About Us
Benestar Group Limited (Registration Number 620054) (“Benestar”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of LifeWorks.com Pty Ltd (ACN 134 449 059).
Benestar provides a range of workforce health and wellbeing services to organisations. These services include Employee Assistance Program services, trauma counselling, HR consulting, health risk assessments and organisational development (coaching, training and facilitation) services.
In conducting its business, Benestar collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information. Benestar understands the importance to you of maintaining privacy in relation to the information Benestar holds.
This Privacy Policy sets out how Benestar complies with its obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ) and other relevant legislation when managing your personal information and, to the extent permitted by law, prevails over any other company’s policy (for example, a company of which Benestar is a wholly owned subsidiary) relating to privacy that may otherwise apply to Benestar.
Your personal, sensitive or health information
Personal information is information that can identify or reasonably identify you. Sensitive information is personal information that includes information or an opinion about certain of a person’s origin, opinions or associations, religion or beliefs, memberships or associations, orientation or practices, records, health and biometric information. Health information is any personal information about your health or disability.
What information does Benestar collect and hold?
The types of personal, sensitive or health information Benestar may collect and hold about you includes:
Identity
- Name
- Residential address
- Date of birth
- Sex
- Email address
- Phone number
- Ethnicity
Billing and administration
- Employer/sponsoring organisation
- Employer business unit
- Employment location
Health
- Reason for assistance
- Health/personal history
- Case notes concerning the services Benestar provides yo
- Emergency contact details
Benestar will only collect personal, sensitive or health information about you (which is collectively referred to in the remainder of this Policy as “information”) to the extent it is necessary for it to provide services to you or is otherwise necessary to perform its functions.
How does Benestar collect and hold information?
Usually, Benestar will collect your personal information directly from you. It does this when you:
- contact its Wellbeing Support Team;
- request services electronically via email, its website or web portal or its online chat facility; or
- attend an appointment with one of its clinicians or otherwise participate in a service (whether in person or by telephone or video teleconference).
Benestar may also collect information about you from your employer. It does this when your employer considers that you are at risk or otherwise considers that you may benefit from services Benestar offers. Usually, the only information Benestar collects from your employer in these circumstances is your name, contact details and a high-level understanding of why your employer considers that you will benefit from its services.
When you first contact Benestar (including if your employer asks Benestar to contact you), Benestar creates a unique digital record for you. Benestar, and its contracted professionals, may also keep physical records in relation to the services it provides. Each time a service is provided to you, new information is added to your record. When you call Benestar’s Wellbeing Support Team, your calls with Benestar may be recorded for training, quality and business purposes and form part of your electronic record.
Benestar takes reasonable technological and organisational steps to protect and secure the information it holds about you from misuse, interference and loss and also from unauthorised access, use, modification and disclosure.
Why does Benestar need your information?
- To provide services to you
Benestar collects, holds and uses information about you in order to provide relevant services to you and to ensure that you get the services and care you need.
Benestar needs to keep records of the services it provides to assist the professionals involved in the provision of the services with managing and improving the services provided to you. It is also required to maintain records of all health-related services it provides for legal and ethical reasons. It keeps your records for as long as it needs to, to comply with its obligations.
Most services Benestar provides to you are provided in confidence and it will not notify your employer or sponsoring organisation that you have received services from Benestar, or anything disclosed in the course of providing those services. Some services it provides to you at the request of your employer will be provided on the basis that information concerning the services will be shared with your employer. Benestar will obtain your written consent and notify you of what information will be shared when this is the case.
Benestar’s services are provided by a network of qualified professionals (including psychologists, social workers and counsellors). Its network is made up of a mix of employees and independent contractors. One reason it uses independent contractor professionals is to best ensure that it can connect you with the professional that best suits your needs and is as conveniently located for you as possible. It exchanges information about you and the services provided to you with these independent contractors. Benestar ensures that all independent contractors in its network are bound by legal and ethical obligations of confidentiality in respect of your information.
Benestar may provide your information to other persons who are involved in your care (such as clinicians, medical practitioners, specialists and hospitals). It will inform you before it does this (except in the case of an emergency)
Benestar may disclose information to someone who is not involved in providing services to you:
- if you are a minor (for example, to a parent or guardian);
- if it is required or permitted by law; or
- if you consent.
If you are contacting Benestar or receiving assistance from Benestar and you or someone else are at possible risk of harm, Benestar is obliged to intervene and provide the appropriate escalation. This may take the form of liaising with a third party (for example, a medical practitioner, family member, manager or colleague) or, in certain circumstances, contacting emergency services.
