Confidentiality Activity

Confidentiality is important on the job. In most jobs, employees may be

told things or they may be working with information or people that will
require them to work in confidence. It is not appropriate to share
confidential information with your teacher, your friends, your family or
others in the company or organization who would not normally have
access to that information. It is also not appropriate to discuss confidential
information with co-workers who have access to the same information
when that discussion is not part of the normal responsibilities of your job.
Part of being loyal to a company is to keep company secrets.

Some companies may conduct a security check on all employees including Co-op
students before they become employed.

In some jobs, it is important to keep information confidential so that you may be

asked to sign a confidentiality agreement form regarding all or certain aspects of
your work.

1. What do each of these terms mean to you?

Trust - Seomoene that you can beleive, that says the truth, that keeps a
word.

Loyalty - someone who dosen’t turn on you in any circumstances given.

Confidentiality - the state of keeping or being kept secret or private.

2. Name three people that you can trust.

1. My mom 2.my dad 3. My siblings

Is there a common quality about these people that allows you to put your
trust in them?
They are my family thus, i know them well.

3. List 5 jobs where you think confidentiality would be important and give an
example that would illustrate why confidentiality would be important.
1. Fbi agent because it needs to be secret.
2. Cia because if uncovered, there would be no point.

3. Special service because you investigate people secretly.

4. Secret agent becaue, well, you are secret.

 5. Double agent because if you get uncovered, you are dead.

Below are a variety of situations in which employees may find themselves

involved. Read each of the situations and place a check mark in the box to
indicate if you feel you would discuss the situation in the workplace and/or in
your personal life.

Situation Discuss at Work Discuss in Personal Life

You are working in a senior citizens home

where an elderly grandfather frequently
enters the corridors without being
completely dressed. Sometimes it is ❒ ❒
humorous, other times it is embarrassing
depending upon what clothing he forgets.

You are working in a police station where

the father of an acquaintance is brought in
for assaulting his wife.
❒ ❒

You are working in a large furniture store in

learn that a family on your street has a large
overdue account.
❒ ❒

You are working in a drugstore where the

neighbor's son was caught stealing and the
manager of the store has called the police.
❒ ❒

You visit an open AA meeting for a class

project and see the mother of a person you
know.
❒ ❒

You are working for an accounting firm and

learn that a parent of a friend is very
wealthy due to a large number of slum ❒ ❒
apartments that he owns.

You work in a doctor’s office where are girl

from your class obtains a prescription for
birth control pills.
❒ ❒

You are a room clerk at a hotel and see a

neighbor leave one of the rooms with a
person who is not his wife.
❒ ❒

You accidentally overheard a conversation in ❒ ❒

which your boss was telling someone that he
was going to have to fire someone because
he was stealing from the company.

4. How would you feel if…?

Your parents are having financial problems and owe a large amount of money to a
finance company. You have learned that a person working at the finance company has
told several people about this.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

You have given some confidential information to a teacher about a problem that you are
having at home. A few days later, while casually conversing with another teacher it
becomes apparent that this teacher has learned about the situation.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

You go to the doctor's office for a pregnancy test. A fellow student working at the
doctor's office learns of this and starts to spread rumors about you.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

A student who works at the alcoholic detox center was present last night when your
father was brought in by the police. This person spread this information around the
school.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

You confided in a friend and told them that you are very interested in a particular person.
Next day a few of your friends are teasing you about this.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Your parents live comfortably but not asleep and not according to your real wealth. A
person who works in an accounting firm that handles your parents account has been
telling people how wealthy your parents really are.

____________________________________________________________
 ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

5. Rumour Mill
Read the paragraph below and answer the following questions.

Mrs. A called Mrs. B on the telephone. “Hello Mrs. B,” said Mrs. A. “How are you today?” Mrs. B
replied, “I'm doing fine, how about you?” “Well Mr. A and I are thinking of going to Hawaii. We
realize that we've been far too busy with our careers and haven't spent much time together.”
Mrs. B said, “That sounds great. You both deserve a vacation.” They chatted for a few minutes
and Mrs. B invited Mrs. A to come across the street for a cup of coffee.

