Privacy Notice
Last updated: 7th April 2025
Here at Best Companies, we care about being transparent in how we use the personal data we receive.
Please read our privacy notice below to understand what we do, and how we do it.
Who are Best Companies?
We want to help make the world a better workplace.
An independent 3rd party, we support organisations to better understand their organisational health.
Please visit our about page to find out more.
Contact
Address: Best Companies, Hamilton House, Rackery Lane, Llay, Wrexham, Wales,UK, LL12 0PB
Data Protection Officer: Privacy@b.co.uk
For any general queries, or help whilst using our applications, please contact support@b.co.uk
Registered with the Information Commissioners Office, Registration reference:Z8349843
Where we process personal data
We collect personal data from our website and applications which include, but not limited to:
- Information collected through our b-Heard survey
- Our website, volunteered information
- Potential lead generation and existing client information
- Business contact data information
The b-Heard Survey
Personal Data your employer will provide where they have purchased our services:
- Name (First name and surname)
- Unique number (e.g.,employee number)
- Email address (for electronic delivery)
They may also provide for enhanced reporting:
- Employment Group
- Manager Name
- Job Grade
- Year or Date of Birth
- Employment Start Date
- Sex
- Contracted Weekly Hours
- Salary Band
Survey Data
Where your employer has not provided us with the demographics for enhanced reporting (listed above) we will ask you for these details directly. Where collected we will collate these responses to create anonymous reporting.
All survey responses will also be used for our own research to understand the challenges and support best practise within the workplace. You may be asked to provide responses to questions that are deemed to be more sensitive to you, known as special category data.
Prior to collection we will ask your consent for further processing of this information, this includes:
- Race
- Religion
- Sexual identity
- Gender identity
- Neurodiversity
- Disability
- Health
We also from time to time, participate in wider research initiatives where we compare our research to that of wider workplace research studies. This includes but not limited to organisations such as the UK Office for National Statistics and the World Health Organisation.
Where purchased, Elevate, provides performance coaching and scoring for managers. This involves automated decision making, including profiling through the use of algorithms for scoring and the assistance of generative AI to deliver performance coaching. Our logic behind the decision making and profiling has undergone testing, with appropriate safeguards applied. This is to ensure that the platform does not have a significant effect on any manager using the platform.
Survey responses
Best Companies is the decision maker or “Data Controller” of your survey responses. Our reporting to your employer is anonymous, we do not reveal how an individual has responded, and responses are contractually protected.
Survey submission is final. Once your survey responses are submitted, you will be unable to make any further changes. Your responses will automatically be included in the reporting process.
Best Companies processing for research purposes
BestCompanies conducts additional research on the survey responses and demographical data under the lawful basis of Legitimate Interest as sole Data Controller, under the GDPR historical, scientific and statistical research is deemed compatible processing. This processing is required for:
- The statistical research, which is required to assist employers with understanding how employee engagement impacts their organisation in comparison to other organisations
- Production of best practice content
- The ability to provide comparative historical research
- New learning for the benefit of the wider society in the form of white papers, case studies and articles
To the extent possible all data provided to our Research and Data Insight teams for the above research purposes is pseudo-anonymised.
Confidentiality
We go to great lengths to maintain the confidentiality of all survey responses that we receive. These responses are contractually protected, ensuring that we are legally not required to provide them to an employer upon request. We will not disclose survey responses to individuals as there is a possibility that doing so could compromise the privacy of other respondents. The only time we will release a partial or full response is where there is a compelled disclosure. Please watch the video, how we keep survey responses anonymous.
Compelled Disclosure
We reserve the right to use or disclose information provided where we are required by law or where Best Companies reasonably believes that such use or disclosure is necessary to protect the company's rights and/or an individual respondent, to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process. We will ensure the confidentiality of all survey responses unless we are required to reveal them in exceptional circumstances. In these cases, we will maintain the highest level of confidentiality possible.
Web Forms and Contact: Our website provides fields for us to collect your feedback, contact us or create a quote. In providing your name and email address, you are allowing us to contact you in relation to your enquiry, we may continue to contact you from time to time with related services we provide. You may opt-out by unsubscribing to these communications at any time.
Best Companies applications: Individuals provided with a Best Companies account for the Dashboard, Workplace Insight Tool, and Elevate. Where you choose to add content to your account, this may be visible to others within your organisation where granted access and Best Companies employees where they have a requirement to access your account to provide the services. For data collected within our onsite applications, Best Companies is the Data Controller. Applications Privacy Notice
Third party Applications: We occasionally make use of third-party applications for contact and feedback. These third party platforms include LinkedIn InMail, Microsoft Forms or for anonymous feedback we use SmartSurvey. You may opt to identify yourself within the anonymous feedback survey; this is for us to respond to you directly in relation to the experience you have received. Best Companies is the Data Controller of these activities.
