Employee data retention

Automatically delete the data of employees who left your organisation long ago, so you keep personal data only as long as you need it.

Overview

Data retention lets you set a simple rule: delete an employee’s data a number of years after they leave. Once configured, mTime takes care of the rest — there is nothing to run by hand. This helps you meet GDPR data-minimisation and your own retention obligations without manually cleaning up old records.

The rule applies to employees who have fully left (their last employment has ended) or who were created but never employed. Employees with a current or upcoming employment are never affected.

Employee data retention setting on the workspace settings page

Configure the retention period

Go to Admin › Workspace
Find the Employee Data Retention (years) setting
Enter the number of years to keep employee data after they leave
Click Save

The default is 5 years. Set it to 0 to keep employee data indefinitely (no automatic deletion).

How automatic deletion works

Deletion happens in two stages, so there is always time to undo a mistake.

Stage 1 — Moved to the trash can

When an employee has been gone longer than the retention period, mTime moves them to the trash can, exactly as if an administrator had deleted them. They stay there for 30 days, during which you can restore them if needed.

The date counted from is:

the end date of their last employment, for employees who have left, or
their creation date, for employees who were never employed.

Stage 2 — Permanently deleted

After 30 days in the trash can, the employee is permanently deleted. This removes their record, time registrations, balances, and history. The linked user account is anonymised so it can no longer be identified.

Permanent deletion cannot be undone. This 30-day window applies to any deleted employee — including ones an administrator deletes manually — so manual deletions also become permanent after 30 days.

Safeguards

mTime never automatically deletes an employee who:

has a current or upcoming employment, or
is still set as someone’s manager (to avoid leaving a team without a manager link).

If you need to remove such an employee, reassign their reports or end their employment first.

Workspace exports

Workspace data exports are full snapshots that may contain personal data. Export files older than the retention window are automatically deleted from storage, while the export entry itself is kept and marked Expired so you retain a record that the export once existed.

Frequently asked questions

Can I recover an employee that retention deleted?

Yes, for 30 days. Employees past the retention period are first moved to the trash can, where they can be restored for 30 days. After that they are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

How do I turn off automatic deletion?

Set Employee Data Retention (years) to 0. Employee data is then kept indefinitely and nothing is deleted automatically.

Why wasn't a long-departed employee deleted?

An employee is not deleted automatically while they are still listed as someone’s manager, or if they have a current or future employment. Reassign their reports or end the employment, and they become eligible at the next run.

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