When Mrs. A returned home, Mrs. B got on the phone and called Mrs. C. The conversation went
like this: “Don't breathe a word about this, but Mr. and Mrs. A are having problems. Mrs. A has
decided to leave Mr. A. Mrs. C replied, “No kidding. Is she going home to her mother?” “No,” said
Mrs. B. “She told me that she is moving to -- let me think for a minute -- it starts with an H.”

“Is it Holland?” asked Mrs. C. “Yes,” said Mrs. B. “She's moving to Holland.”

Mrs. C called Mrs. D and told her that Mr. and Mrs. A we're getting a divorce and Mr. A was
moving to Hong Kong. Mrs. D told Mrs. E that Mr. A hadn’t paid enough attention to his business
and things got bad so Mrs. A was leaving him to live in Havana.

Well, this went on and on until the story got to Mrs. Q. She called up Mrs. A and repeated her
version. Mrs. A was more amused than angry. Her only response was, “Well, it appears that the
women in this town have taken me around the world when all I did was cross the street!”

Discuss a situation similar to this that has happened to you.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Describe how you felt when this happened to you.

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

State five reasons why you think confidentiality would be important at the
workplace.

1. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

4. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
 5. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. Confidentiality in the Workplace
Read each of the following case studies and answer the questions.

Case Study #1
Louise had her co-op placement at the Board of Education’s Computer Center. She was learning to be a data-entry
trainee. Louise was doing well at her placement and had received excellent evaluations from her supervisor.

One day, she was asked to assist in establishing a database that would include all teachers’ names, addresses, phone
numbers, years of experience and salary level. The next day Louise told her English teacher she knew how old she was
and how much money she earned.

As a student, what do you think of the situation? How does this example breach confidentiality?
The problem is that in a way Louise is taunting her english teacher with the information she hasabout her . Louise is
responsible to make sure nobody knows any of the context of theinformation she received during her work. She is
responsible for the information. Confidentialityis a factor here because the english teachers very private e\information has
been revealed to astudentCase

Case Study #2
Joe's Co-op placement is at a local bank branch as a teller training . When he started his placement, he was required to
sign an oath of confidentiality. By signing this out, he agreed that he would not reveal any information about a customer's
account.

One day, well working with the bank’s loan officer, he discovered that his next door neighbour owed a large amount of
money to the bank and he had fallen behind in his payments. If he does not make a payment within days, the bank will
repossess is house which had been put up as collateral for the large loan.

A friend of Joe's mother has been looking for a good buy on a house in their neighborhood. This would be a great
opportunity for Joe to help out his mother's friend.

What should he do?

Case Study #3
Sandy's co-op placement is in a medical laboratory. She assists the lab technician in conducting pregnancy tests. Sandy
discovered that one of the students in another class at her school is pregnant. Sandy rushed back to school and told her
best friend. Eventually the story got back to the pregnant student and she is now in tears in the guidance office.

If you were a co-op student (Sandy), what consequences would you expect as a result of this incident?

Case Study #4

An 18 year old co-op student has now been at her placement for 4 weeks. During that time, the employer has made
some advances that she is not comfortable with. She has refused his offers to get a ride home after work and has been
hurt by the employer’s rude remarks in front of other office staff. Her evaluations from him have been positive so far.

What should she do? What role does the co-op teacher have in this situation?

Case Study #5

Anne Marie is a co-op student at a local daycare and she is really enjoying her work with the children. She has become
extremely concerned about one little girl who seems to have many unexplained cuts and bruises and who tends to be
very fearful when approached by adults. Anne Maria is suspicious that the child is being mistreated at home. The
children's mother is a very good friend of the daycare supervisor.

What should Anne Marie do?

Case Study #6
Debbie is a great 11 cosmetology co-op student with a pleasant personality, a flair for fashion and the skills to become an
excellent hairstylist. Her disposition is excellent and she has a great sense of humor. She selected three salons for her
placement interviews and she thought the interviews all went very well. Debbie was not selected for any of the positions.
She confides to her co-op teacher that she feels that she was discriminated against because she is black.

What should the teacher do?