Corporate office culture continues to evolve and, as the work-life balance remains a priority, the line between what is business and what is personal can become blurred. Buzzwords like “work wife” and “work husband” have been created to describe these office relationships.

The influential power of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’s Executive Assistant (EA) has long been recognised. EAs don’t just hold the key to the CEOs diary, whereabouts, and preferences, but they are also privy to confidential information about the CEO’s personal matters.

Large corporations with multiple stakeholders and shareholders need to develop strategies to safeguard their business from future damage and to ensure that confidential information is contained.

Stringent employment policies and thorough hiring procedures will assist in this. It is also critical for corporations to include a Deed of Confidentiality with employment documents to protect the organisation from potentially damaging future personal information leaks.

The Deed of Confidentiality needs to become as commonplace as a standard employment contract and should be issued and signed at the time employment commences.

It also needs to be revised and reissued if the staff member transfers to a different role within the organisation. Exit interviews are another occasion where it is relevant to remind a staff member of his/her obligations under the Deed they have signed.

Professional legal advice is imperative to ensure that the Deed of Confidentiality is structured in such a way as to protect the confidential business and personal information of all officers of the company and that it aligns with employment legislation.

Large corporates who ignore the growing power and influence of “work wives” and “work husbands” do so at the risk of leaked confidential information which could potentially damage or ruin a corporation’s reputation.

This article is sponsored by Vobis Equity Attorneys.