1. Documentation:
Understanding the benefits and
implementing procedures
JANUARY 22, 2014
1:45PM
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR
ABORIGINAL AND NORTHERN COMMUNITIES
YELLOWKNIFE, NWT
LISA PECKHAM
2. Learning objectives
2
Why documentation procedures matter
Benchmarks in employee documentation
Documenting incidents with potential legal exposure
Records management
Employee files
Access and protection of employee documents
4. Why documentation procedures matter
4
Cornerstone of the role of Human Resources in any
organization
Required to inform and justify a wide range of decisions
It is the law
Can help to create and implement new policies and
procedures
Creates a historical document
5. Human resources
5
By definition, human resources policies are systems
of codified decisions designed and implemented to
support administrative personnel functions,
performance management, employee relations, and
resource planning
Can assist in creating and maintaining the optimal
organizational culture
6. Decision making
6
Documented policies, procedures, and information is
required in order to make decisions that impact the
overall functioning of the organization
Hiring
Budgets and allocation of resources
Salary increases and additional incentives
Terminations
Development of new policies and procedures
Performance evaluation and management
7. It’s the law!
7
Employee information including name, address, SIN,
start date, hours worked, written agreements
regarding overtime, vacation time records, payroll
information, and leave information
Documentation related to health and safety incidents
Information regarding efforts to meet a duty to
accommodate
Performance management documentation
8. Policies and procedures
8
In order to get buy in and participation from
management and employees in adopting new
policies and procedures, there must be
documentation that supports why it is required and
how it will help
Accurate documentation can help guide the creation
of policies and procedures to ensure they are
effective and relevant
9. Historical documents
9
Order and efficiency
Daily operations
Promotion and public
relations
Strategic planning
Litigation
10. Benchmarks in employee documentation
10
Understanding benchmarks
Setting and communicating benchmarks
Documenting employee performance
11. Understanding benchmarks
11
Benchmarks are the established and
communicated standards that the organization
requires the employee to meet on a regular basis
An employee’s ability to meet the established
benchmarks is the foundation of performance
evaluation
Benchmarks can be set in several areas
Productivity
Quality
Service
Attitude
14. Documenting employee performance
14
Timely documentation of incidents, deficiencies, and
significant accomplishments
Build an employee performance file on EVERY employee and
document positive performance and performance concerns
Confirm the facts
Relevant supporting documentation
Written correspondence
15. Documentation and legal exposure
15
Payroll and benefits information
Performance management
Health and
Safety
Harassment
complaints
Accommodation
Certifications
16. Documentation and legal exposure
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Dated
Signed where applicable
Accessible
Legible
Factual
Clearly indicate where supporting and referenced
documentation can be found
Duplicated and secured
18. Understanding records management
18
Records management involves identifying,
classifying, prioritizing, storing, securing, archiving,
preserving, retrieving, tracking, and destroying
records
Records are created or received by an organization in
compliance with legal obligations or in the
transaction of business
Can be tangible documents like a driver’s license or
correspondence or digital information such as data, website
content, and electronic mail
19. Internal records management
19
Requires a dedicated staff member or department,
depending on the size of the organization
Standardized across the organization with one point of
contact who can easily obtain requested records
Abide by clear and well documented records
management policies
Can be a combination of physical and digital records
management
Be able to meet all applicable audit standards
Should be audited on a regular basis
Practices, systems, technologies, and facilities
21. External records management
21
Reduces costs associated with staffing, software, and
storage
Provides up to date expert knowledge on compliance
regulations
Can improve organizational efficiency
Can provide offsite data backup and recovery
Document management
Scanning, retrieving, organizing
Highly secure
22. Employee files
22
Application
Orientation checklist
Resume and cover letter Relocation agreements
Interview notes
Testing results
Reference check notes
Signed offer letter
Job description
Emergency contacts
Social Insurance number
Signed TD1 form
and supporting
documentation
Benefit enrolment forms
Garnishee or court orders
Signed confirmation of
receiving and reviewing
employee handbook
Disciplinary action notes
23. Employee files
23
Updated information
Written evaluations
Raises, promotions, and commendations
Warnings and disciplinary action
Employment status up to date
Most recent version of employee handbook reviewed
Change in name or address
Most current employment contract
24. Employee files
24
Do not include information that is not directly related
to the employee’s qualifications and performance.
