How Helpore protects your data

Your data sits in a database in Switzerland, in the Zurich region. The files you upload are in Switzerland too. The computers that serve you the pages run in the European Union, in Germany. A few companies do single jobs for us and handle part of your data in Ireland, Singapore or the United States. The privacy notice describes each one and the rules it has to follow.

Everything you send to Helpore is encrypted on the way. Encrypted means it is turned into something unreadable, and only the two ends hold the key that turns it back. The technical name for this encryption is TLS. We tell your browser to remember for two years that it must never open Helpore unencrypted. Each page also names the few places your browser is allowed to load anything from.

Your AHV number is stored encrypted, with a key our database provider keeps outside the database. The database lets only Helpore's own server turn it back. Our code does that only for the steps that need the full number. On screen we show it masked, which means only the last digits are visible. We use the full number only where the law asks for it, for example to register a job with the compensation office.

We keep AHV numbers out of email. Our email system blocks them in the subject line, in the message and in text files attached to it. Payslips come to you in the app.

Every household and Helper account can open only its own records. Those rules sit in the database itself, not in the app, so they apply no matter which page asks. A household sees only its own records and the jobs in them. A Helper sees only their own profile and their own jobs.

A second factor is a second step after the password, so a stolen password on its own is not enough. At Helpore that step is a code from an authenticator app. Administrator accounts need it before they can reach the data. Household and Helper accounts do not.

It covers your personal details, your job, your pay and your documents, and nobody has to turn it on. An entry names the field that changed, the person who changed it and the time. It keeps the name of the field, never the value. If an hourly wage is corrected, the record says that the hourly wage changed. It does not say from what to what.

Every time you accept our terms, we save which version of the terms you saw and the day and time you accepted it. You and Helpore can both look it up later.

You can download the data your account holds about you. The download is in your settings.

You can close your account at any time, from your settings. We then take your name off your profile and your listing and hide both. We keep payroll records for ten years, as the law requires, and only the people who need them can open them.

Messages you send in the app are deleted after two years. We keep them longer only where the law requires it for a case.

Your payslips, your salary certificates and the power of attorney are marked confidential. Anyone who opens one can see on the document itself that it is not for passing on.

You can open your own documents again whenever you want. A Helper finds their identity document, their residence permit and their criminal record extract in their settings. A household finds its employment contracts, payslips, tax forms, invoices and year end documents on its payroll page.

Your card number and the three digits on the back go straight to the company that handles the payment. They never reach Helpore.

We check our own code and the outside code we use, and a change waits until those checks pass.