” means an employee, a Respondent, of an Employer or an identified or identifiable natural living person. An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by reference to a name, or to one or more factors unique to his or her personal physical, psychological, mental, economic, cultural or social characteristics. For Employers, Users, Respondents, or Visitors, residing in Switzerland, a Data Subject also may include a legal entity.

“Europe” or “European” refers to a country in the European Economic Area and for purposes of this Privacy Shield Policy, includes the country of Switzerland.

“Third Party” means any individual or entity that is neither DecisionWise nor a DecisionWise employee, agent, contractor, or representative.

If there is any conflict between the policies in this Privacy Shield Policy and the Privacy Shield Privacy Principles, the Privacy Shield Privacy Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov.

All DecisionWise employees who handle Personal Data from Europe are required to comply with the Principles stated in this Privacy Shield Policy.

I. SCOPE

This Privacy Shield Policy applies to the processing of Personal Data that DecisionWise receives in the United States concerning Data Subjects who reside in Europe. DecisionWise collects survey data to help organizations improve their systems, people, interactions, culture, and processes.

This Privacy Shield Policy does not cover data from which individual persons cannot be identified or situations in which pseudonyms are used. (The use of pseudonyms involves the replacement of names or other identifiers with substitutes so that identification of individual persons is not possible.)

II. RESPONSIBILITIES AND MANAGEMENT

DecisionWise has designated an internal team to oversee its information security program, including its compliance with the Privacy Shield program. The internal team shall review and approve any material changes to this program as necessary. Any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this Privacy Shield Policy may be directed to privacy@decision-wise.com.

DecisionWise will maintain, monitor, test, and upgrade its information security policies, practices, and systems to assist in protecting the Personal Data that it collects. DecisionWise personnel will receive training, as applicable, to effectively implement this Privacy Shield Policy. Please refer to Section 7 for a discussion of the steps that DecisionWise has undertaken to protect Personal Data.

III. RENEWAL / VERIFICATION

DecisionWise will renew its Privacy Shield certification annually, unless it subsequently determines that it no longer needs such certification or if it employs a different adequacy mechanism.

Prior to the re-certification, DecisionWise will conduct an in-house verification to ensure that its attestations and assertions with regard to its treatment of Customer Personal Data are accurate and that the company has appropriately implemented these practices. Specifically, as part of the verification process, DecisionWise will undertake the following:

Review this Privacy Shield Policy and its publicly posted General Privacy Policy to ensure that these policies accurately describe the practices regarding the collection of Customer Personal Data;

• Ensure that the publicly posted General Privacy Policy informs Data Subjects of DecisionWise’s participation in the Privacy Shield program and where to obtain a copy of additional information (e.g., a copy of this Privacy Shield Policy)
• Ensure that this Privacy Shield Policy continues to comply with the Privacy Shield principles
• Confirm that Data Subjects are made aware of the process for addressing complaints and any independent dispute resolution process (DecisionWise may do so through its publicly posted website, Customer contract, or both)
• Review its processes and procedures for training DecisionWise’s employees about DecisionWise’s participation in the Privacy Shield program and the appropriate handling of Customer Personal Data

The most recent review of this Privacy Shield Policy took place on 11-30-2019.

IV. COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL DATA

DecisionWise collects Personal Data from Respondents and Employers when they administer a survey on behalf of an Employer, when an Employer (or User) accesses their account, requests information from us, or otherwise communicates with us.

As a general matter, DecisionWise collects the following types of Personal Data from Data Subjects: contact information, including, a contact person’s name, work email address, work mailing address, work telephone number, title, and company name. We also collect responses to other survey questions that are submitted by the Respondents.

When an Employer, User, or Respondent, uses our services online, we may collect their IP address and browser type. We may associate IP address and browser type with a specific customer.

DecisionWise is a service provider to Employers. In our capacity as a service provider, we receive, store, and/or process Personal Data owned and/or controlled by Data Subjects, including information about the Employer’s employees, agents, or other individuals. In such cases, we will process the Personal Data on behalf of and under the direction of each Employer pursuant to a written contract with the Employer. The information that we collect from Employers in this capacity is used for preparing reports, managing transactions, invoicing, renewals, and other operations related to providing services to the Employer, and as otherwise requested by the Employer.

DecisionWise uses Personal Data that it collects directly from Data Subjects and Employers in its role as a service provider for the following business purposes, without limitation: (1) to gather and process survey feedback from Respondents (including managing transactions, reporting, invoices, renewals, and other operations related to providing services to a Customer); (2) satisfying governmental reporting, tax, and other requirements (e.g., import/export); (3) storing and processing data, including Personal Data, in computer databases and servers located in the United States; (4) verifying identity (e.g., for online access to accounts); (5) as requested by the Data Subject; and (6) as otherwise required by law.

V. DISCLOSURES / ONWARD TRANSFERS OF PERSONAL DATA

Except as otherwise provided herein, DecisionWise discloses Personal Data only to Third Parties who reasonably need to know such data. Such recipients must agree to abide by confidentiality obligations. Examples of Third Parties that may receive personal information include analysts or consultants that have been contracted on behalf of a Customer and will only be provided with advance written notice. All Third Parties receiving personal information must have a written confidentiality agreement in place between Customer and Third Party and DecisionWise and Third Party that meets or exceeds Privacy Shield standards. DecisionWise will never sell Personal Data or transfer Personal Data to any third party for any purpose other than helping DecisionWise fulfill its contractual obligations to its Customer.

