What are you keeping in those personnel files?

Personnel files are great. All important employee documents are kept in one neat folder. With a little bit of organization it’s easy to find information about performance, training and past work experience. Personnel files can also be black holes where the wrong items end up and cause headaches.

It’s a good practice to comply with EEOC guidelines for identifying categories for EEO-1 reports by using a simple self identification form. What do you do with these forms after they are completed? The information is logged into your payroll/HRIS system to make it easy to complete the EEO-1. Great, but you still have that piece of paper. It seems logical that it just goes into the personnel file in case you need it again. Wrong, when it is in the personnel file it can be seen by someone who is making employment decisions, “I never knew that Fred was of mixed racial heritage, he looks white to me.”

What about all of the information about benefits.  Did you know that it needs to be kept in a separate file?  Don’t forget all of the security issues.  There is so much identifying information in personnel and benefits files how do you keep it all protected from potential identity theft?

Those self identification forms for the EEO-1 report; shred them or store them separately. Once you log the information I don’t know why you would need them again. Some people are afraid to toss any personal information and may keep it too long. Others toss too much and fail to shred or pulverize. Don’t let a cleaning crew find a treasure trove of employee information in your trash.

I’ll be answering more of these questions during a web conference Legal & Practical Record-Keeping Strategies: How To Protect Your Organization From Fines, Penalties, & Identity Theft on Tuesday, October 7^th beginning at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. Join me to get the information you need to clean up those files!