Publication and recognition in association with Best Companies. We may on occasion have a requirement to share the contact details of a PR representative and/ or Project Manager(s) to a third party. This is to outsource to external writers for conducting interviews and writing editorial pieces. The names and contact details of the appropriate organisation representative are provided by the employer within the cultural insight, which is completed during survey setup. The information shared will be the minimum required for them to make contact about your accreditation, list position or award. Best Companies is the Data Controller of these activities.
Our websites and cookies
Website usage data is collected by cookies (with your consent) to provide Best Companies with analytics. Data is tracked at visitor level, to understand how the site is used. The ability to attribute marketing leads from across multiple campaigns, ads, and keywords. This gives us an insight on how a visitor arrived at our website, what device is being used, such as a phone, tablet, or desktop, including interactions whilst on our site, such as the option to phone Best Companies. All of these analytics combined allow us to further develop our websites, improve the experience of visitors and measure where our marketing initiatives have been successful.
These analytics, collected with your consent, include page viewed, links clicked, activities, behaviour and interactions, which are tracked via your IP address. The cookies that we would like to use are further outlined within our Cookie policy.
Individual Rights:
A number of countries, including the UK and European Union (EU), provide individuals with certain rights in relation to their personal data. You have:
- the right to be informed;
- the right of access;
- the right to rectification;
- the right to object;
- the right to data portability
- the right to erasure or restrict processing; and
- the rights relating to automated decision-making, including profiling
Please note there are exemptions, a request can be refused partially or fully after consideration. Where it is refused you will be informed as to why. Where we are the data processor we will forward any request to the data controller. We will respond to any requests within a month.
If you are unhappy with the decision, in the UK and EU you may make a complaint to your local supervisory authority. We would encourage you to contact us in the first instance. The Supervisory Authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Contact the ICO
Data Protection Officer
If you have questions about this notice, or make a request relating to your individual rights, or want to raise a concern relating to your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer.
Address: Best Companies, Hamilton House, Rackery Lane, Llay, Wrexham, Wales, UK
Email: Privacy@b.co.uk
EU Representative
Based in the EU, you may also contact our EU representative Ametros Group.
Ametros Group Email: gdpr@ametrosgroup.com
Post: Ametros Ltd, Unit 3D, North Point House, North Point Business Park, New Mallow Road, Cork, Ireland
Data Processors
Like most organisations we use other organisations to assist us with delivering our services. These are often referred to as Data Processors. They will process information in line with our instruction. For more information please refer to our Data Processor Article
International transfers
Service provision is provided from the United Kingdom and European Union (“European Region”). For the avoidance of doubt data transfers will only occur within the European Region. Where your employer operates outside the European Region, data will be transferred into the European Region. Where an international data transfer agreement is required, please contact privacy@b.co.uk
Retention
For the b-Heard survey, we retain personal data for up to three years following the lapse of a subscription term. We use a process of anonymisation at the end of the retention period or earlier upon written request from the employer. Anonymisation means we delete the personal identifiers, therefore anonymising the remaining statistical data for our continued research. This is in line with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) anonymisation code of practice.
We retain demographics and employee responses indefinitely to continue our research into employee engagement. The Data Protection Act and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) does not apply to data rendered anonymous in such a way that the data subject is no longer identifiable.
Other personal data, where collected, will be only held for as long as we have a lawful basis and requirement to do so. This will then be deleted.
Billing
Best Companies uses a third-party service provider for managing credit card processing. The service provider does not store, retain, or use billing information except for the purpose of credit card processing on the Company’s behalf. Best Companies is PCi DSS certified.
Marketing
We use the services of Honch Data Ltd to provide us with contact details of individuals who are likely to be interested in our B2B SaaS services. Individuals may opt out of our marketing at any time, they can also contact Honch directly to be removed from their database.
Recording of Calls
When contacting Best Companies, some calls and Teams meetings will be recorded for quality control and training purposes and retained for up to a month.
Where a Teams Video Meeting is selected to be recorded, this will be shown in the ribbon on screen. These calls can be made accessible to those on the call and may be reviewed for quality control and training purposes. Teams meeting where selected to record will be retained for up to 6 months (audio and video).
Privacy Notice Changes
Best Companies may make changes to this privacy notice to align with our operations and evolving laws. If we make changes to this privacy notice, we will post those changes on our website, Privacy Notice and in other appropriate places. We reserve the right to modify this privacy notice at any time, so please review it regularly. If we make significant changes, we will notify you here, or by other reasonable means. This privacy notice is currently only available in English. In the event non-English translations of this privacy notice are provided, it is done so for convenience only. In the event of any ambiguity or conflict between translations, the English version shall always take precedence.