DecisionWise may provide Personal Data to Third Parties that act as agents, consultants, and contractors to perform tasks on behalf of and under our instructions. For example, DecisionWise may store such Personal Data in the facilities operated by Third Parties. Such Third Parties must agree to use such Personal Data only for the purposes for which they have been engaged by DecisionWise and they must either: (1) comply with the Privacy Shield principles or another mechanism permitted by the applicable European data protection law(s) for transfers and processing of Personal Data; or (2) agree to provide adequate protections for the Personal Data that are no less protective than those set out in this Privacy Shield Policy. DecisionWise also may disclose Personal Data for other purposes or to other Third Parties when a Data Subject has consented to or requested such disclosure.

DecisionWise may be forced to disclose an individual’s personal information when compelled by a request made by a recognized public authority or where required to meet national security and or law enforcement requirements.

In cases of onward transfer to third parties of data of EU individuals received pursuant to the Privacy Shield, DecisionWise is potentially liable. DecisionWise’s liability under this Privacy Shield Policy will be governed by the contract in place between the Employer and DecisionWise.

VI. SENSITIVE DATA

Sensitive Data, as defined in DecisionWise’ General Privacy Policy, may be provided by an Employer or Respondent to DecisionWise. In addition, DecisionWise may ask a question on a survey that might be considered Sensitive Data. Any person taking a survey may refuse to answer any or all questions. By answering a survey question, a Respondent is agreeing to the use of the data being provided as a response to the question.

VII. DATA INTEGRITY AND SECURITY

DecisionWise uses reasonable efforts to maintain the accuracy and integrity of Personal Data and to update it as appropriate. DecisionWise has implemented physical and technical safeguards to protect Personal Data from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alternation, or destruction. For example, electronically stored Personal Data is stored on a secure network with firewall protection, and access to DecisionWise’s electronic information systems requires user authentication via password or similar means. DecisionWise also employs access restrictions, limiting the scope of employees who have access to Customer Personal Data. Further, DecisionWise uses secure encryption technology to protect certain categories of personal data.

Despite these precautions, no data security safeguards guarantee 100% security all of the time.

VIII. NOTIFICATION

DecisionWise notifies Data Subjects about its adherence to the Privacy Shield principles through its publicly posted General Privacy Policy, available at https://decision-wise.com/.

IX. ACCESSING PERSONAL DATA

DecisionWise personnel may access and use Personal Data only if they are authorized to do so and only for the purpose for which they are authorized.

X. RIGHT TO ACCESS, CHANGE OR DELETE PERSONAL DATA

A Data Subject has the right to access their data at any time. Data subjects have the right to know what Personal Data about them is included in the databases and to ensure that such Personal Data is accurate and relevant for the purposes for which DecisionWise collected the Personal Data. Data Subjects may review their own Personal Data stored in the databases and correct, erase, or block any data that is incorrect, as permitted by applicable law. Upon reasonable request and as required by the Privacy Shield principles, DecisionWise allows Customer’s employees access to their Personal Data, in order to correct or amend such data where inaccurate.

Anonymous aggregated survey responses are used for DecisionWise’s ongoing research, analysis, benchmarking, and trending purposes, and such information may be retained indefinitely (“Benchmarking Information”). Information that would identify a participant within the Benchmarking Information is not retained, identified, and is never disclosed to anyone.

Data Subjects may edit their Personal Data by making a written request at privacy@decision-wise.com. Requests submitted to privacy@decision-wise.com will receive a response within forty-five (45) days. In making modification requests to their Personal Data, Data Subjects must provide only truthful, complete, and accurate information. To request erasure of Personal Data, Data Subjects should submit a written request to privacy@decision-wise.com.

DecisionWise will track each of the following and will provide notice to the appropriate parties under law and contract when either of the following circumstances arise: (a) legally binding request for disclosure of the Personal Data by a law enforcement authority unless prohibited by law or regulation; or (b) requests received from the Data Subject.

DecisionWise will endeavor to respond in a timely manner to all reasonable written requests to view, modify, or inactivate Personal Data.

You may request limitations on the use of your personal data specified in this Privacy Shield Policy by contacting us at privacy@decision-wise.com.

XI. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY SHIELD POLICY

This Privacy Shield Policy may be amended from time to time, consistent with the Privacy Shield Principles and applicable data protection and privacy laws and principles. We will make DecisionWise employees aware of changes to this Privacy Shield Policy either by posting to our intranet, through email, or other means. We will notify Data Subjects if we make changes that materially affect the way we handle Personal Data previously collected, and we will allow them to choose whether their Personal Data may be used in any materially different manner. Minor changes to this Privacy Shield Policy may be made at any time by posting the changes to our website. Please refer back to our publicly-posted websites on an occasional basis to review any changes.

XII. QUESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS

Data Subjects may contact DecisionWise with questions or complaints concerning this Privacy Shield Policy at the following address privacy@decision-wise.com.

XIII. ENFORCEMENT AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION

In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, DecisionWise commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of Personal Data. Individuals in the European Union with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield Policy should first contact privacy@decision-wise.com. You will receive a response within 45 days of receipt.

For any complaints that cannot be resolved with DecisionWise directly, DecisionWise will comply with the information and advice provided to it by an informal panel of EU data protection authorities (DPA) in relation to such unresolved complaints (as further described in the Privacy Shield Principles). Please contact us to be directed to the relevant DPA contacts. As further explained in the Privacy Shield Principles, a binding arbitration option will also be made available to you in order to address residual complaints not resolved by any other means. Dispute resolutions services are provided at no cost to you.

As part of this Privacy Shield Policy, DecisionWise subjects itself to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).