Costco's Subtle HR Violation Is Flabbergasting

Who wouldn't want to work at Costco? The company boasts excellent jobs, competitive pay, and good benefits and promotes itself as a fantastic workplace. It's a huge brand too, so you'd think it would be known for running smoothly. Except, it seems, when it comes to human resources.

Costco has been ridiculed on Reddit after user Duddlydoright circulated a photograph showing what appears to be a stack of boxes containing payroll information left on a shelf in a store. The contents of the boxes are largely labeled as relating to terminated employees, suggesting they could contain sensitive details — obviously not a great storage method if they could be accessed by anyone shopping at the warehouse.

There are, of course, guidelines advising how businesses should store personal information (such as HR records) to ensure it is not compromised. Now, let's take a look at what these recommendations involve and what the reaction is to Costco's newest scandal.

In the comments section on the Reddit post, users jokingly wondered about Costco's low prices for pallets of sensitive data. Others sinisterly speculated that the boxes actually contain former employees for sale — one person jokingly described it as "motivation through fear." However, some Redditors suggested that warehouses are the only places Costco can store payroll information, although this is questioned by those believing they should be stored centrally (or digitally).

Payroll documents typically contain details such as background checks, references, and contact information, which is all highly confidential data. In modern times, corporations as big as Costco would be the expected to retain employee information using digital records, but there are no specific rules in relation to this. Storage rules only relate to how long payroll documents should be retained, which vary by state. (The Redditor who shared the photo didn't specify its location.) But for some particulars, such as retirement plans, information may need to be kept for at least six years.

If personal information isn't stored securely, companies run the risk of encountering data breaches. If a violation occurs and it's found that the security of personal information is inadequate, the affected business could become the target of enforcement action by regulators. Perhaps Costco might wish to audit its security arrangements to make sure they are up to scratch.