This includes:
Medical records
Unsubstantiated criticism, rumors, or accusations
Reference to race, sex, religion
Reference to the employee’s private life
25. Employee files
25
PIPEDA has established 10 privacy principles for the collection,
use, disclosure, and retention of personal information. These
are good standards to follow in any province.
• Accountability
• Identifying purpose
• Consent
• Limiting collection
• Limiting use, disclosure, retention
• Accuracy
• Safeguards
• Openness
• Individual access
• Challenging compliance
26. Access and protection of employee
documentation
26
Employee access
Employer access
Third party access
Securing records
27. Employee access
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Current and former employees have the right to
access their own employment records
Records management policies should outline the
process for accessing employee records
Records management process should outline criteria
that must be met to preserve the integrity of the file
Cannot be removed from the area files are kept
Employee can not remove or add anything to the file
Employee must be accompanied by a Human Resources
professional when viewing the file
28. Employer access
28
Records management policies should outline the
process for allowing organization employees to
access employee records
How and why Human Resources professionals can access
employee records
Other employees in the organization that can access employee
records
This is permitted if accessing employee records is necessary for the
performance of the employee’s job
29. Third party access
29
External human resources functions provider
During the legal acquisition of a business
Workers’ Compensation Boards
Benefits providers
Labour relations and union representatives
Lawyers
Provincial and national
government bodies
Revenue Canada
30. Securing records
30
Privacy
The right to privacy is met when an individual has the
opportunity to exercise some degree of control over personal
information by consenting to, or withholding consent, for the
collection, use, and/or disclosure of information
Confidentiality
Every organization has an obligation to protect information
from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, loss or
theft.
Security
Organizations must employ physical, administrative, and
technical safeguards to ensure employee records remain secure
33. About us
33
Our services
Employer benefit plans
Travel insurance
Health spending
accounts
Salary grids
Policy review and writing
Pension plans
Employee wellness
Employer of choice
Charitable giving
Charitable tax
information
Employee mental health
34. Contact us
34
#517-7620 Elbow Drive SW
Calgary, AB T2V 1K2
403-264-5288
www.hylton.ca
800-449-5866
info@hylton.ca
facebook.com/pages/CG-Hylton/173971246061425
twitter.com/HyltonYYC
Notas del editor
Definition adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_policies
The laws in Canada require that all employers document certain pieces of information. Records must be maintained for a certain period of time (this can vary across different industries and is based on the type of information collected) and must be readily available for inspection. Having this information documented can help to prevent issues such as misunderstandings, hearsay, or an inability to terminate an employment contract due to lack of proof that the contract has been frustrated.
All organizational policies and procedures should be designed to influence and determine major decisions and actions. Procedures are the specific methods used to uphold policies during the day to day operation of the organization. Adapted from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/policies-and-procedures.html
Some records are permanently useful, either to the organization itself orto other interested parties. When properly retained, organized, and preserved, these records become an organization’s archives. They reflect the values,activities, and goals of the organization. This body of records tells thestory of the organization’s past and becomes the basis forunderstanding its history. Order and efficiency – Having a system in place guarantees that recordsare filed in a logical, orderly fashion to facilitate retrieval. Daily operations – Daily operations frequently require the use ofnoncurrent records. For example, a report outlining the organization'sachievements is significantly easier to produce when documentation is properly maintained. Advertising, promotion, and public relations – Organizational archivesare useful in advertising, promotion, and public relations. Being able to discuss, document,and illustrate past activities lends an organization credibility in its currentefforts. Successful programs developed andimplemented five, ten, or twenty years ago demonstrate the organization'scredibility, strength, and longevity.Strategic planning – Likewise, the existence of documentation gives a realboost to strategic planning. Current employees can look back at theirgroup's history to learn which efforts were successful or unsuccessful inthe past, and why. Knowledge and understanding of previous errors, aswell as previous successes, can determine future strategy. Documentationreveals which activities were advantageous to theorganization and its intended beneficiaries. Current areas of interest arecompared with past efforts and evaluated in terms of their potential for thefuture.Litigation – Documentationis useful for legal purposes. In legal proceedings,the documentation generally contains accurate,unbiased, and readily available information for a legal strategy that isbeneficial to the organization.Source: http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/pdf/DTIA.pdf
Employee performance documentation is rendered almost meaningless in the eyes of the law, the organization, and the employee if it is not documented in direct reference to the established and communicated benchmarks.
