Privacy notice

This notice explains what The HR Lounge (“the Lounge”) does with your personal data, and your rights.

Who is responsible

The Lounge is run by novargo Ltd, Malta, which is the controller of your personal data. Contact: joshua.zammit@novargo.com.

What we collect

• When you apply: your name, email address, job title, organisation, career stage, whether you apply as an HR professional or a service provider, and why you'd like to join.
• Your profile: anything you add, such as a photo, short bio, sector, topics you can help with, LinkedIn link, mentoring preferences, and whether you're open to work (with an optional note).
• What you do in the Lounge: posts, replies, poll votes, jobs you post, events you propose or respond to, coffee roulette participation, reports you make, and your notification settings.
• Messages between members: we record who messaged whom and when, to enforce limits and handle reports. The text of messages is not stored.
• Technical details: the devices you're signed in on (for example “Chrome on Android”), when you last visited, and, if you turn on notifications, the address your browser gives us to deliver them.

We don't collect phone numbers, dates of birth or ID numbers. Your email address is never shown to other members.

Why we use it, and on what basis

• To run your membership (reviewing your application, your account, the forum, jobs, events and directory): necessary to provide the service you asked to join.
• To keep the community safe (moderation, handling reports, preventing abuse, security): our legitimate interest in running a trustworthy community, and our duties to act on reports of illegal content.
• Phone notifications: only if you turn them on; you can turn them off at any time from your profile or your device settings.
• Marketing from novargo: only if you separately agree. Saying no doesn't affect your membership.

Who can see what

• Other members see your profile according to your settings, and what you post. If you switch on “Open to work”, every member can see that, including people from your current organisation.
• The host and moderators can see applications, reports and account details needed to run the Lounge.
• Visitors who aren't members can see only the public landing page.

Service providers we use

• Hostinger hosts the app and its database.
• Brevo sends emails (sign-in codes, approval notices and member messages).
• Your browser's notification service (for example Google for Chrome and Android, Apple for iPhone, Mozilla for Firefox) delivers phone notifications if you turn them on. The content of each notification is encrypted so that only your device can read it. Some of these services are based outside the EU.

We don't sell your data or share it for advertising. Sponsors never receive member data; we count how many times their space is shown and clicked, without cookies or personal data.

How long we keep it

• Your account and profile: until you delete your account or we remove it.
• Sign-in codes: 2 days. Notifications: 120 days. The record of who messaged whom: 12 months.
• Jobs come down after 30 days.
• When an account is deleted, its profile, photo, email address and settings are erased. Posts and replies stay, shown as “Former member”, unless you choose to delete them too.

Cookies and storage

We use a few cookies, all needed to sign you in and keep you signed in. There are no tracking or advertising cookies. Your browser also remembers small preferences on your device, such as whether you've dismissed a prompt.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct, download or delete your data, object to or restrict how we use it, and withdraw consent at any time. You can do much of this yourself: edit your profile, change your notification settings, and use Download my data and Delete my account on your profile page. For anything else, email us.

If you're unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner in Malta (idpc.org.mt).