The do’s and don’ts of keeping employee files | myhrtoolkit

It is important to remember that the contents of employee files are accessible by the employee, HR staff and the employee’s supervisor and manager. As according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an employee can make a data subject access request in order for all personal data relating to them to be disclosed.

Employee information should be fairly and transparently processed, secure, accurate, necessary, and not kept for longer than necessary.

HR responsibilities for personnel records

Personnel files contain extremely confidential information; it is therefore in everybody’s interests that the records are accurate and secure. Knowledge of this will contribute to better working relationships – workers and their representatives will know what information is kept and why. It should promote fair and consistent treatment.

Due to the above, it is important that employers take care to ensure an employee’s personnel record is factual and unbiased.

Personnel records can be maintained electronically (for example with HR software) or in paper form. No matter what format is used, the maintenance, security and retention requirements are the same according to GDPR guidelines.

Related post: GDPR policy in place? Now arm your employees against data breaches

Guidelines for keeping employee files

Detailed below are some general guidelines to bear in mind when retaining employee information:

• Keep information factual.
• Do not keep random notes, gossip, or unfounded allegations on an employees’ personnel file.
• Keep information in the correct file. Medical records should be placed in medical files and payroll information should be kept in a separate payroll file.
• Ensure that any employee information that will be contained in a personnel file is adequately trained. Lack of the necessary training can result in inappropriate comments being contained in an employees’ personnel file.
• It is important that employers only keep factual information about decisions on promotions, salary increases, and such like in a personnel file. Be careful not to keep opinions of managers and human resources staff in an employees’ personnel file.
• Keep personnel files in a secure place in order to make sure that confidentiality is protected.
• Personnel files are not just for negative reports, it is important that positive information is also contained within employees' personnel files.
• It is important that supervisors and managers are aware of the difference between there management notes that should be kept in management files and information that formally should be contained on an employees’ personnel file. For example, a supervisor’s notes that are being used to try and improve performance should be contained in the private file of a supervisor, not in the official personnel file.
• If an investigation is being carried out in relation to a disciplinary or grievance, it is important that any such investigatory notes are contained in a separate investigation file.

Myhrtoolkit is an HR software systems for SMEs that acts as an online employee database for staff information and a highly secure place for HR documents.