- Operating its business
Benestar uses your information as necessary to manage its accounts and to obtain payment for the services it provides. It does not provide information which specifically identifies you to your employer or sponsoring organisation in connection with a request for payment for confidential services it provides to you.
Benestar may use your information (but not your identity) to monitor and improve the services provided (and its contracted professionals), the products it provides or its operations generally.
In order to meet its contractual obligations to your employer/sponsoring organisation, Benestar may provide reports to those organisations which includes information it collects from you. This information is reported on a de-identified basis and may be used by your employer/sponsoring organisation to monitor organisational trends relating to the health and wellbeing services Benestar provides.
Benestar may use your information to contact you in relation to the services it provides to you (for example in relation to scheduling appointments). Benestar will not contact you for marketing purposes unless you have given your consent.
Does Benestar transfer your information overseas?
If you are located within New Zealand and receive telephone or in-person support Benestar does not transfer identifiable information about you outside of New Zealand. If you are located within New Zealand and receive support via online live chat, Benestar will keep records of those services in Australia.
If you are located outside New Zealand, normally Benestar will arrange for one of Benestar’s local partners to provide services to you on Benestar’s behalf. In most cases, you will be automatically directed to Benestar’s local partner in your country or region. If you contact Benestar directly, Benestar will either give you the contact details for Benestar’s local partner organisation or take enough information from you and give that information to Benestar’s local contractor to allow Benestar’s local contractor to contact you, provided you have given Benestar your express written consent. These contractors are responsible for complying with local privacy laws in relation to the information they obtain from you.
If you are located outside of New Zealand at the time Benestar provides services to you from New Zealand (for example when Benestar provides you services by telephone or live chat), Benestar will keep records of those services in New Zealand.
Accessing, updating and correcting your information
You may request access to the information Benestar holds about you. You can also request that corrections be made to that information by providing Benestar with a statement of correction setting out the corrections you require to be made to your information. Benestar will respond to your request within a reasonbale time.
There are some circumstances where Benestar is not required to give you access to or allow you to correct your information. It will normally give you notice in writing setting out reasons for not complying with your request and informing you of how you can complain about its refusal.
There is no fee payable for requesting access to your information or for Benestar to make corrections. However, Benestar may charge you a reasonable fee for its costs of collating and providing you with access to your information. The fee is payable before access is given. Benestar is also required to verify your identity prior to granting access to you.
Making a privacy complaint
If you have any concerns about how Benestar handles your personal information, or you wish to make a complaint on the basis that you consider it has breached the New Zealand Information Privacy Principles prescribed under the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ), please contact Benestar. If you would like to make a complaint, you will need to send Benestar your complaint in writing (see details below).
Benestar will endeavour to respond to your complaint within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days or such lesser time as may be dictated by urgent matters or laws relating to particular types of health information.
How to contact Benestar
Benestar Group Limited
Wellbeing Support Officer
PO Box 38864
HOWICK Auckland 2145
info@benestar.com
Phone: 0800 360 364
Privacy Officer
PO Box 38864
HOWICK Auckland 2145
[email protected]
Phone: 0800 360 364
You can also contact the Office of the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner if you want to make a complaint:
Office of the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 10 094
Wellington 6143
Phone: 0800 803 909
www.privacy.org.nz/your-rights/making-a-complaint
Your privacy on the internet
Benestar may also collect non-personally identifiable information such as the type of browser, or operating system you use, your domain name, IP address, access times, referring website addresses and page views. Its Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) automatically identifies your computer by its IP address. When you visit pages on Benestar’s website, its ISP may log your IP address. It does not link IP addresses to any personally identifiable information. Your IP address is used to gather broad demographic information only. A User Transaction ID is created each time you enter Benestar’s website. This ID is used to keep track of your dealings with Benestar, and other requests.
Benestar does not use cookies to collect information that can personally identify you. A cookie is a small, text-based file used frequently on some websites and portals. Cookies are designed to assist and streamline the exchange of information between your computer's browser and Benestar’s computer systems. Other cookies Benestar uses collect information about the use of its websites. The information collected includes where visitors connect from, what version of browser they use and their path through the site. It helps Benestar to provide personalised features and keep its content fresh and relevant. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, you can configure your cookie preferences and options through your browser.
Benestar’s web pages may contain electronic images, known as web beacons or spotlight tags. These enable it to count users who have visited certain pages of Benestar’s website. Web beacons and spotlight tags are not used by Benestar to access your personal information, they are simply a tool it uses to analyse which web pages customers view, in an aggregate number.
Benestar’s websites may contain links to websites that are not Benestar’s. Whilst such links are provided for your convenience, you should be aware that the information handling practices of the linked websites might not be the same as Benestar’s.
