The What, How, and When of Employee Documentation

You’ve heard it before: “Document, document, document.”  But that doesn’t always tell the whole story. When to document, How to document, and Why you document have just as much importance. In this day of rapidly changing laws, rules and regulations, it’s critical you know the importance of WHW of employee documentation.

Let’s talk about the process and how small businesses can protect themselves by doing it right.

When employment decisions need to be made, your ability to make them can be helped or hurt by what you’ve done previous to the decision-making moment. Sloppy documentation or a lack of documentation can hamper your ability to make an important decision.

Let’s first define “Documentation”, which now includes several new forms as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago:

Performance Documentation

Good or bad, tracking an employee’s performance might be formal, either online or in written form, and can even be in email form. Your company may or may not hold formal periodic reviews, which should be done in writing or online, but what you do in between in response to incidents or behavior, with follow-up emails, written memos, even texts, can be used to support a decision when necessary. Informal follow-up is a great way to keep a record of performance and behavior in between any formal reviews. Also, be cautious about writing overly glowing appraisals that ignore or downplay key employee weaknesses. They can make it difficult to argue that poor performance in a critical area led to discipline or termination.

Employee Changes

Changes to an employee’s status, pay rate, responsibilities or title should always be in writing. Best handled in writing so a copy can be placed in their file or even an email that can easily be printed. When making changes, be sure to include all details, conditions, or terms. For instance, if you promote an employee, be sure they understand the new position, what happens if it doesn’t work out, and what happens to their pay level. With performance bonuses or commission changes, be sure to have those in writing with plenty of details.

Disciplinary Actions

Taking disciplinary action against an employee can be stressful and challenging, but this process carries a lot of weight on several fronts. Being sloppy with this process could expose your business to greater liability.

4 common document pitfalls that sink employers:

• Failure to document performance or behavior issues when they occur.
• Lack of a process to monitor performance and behavior after a verbal or written warning.
• Failure to ensure the employee was aware of behavior or performance issues or behaviors.
• Documentation that contains inaccurate or incomplete information.

Some vague words to be careful about using in performance reviews: “shortcomings,” “failure” or “inadequate.”  Be more specific and concise. Cite company standards, goals, and processes that were not followed.

The End Result

If you need to make an employment decision, or unfortunately get hauled into court, what you wrote, how you wrote it, and when you wrote it will all be factored into a good or a bad income. In a dispute, the quality of your documentation and your process goes to the heart of your credibility. Anything less than Grade A record-keeping can make those documents Exhibit A in court.

Final Tip

Whether you are dealing with performance reviews, disciplinary issues, or employee changes, spend some time talking with employees first, then use the written follow-up to reiterate and document your discussion.

If you need help before dealing with an employee issue, be sure to contact the HR experts at Infinium HR so we can guide you through to the best outcome.