Privacy Policy

StartOffice ("we", "us", "our") is an all-in-one workforce management platform that provides HR management, project tracking, employee activity monitoring, attendance management, and team collaboration tools. Our services are available via our web application at startoffice.co and our desktop companion app Trackwise.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and what rights you have in relation to it. If you have questions, contact us at support@startoffice.co.

We collect the following categories of data depending on how you use our platform:

Account & Profile Data

• Full name, email address, and profile picture
• Job title, department, and role within your organisation
• Contact number and emergency contact details (if provided)
• Date of birth, nationality, marital status (optional HR fields)
• Bank account details and tax ID (optional payroll fields)

Attendance Data

• Check-in and check-out timestamps
• Attendance status (Present, Absent, Late, Half-day, Leave)
• The employee who recorded the attendance entry and the source (Trackwise app or web)

Activity & Tracking Data (Trackwise Desktop App)

• Active application name and window title while tracking is running
• Keyboard stroke count and mouse movement totals (not keylog content — only counts)
• CPU and RAM usage at sample intervals
• Idle time and session duration
• Operating system and device model
• Public IP address and approximate geolocation (country, region, city, ISP)

Task & Project Data

• Tasks created, assigned to, or followed by you
• Comments, file attachments, and status updates you make
• Sprint associations and milestone links

Communication Data

• Messages sent via the in-app chat (Inbox)
• Notifications sent to or received by your account
• File and media attachments shared in chats

Technical & Usage Data

• Device type, browser, and operating system
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) token for push notifications
• Authentication tokens and session data
• Log data (errors, API requests) for debugging

• Directly from you when you register, complete your profile, or submit forms
• From your organisation admin when they create your employee record
• Automatically via the Trackwise desktop app when activity tracking is active
• Via Google OAuth if you choose to sign in with Google
• Via cookies and session tokens when you use the web platform

We use collected data for the following purposes:

• Providing and maintaining the StartOffice platform and Trackwise app
• Managing employee records, attendance, leave, and payroll on behalf of your organisation
• Monitoring productivity metrics at the request of your organisation admin
• Sending you notifications about tasks, attendance, leaves, and team activity
• Enabling real-time collaboration via in-app chat and project tools
• Detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, and security threats
• Improving our products through anonymised analytics
• Complying with legal obligations

The Trackwise desktop app collects productivity metrics while tracking is active. This includes active window titles, application names, keyboard stroke counts, and mouse movement totals. We do not record the content of keystrokes — only counts are collected.

Tracking only runs when explicitly started by the user within the Trackwise app. Organisation administrators may enable or disable tracking for individual employees. Employees are always shown a visible indicator when tracking is active.

All activity data is collected on behalf of and accessible to your employing organisation. If you have questions about how your employer uses this data, please contact your organisation admin.

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with:

• Your organisation — admins and HR roles within your organisation can view your profile, attendance, and activity data as part of workforce management.
• Cloud infrastructure providers — we use MongoDB Atlas for database hosting and Cloudinary for file storage. Both operate under strict data processing agreements.
• Email delivery — we use Zoho Mail to send transactional emails.
• Video calling — Daily.co powers in-app video calls. Refer to Daily.co's privacy policy for call data handling.
• Push notifications — Firebase (Google) handles push notification delivery via FCM.
• Payment processing — Stripe processes subscription payments. We do not store full card details.
• Law enforcement — when required by applicable law or to protect legal rights.

We retain your data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services.

• Account and profile data — retained until you request deletion or your organisation removes your account.
• Attendance and activity data — retained for the duration your organisation account is active.
• Chat messages and task data — retained until deleted by you or your organisation admin.
• Billing and payment records — retained for up to 7 years for legal and tax compliance.
• After account deletion, personal data is removed from active systems within 30 days and from backups within 90 days.

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate data
• Request deletion of your account and personal data
• Object to or restrict certain processing
• Request a portable copy of your data
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

To exercise any of these rights, email us at support@startoffice.co. For account deletion specifically, see our Account Deletion page.

We use cookies and browser local storage to maintain your login session and remember your preferences (such as theme settings). We do not use third-party advertising cookies. You can clear cookies at any time through your browser settings, but this will log you out of the platform.

We use industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption in transit, hashed passwords, JWT-based authentication, and role-based access controls. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

StartOffice is a business productivity platform intended for use by adults in a professional context. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 16. If you believe a minor has submitted data to us, please contact us immediately.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will notify users via email or an in-app notification. Continued use of the platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, contact us at: