GDPR Compliance Training: EU Data Protection for Employees

HumanShield’s GDPR training equips employees with practical, role-appropriate skills to implement and support EU data protection obligations. Designed for everyone from frontline staff to developers and leadership, our training emphasises actionable controls, documentation, and decision-making aligned to both EU-GDPR and UK-GDPR requirements.

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Comprehensive GDPR Employee Training Program

Our comprehensive GDPR employee training program blends legal clarity with practical application. Courses are modular and can be delivered as half-day workshops, full-day sessions, or a series of short instructor-led classes. Every module focuses on how employees should act — not just what the rules say — so compliance becomes part of daily work.

• Customised learning paths for employees, managers, technical teams and data protection officers (DPOs).
• Hands-on examples and templates that translate policy into practice.
• Assessments and measurable learning outcomes to demonstrate readiness.

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Understanding GDPR Requirements

This section covers the core regulatory and operational obligations under GDPR. Participants learn the legal foundations and the practical steps required to maintain compliance and reduce regulatory risk.

Lawful Basis for Data Processing

Understanding the legal basis for processing personal data is fundamental. We cover consent, contractual necessity, legal obligations, vital interests, public tasks, and legitimate interests — and show how to document the chosen lawful basis so everyday processing decisions are defensible and auditable.

Data Subject Rights (Access, Erasure, Portability)

Employees will learn how to recognise and process data subject rights requests — including subject access requests (SARs), the right to erasure (right to be forgotten), and data portability. The training explains timelines, verification checks, and escalation paths to ensure lawful, timely responses.

Records of Processing Activities (ROPA)

Maintaining a clear ROPA (Records of Processing Activities) is a practical compliance requirement. We teach how to capture processing purposes, categories of data, retention periods, and security measures so your organisation’s documentation meets supervisory expectations.

Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA)

Participants learn when to run a DPIA, how to assess privacy risks, and how to document mitigation measures. The module includes practical templates and checklists to support privacy assessments for new projects, services, or large-scale processing.

GDPR Breach Notification Requirements

We cover the 72-hour notification requirement, internal escalation, and supervisory reporting obligations. Practical exercises show how to identify a personal data breach, who to notify internally, and what information regulators and data subjects require when incidents occur.

International Data Transfers Under GDPR

Participants are taught the rules around cross-border transfers — including adequacy decisions, SCCs (Standard Contractual Clauses), and practical safeguards. The module explains when transfers are allowed, documentation required, and how operational controls can reduce transfer risk.

GDPR Fines & Penalties: What You Need to Know

This module summarises enforcement trends, typical regulatory concerns, and the financial and reputational consequences of non-compliance. Understanding likely supervisory priorities helps teams prioritise controls, documentation and quick remediation.

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GDPR Awareness for Different Roles

Effective privacy requires role-based awareness. HumanShield’s role-specific modules ensure that the right people know the right actions to take — from strategic governance to operational handling of data.

Board & Executive Awareness

Executives and board members receive concise briefings on EU data protection risk, governance obligations, and decision points for budgets and strategic initiatives. These sessions focus on oversight, risk tolerance, and reporting to regulators and stakeholders.

Data Protection Officers (DPOs) & Legal Teams

DPOs and legal teams get advanced practical training on DPIAs, supervisory engagement, breach notification strategy, and ROPA management. The training equips DPOs with templates and playbooks for regulatory interactions and internal governance.

Developers & IT Staff

Technical teams are trained in privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default principles, secure-by-design coding practices, minimisation, pseudonymisation, and how to support DPIAs. Practical secure development guidance helps reduce personal data exposure in systems and applications.

HR, Finance & Business Functions

HR and business teams learn role-specific processing rules, lawful bases for HR data, secure payroll handling, and retention/archival practices. Practical checklists guide routine processes so everyday HR tasks remain compliant with GDPR rules.

Frontline & Non-Technical Staff

Frontline staff receive straightforward guidance on recognising personal data, safe handling, spotting social engineering, and the right steps to report suspected breaches. This module turns every employee into a first line of defence for privacy.

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Key GDPR Training Topics

These core topics form the backbone of our GDPR training and are delivered through a mix of explanation, practical exercises, templates and assessments.

• Legal foundations of EU data protection and scope of GDPR
• Consent management and lawful bases for processing personal data
• Responding to data subject requests: access, erasure, portability
• How to perform and document a ROPA and DPIA
• Incident handling and the 72-hour supervisory notification process
• Cross-border data transfers: SCCs, adequacy and operational safeguards
• Retention policies, minimisation, pseudonymisation and secure disposal
• Practical templates, checklists and workplace examples

Practical Exercises & Assessments

Every cohort receives scenario-based exercises (SAR handling, DPIA scoping, breach simulations) and an assessment to confirm understanding. Scores and completion reports are provided to administrators for governance and remediation planning.

Templates & Job Aids

Participants get practical templates — DPIA checklists, ROPA templates, breach notification forms and SAR response scripts — so GDPR work can be completed quickly and consistently within operational teams.

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Delivery Modes & Customisation

Our GDPR training can be delivered as instructor-led in-person workshops, live virtual sessions, or a blended program combining classroom sessions with follow-up practical labs. Courses are tailored to your organisation’s processes, policies, and technical environment.

• Modular courses for different roles and experience levels
• Custom examples that reflect your systems, data flows and use cases
• Post-training reinforcement and follow-up materials

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How We Measure Effectiveness

We provide assessments, training metrics and post-training reporting so you can demonstrate both completion and competency. Reports include assessment scores, key gaps identified and recommended next steps to strengthen compliance posture.

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