Does employee documentation matter?

Yes, human resource professionals love employee documentation.  I’ve seen many managers roll their eyes at the request, and I understand it’s not the most thrilling aspect of most people’s jobs.  But why does employee documentation matter and when is it important?  When it comes to employees, how does documentation make a difference?

We all have busy lives and time flies by.  Often our intention is to take care of something immediately, but “immediately” is relative.  Making a note of performance issues as they occur really does make a difference.  It’s easy to forget the details and if there’s an issue with an employee’s actions, it’s important that we get things right to help them improve.

I’ve worked with many managers over the years who expressed frustration with an employee’s actions, but when questioned, they can’t remember when the action first started, what (if anything) was said to the employee, and rarely had they followed up to reinforce more acceptable behavior and/or provide additional training and support.

By documenting our actions and working closely with our staff regarding our expectations, we are better managing performance and increasing the likelihood of successful change.  When we’ve done all we can to address concerns, provide clarity and follow up in our expectations, it ensures that we’re taking the right steps to alleviate the problem.  This helps us empower the employee to make a change or choose to leave.  Having a documented record of our actions provides us with a roadmap of the steps taken so we can make sure nothing was missed.

Timely documentation provides a clear, detailed record of what happened when.  By doing it in the moment, we don’t have to try and remember what happened when, and we are more assured of our actions and the employee’s response. It can also alert us to training needs or different skill sets that may be important.

We should be doing everything we can to encourage success.  Timely and accurate employee documentation can help us make the right decisions for ourselves and our staff.

#documentation #management #hrconsultant #positivity

Making notes of employee performance.