Sources: http://www.qualitydigest.com/feb/bench.html and http://www.orau.gov/pbm/presentation/kendall.pdfInternal: The process of comparing one particular operation within your organization with another. “The left hand knowing what the right hand is doing." Internal benchmarking is by far the easiest, both to research and to implement. Competitive: The process of comparing an operation with that of your direct competitors or a comparable organization. This is the most difficult type of benchmarking to carry out successfully as it relies heavily on inside knowledge of another organization’s operations. It is typically used most successfully in product sales driven companies.Functional: The process of comparing an operation with that of similar ones within the broad range of your industry. Functional benchmarking is relatively easy to research and implement. Generic: The process of comparing operations from unrelated industries (i.e., ones often used by a wide variety of industries). An example would be a film library using the warehousing techniques of another industry to improve storage efficiency. The advantage of this type of benchmarking is that the problems of competition do not apply, increasing the access to information, and reducing the possibility of legal problems. Generic benchmarking can inspire creative solutions and performance management guidelines.
Setting and communicating performance benchmarks is a key component of successful performance management documentation. Without this documentation, performance documentation is less meaningful and may not withstand legal scrutiny.
Take time on a regular basis to document performance raves or concerns on each employee. Failure to document the good and the bad can have legal implications and organizations can be accused of “being out to get a particular employee”. Report the facts including the date, employees involved, the details of the incident, and observations. Avoid including ambiguous details and qualitative judgments. Document facts based on employee reports, manager reports, eyewitness reports, photos, reports, emails, and any other documentation that reports facts surrounding an event. Draft written correspondence about the event that includes the above mentioned facts, supporting documentation, and a summary of all conversations with the employee regarding this event. In the written correspondence, refer objectively to related performance benchmarks. Have the employee review the correspondence and sign the document confirming they have read, understood, and agree with the statement of facts.
These are types of documentation that an organization may be requested to provide to a court of law.
To ensure that employer documentation can be useful in a court of law, organizations must ensure that all relevant documentation meets the above minimum considerations.
Records management is one area where many organizations find it is more efficient and effective to contract to an external provider. Some organizations do a combination of both internal and external records management.
A new employee file should include all the information listed above. The organization must ensure that this information remains confidential and secure. It is helpful to include a checklist of the required information at the beginning of each employee file. This can provide “at a glance” confirmation of the documents that are included in the file and documents that remain outstanding. For organizations in the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories the collection of employee information is subject to PIPEDA because all private sector activity is under federal jurisdiction in the territories. PIPEDA applies to personal information that is collected, used or disclosed in the course of commercial activity. PIPEDA also states "personal information does not include the name, title, or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.“ Source:http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/employee-records.cfm
Employee files should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the documents are accurate, up to date, and complete. This can be done annually at the same time as the employee’s performance review. Document any changes, additions, and removals made to the file. Adapted from: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-keep-employee-personnel-files-30240.html
There may be instances where a third party can legally access some part of an employee’s records. It is critical that the organization’s records management plan details the circumstances in which a third party can access certain aspects of an employee’s records. This access must be in compliance with applicable privacy and release of information guidelines.