[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ style=”margin: 0px;padding: 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”false” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”4/5″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]Whatever the size of your business, it is important that you are in the habit of keeping a range of records, both for legal requirements and your own internal HR purposes.
Record keeping should begin even before you have employed a new member of staff, with their job specification becoming the first document in their employee file, followed by their contract, training needs, induction information, salary details and future appraisals or disciplinary hearings.
The information contained in each employee’s records is also important to ensure your company meets current government legislation; records such as hours worked by employees is needed for the Working Times Regulations and pay rates for the Minimum Wage Act 1998.
Recording all of the information you need about your employees in properly maintained files not only makes it easier for you to access when you need it, it is also important to:
- Make HR decisions such as promotions, disciplinary meetings or redundancies based on fact rather than guesswork
- Know what staff resources are available to meet your production or service requirements and where your business may have skills gaps
- Accurately assess levels of performance and productivity
- Monitor absence levels, employee turnover, sickness, accidents, lateness and disciplinary meetings and take the appropriate form of action
- Ensure that staff receive the correct pay, holidays, pension and other entitlements and benefits.
Whether it is for statutory information such as tax and national insurance details or for your own organisational records, being in the habit of recording all the information you need about your staff and their employment will improve the efficiency of your HR services and help you to deal with staff issues more effectively.
While it is important for your company to maintain records for compliance, it is also worth remembering that they must be stored securely and confidentially and only accessed by people who need to use the data. Records containing data on individuals are subject to the Data Protection Act and so should be accurate, up-to-date and stored for no longer than is necessary.[/cs_text][/cs_column][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/5″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_image type=”none” src=”https://www.rebusrecruitment.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rachel-colour.-Editpng.png” alt=”” link=”false” href=”#” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][cs_text]By Rachel Mitson, director and owner of Rebus Financial Recruitment[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]
