Employee Personnel Files
Keeping employee personnel files well has a lot of benefits. You need to document the action of each employee in your workplace. If there are promotions offered to certain employees, then you should have a well-documented evaluation process which made you provide such privileges to the employee. There are some employees who will let you down; they will be reluctant to work to your expectation. You will have to warn them from time to time. You will as well schedule disciplinary actions. If they will not improve, you may consider taking disciplinary actions such as laying them off. A well-kept employee personnel files will play a great role while trying to prove in court that a given employee deserves to be fired.
What is kept in Personnel Files
In the employee personnel files, you should keep record of when the employees started working in your organization and other related details. The following are details you can keep your employees’ personal files:
Job description for the position a given employee is holding
The application and resume for eh employee
Offer of the employment
IRS forms of the employee
Acknowledgment of employee handbook
Forms of employees benefit
Next of kin forms
Complaints from coworker or customers about the employee
Awards for outstanding performance
Records of completion of courses
Warning or any other disciplinary actions
Citations for excellent performance
Attendance of tardiness
Agreements with the employee and the organization
Document for departure from the company and reason why
Reviewing Personnel Files
You should set time aside and review each employee files. The files should be reviewed on an annual basis and ensure all details provided are up to date. Some of the questions you need to ask when reviewing the files include the following:
Check whether the file has all written evaluation of the employee
All promotions should be recorded
Remove all warnings after a given period if your policies state so
Update all details about the employee training
Have current information about the employee contract
What Not to Keep in a Personnel File
Medical records
You should not have medical records in your staff file. If the employee has some form of disability, then you will have to have a separate medical form which will be accessed by very few people in your organization. Even those who have no disability, you are required always to keep medical forms private.
Form I-9s
All employees in your firm should be legally legalized to work in the state. You should check the files and store them separate from your employees personal records. All unnecessary materials should not be kept in your employees personal files.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Africa-Studio