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Captions and Data Protection

Kittyc

I've been using otter.ie and live transcribe at work for meetings. I asked for otter to be paid for by my company and it now appears in my access to work second report. IT have now raised issues about data protection and it has been stuck with them for over a month. Meanwhile I can't use them and I am completely lost. Has anyone else had this problem with a company and hearing loss. I wouldn't mind but IT haven't asked me how I use it and it is for team meetings. There only answer is teams subtitles which are not accurate. HELP

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Comments

Alex_Alumni

Hi @Kittyc I'm sorry to hear about the situation where you work, have you spoken to your manager or HR about things?

Can I clarify if otter.ie is one of your reasonable adjustments, in your access to work report?

Kittyc

Alex_Scope said:

Hi @Kittyc I'm sorry to hear about the situation where you work, have you spoken to your manager or HR about things?

Can I clarify if otter.ie is one of your reasonable adjustments, in your access to work report?

Yes it is on my access to work report. I have contacted my manager who is pushing it higher up the management tree. HR just said it wasn't there issue and to contact IT. I have also emailed the equalities officer.

L_Volunteer

Hi @Kittyc

Thanks for reaching out to us. I always appreciate how much courage it must take to reach out.

This situation sounds really frustrating, upsetting, and disruptive for you too. I am really sorry to hear you are experiencing this difficult situation.

In theory, you should be okay as it is within your Access to Work report. Your Access to Work report outlines the reasonable adjustments you are entitled to and deserve.

I know sometimes policies can conflict with each other and this is a reflection of competing priorities. However, under the Equality Act (2010), you are entitled to your reasonable adjustments.

Please know we are here for you, listening to you, and will help in any way we can!

Geoark

Hi @Kittyc as this has been raised as a data protection issue it may also be fruitful to speak to who ever is in charge of the company's data protection compliance.

I use a piece of software at home to help when writing, which monitors spelling and grammar, but also tone of voice to indicate if it is formal, friendly, knowledgable etc. In order to do this it uses external servers in real time to check and offer correction to what I have written.

This was the reason I was not allowed to use it at work, because once it is outside of the business systems it is out of our control. It is a shame as I believe it would benefit other staff members and, even make some of the things we send out easier to understand.

Kittyc

Libby_Scope said:

Hi @Kittyc

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but happy that you have managed to speak to your manager and they are pushing your case. I think contacting the equalities officer is also a great move and will hopefully stimulate change quite quickly!

I hope they will sort things out for you soon and if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Libby

Thank you and I have had to push it right to my director within my department. I think it is lack of understanding and hopefully I will get an answer soon. Thank you for the lovely response.

Kittyc

L_Volunteer said:

Hi @Kittyc

Thanks for reaching out to us. I always appreciate how much courage it must take to reach out.

This situation sounds really frustrating, upsetting, and disruptive for you too. I am really sorry to hear you are experiencing this difficult situation.

In theory, you should be okay as it is within your Access to Work report. Your Access to Work report outlines the reasonable adjustments you are entitled to and deserve.

I know sometimes policies can conflict with each other and this is a reflection of competing priorities. However, under the Equality Act (2010), you are entitled to your reasonable adjustments.

Please know we are here for you, listening to you, and will help in any way we can!

Thank you L Volunteer and it is so frustrating and I have been going round in circles. I am hoping that my access to work report can push this through. It is just a lack of knowledge and ignorance. IT haven't replied to any of my emails, so this has to go further. HR don't seem to want to get involved. So hugely frustrating.

Will keep everyone updated. x

Kittyc

Geoark said:

Hi @Kittyc as this has been raised as a data protection issue it may also be fruitful to speak to who ever is in charge of the company's data protection compliance.

I use a piece of software at home to help when writing, which monitors spelling and grammar, but also tone of voice to indicate if it is formal, friendly, knowledgable etc. In order to do this it uses external servers in real time to check and offer correction to what I have written.

This was the reason I was not allowed to use it at work, because once it is outside of the business systems it is out of our control. It is a shame as I believe it would benefit other staff members and, even make some of the things we send out easier to understand.

******************
I have contacted the company data protection department and they said only IT can help. There is an IT project team that look at programmes to make sure they are compliant. Currently, they haven't even started looking at it.

Your programme sounds great - what is it. I am tempted to just start using my live transcribe on my personal phone. I am pretty sure there are others in the company that are using it and unaware of any issues.

Geoark

@Kittyc yes getting thing through IT teams can be time consuming. Plus there are usually financial costs for them to consider as there are often licenses to consider. So even getting access to software they do approve can be difficult.

The software I was talking about is Grammarly, I used the free version for a while before upgrading.

Kittyc

Geoark said:

@Kittyc yes getting thing through IT teams can be time consuming. Plus there are usually financial costs for them to consider as there are often licenses to consider. So even getting access to software they do approve can be difficult.

The software I was talking about is Grammarly, I used the free version for a while before upgrading.

That sounds like a great software. I raised the issue of reasonable adjustments taking so long in our company at a health and safety meeting. There are quite a few people that have got stuck with no IT. I've now got departmental heads involved. But you feel like you are always having to complain or make a fuss. When all you want to do is do your job x

Spoonbill

At my previous job, we used to have on-site IT that were approachable. Then they centralised it and we started getting directives from people we'd never heard of, leaving us in the position of having a second disembodied boss forced on us, never knowing whose orders were primary.

Many of my co-workers did whatever was easiest for a quiet life and then moaned about it. I preferred to pass it over to my supervisor to deal with, on the basis that they were paid to manage tasks. They didn't always appreciate it, but ultimately I didn't create the problem and IT had zero authority to make demands, so I saw no reason I should worry about it. I was as nice as possible about it

It sounds as though you've got dragged into doing your manager's job for them, perhaps you should be promoted.

No recommendations, but other options to consider - using it anyway, not using it and repeating why regrettably you've been barred from doing that part of your job, coaxing co-workers into supporting your reasonable needs, joining a union, contacting ACAS. But that's easy for me to say, I don't know the people involved etc. Another thought is if there's any scope for seeing if IT need more resources which could be made into a joint campaign of sorts.

Kittyc

Spoonbill said:

At my previous job, we used to have on-site IT that were approachable. Then they centralised it and we started getting directives from people we'd never heard of, leaving us in the position of having a second disembodied boss forced on us, never knowing whose orders were primary.
Many of my co-workers did whatever was easiest for a quiet life and then moaned about it. I preferred to pass it over to my supervisor to deal with, on the basis that they were paid to manage tasks. They didn't always appreciate it, but ultimately I didn't create the problem and IT had zero authority to make demands, so I saw no reason I should worry about it. I was as nice as possible about it
It sounds as though you've got dragged into doing your manager's job for them, perhaps you should be promoted.
No recommendations, but other options to consider - using it anyway, not using it and repeating why regrettably you've been barred from doing that part of your job, coaxing co-workers into supporting your reasonable needs, joining a union, contacting ACAS. But that's easy for me to say, I don't know the people involved etc. Another thought is if there's any scope for seeing if IT need more resources which could be made into a joint campaign of sorts.

We've got internal IT but this isnt the help line but the IT project team? Whatever that means. They probably are stretched but the equalities officer is now raising the lack of IT help with reasonable adjustment.

I know I am really lucky as my employer has all the relevant policies etc but just get stuck with data protection.

As you say perhaps I need to do a managers job lol I might have a chat with IT when I get back on Monday. Good idea about ACAS and see where else I can push this.

Thanks for your comments.

Spoonbill

Good luck and hope sanity prevails!