The importance of HR documentation: 5 facts

Piles of papers seem far from interesting or empowering. Yet, when run properly, documentation in the HR department can be rocket fuel for all processes in the company.

Running documents appear dull and repetitive work that drags the HR team from the actual “work” to do. One should source candidates or onboard new members of the team instead of adding some sheets to the endless pile of paper.

Yet, the harsh reality of HR operations shows that documents come as a backbone of every process and can either be the rocket fuel or a thorn in the side.

This text covers:

• Goals of HR documentation
• Types of documentation
• HR-related documentation role
• Reasons to keep HR documents in the company

Goals of HR documentation

The key goal of keeping the documentation and doing all the paperwork in HR is to ensure that all parties are on the same page (pardon the pun). By “all parties” one can mean the employee, the employer, and occasionally the state administration or the customers.

Having the documentation is a clear sign that a particular agreement has been done. Good documentation helps avoid misunderstandings and serves as a reliable reference in case of disciplinary action, termination, or any performance issue.

Important procedures

The properly prepared documentation includes not only the agreement, but also procedures to follow in a situation of conflict or misunderstanding. There is no need to include the full procedure in every single document, yet showing a direction where the procedure can be found is a good practice. This is often achieved by referring to the employee handbook, where detailed company policies and steps related to performance management, performance reviews, and disciplinary actions are clearly outlined. Proper documentation of these procedures ensures consistency and fairness in handling workplace issues.

Transparency

Furthermore, HR documentation is about making all the agreements and processes transparent for every party. One needs to assume that eventually, a third party may inspect the documents or ask questions. Having properly documented HR processes can save a lot of stress and effort. And sometimes – a good deal of money. Clear records of performance reviews and references to company policies support transparency and ensure that decisions regarding termination or addressing a performance issue are well-justified.

Types of human resource documentation

“Documentation” is a broad term that describes nearly nothing. Both the medical records and anonymous feedback are in fact HR documentation. To make the situation even more complicated, HR processes medical documentation and tons of sensitive data. Finally, it becomes clear why HR documentation is essential for maintaining structure and clarity within the organization’s operations.

But it doesn’t mean that all types of documentation need to be approached in the same manner. A clear and consistent documentation process ensures that nothing falls through the cracks and that every necessary record is properly handled. After all, documentation provides the foundation for fair treatment, compliance, and strategic planning in any HR department.

Which documentation is important – formal vs. informal

Formal documentation includes all the papers the company must store and process due to legal reasons and may face consequences due to lack of it. This includes contracts, formal leave requests, and information about disabilities. Depending on the legislature, this list is far from complete, and there may be dozens of other documents to include – from timetables and logs to formal agreements regarding the over-hours. Documentation of an employee’s work schedule, contracts, or leave status is a perfect example of how proper HR documentation helps a company avoid legal trouble and maintain consistency.

The informal documentation constitutes all things that are needed in HR, yet the company is not threatened by fines or legal consequences if the documentation is stored improperly or sometimes not stored at all. This includes all feedback, meeting notes, one-on-one meeting key takeaways, emailing history regarding the pay rise, or anything else one can store regarding employment. Even here, documentation is so important, as it helps track internal communication and decisions that shape the employee’s experience and development.

HR-related documentation role

There are multiple types of HR documentation, containing multiple types of data. Yet, these are created to support various goals of the HR department that ultimately contribute to the overall company performance. From recruitment process to onboarding to performance management, effective HR documentation ensures the business runs smoothly, supports workplace safety, and aligns with the best human resources practices.

Contracts of employment

One of the most basic types of documents in human resources, these deliver the written agreement about the rules both parties are willing to cooperate on. The contract is always the most basic and comprehensive source of information regarding employee relations with their employer and is the core of all employee files and documentation records. Such contracts are important documents that define the terms of employee engagement and may include legally mandated elements.

Download the employment contract template here!

Employee offer letter

An employee offer letter is a final step that separates the candidate from the employee. The offer letter is sent after the candidate has accepted the verbal offer from the company and the paperwork needs to be done, marking an employment event. Depending on the company’s customs and the level of formality. Yet, considering personal data and potentially classified information, these need to be considered HR documentation and must comply with the company’s privacy policy. Documentation protects both parties by clearly stating actions taken and expectations moving forward.

Download the employee offer letter template here!

Employee experience survey

It is common for companies to conduct a regular employee experience survey, aiming to spot the first signs of tension in the team. Surveys can be both anonymous or signed, with varying degrees of information shared. Depending on the survey’s questions, it can be either plain and risk-free or full of sensitive data. And by that, the employee survey is undoubtedly a piece of HR documentation that supports positive workplace culture and policies and procedures transparency.

Download the employee evaluation form template here!

Employee evaluation template

The information about how the employee thinks about the company may contain multiple sensitive information. But the information on how the company thinks about the employee is entirely different. It contains full information about the quality of one’s work, the strengths, weaknesses, general opinion, and multiple other details. This is core to performance management documentation, and by that, this document needs to be protected and properly stored. Documenting performance is essential for tracking progress, and clear documentation of evaluations can serve as part of a performance improvement plan or progressive discipline process when needed. HR professionals and HR personnel rely on such thorough documentation for fairness and consistency.

Download the employee evaluation form template here!

Onboarding

Onboarding is one of the key goals of HR, which can be supported using various types of documents. Documentation can help track the entire onboarding to performance management journey. Properly done, onboarding reduces the time the employee needs to be fully immersed in the company and start being productive and contribute to the overall growth. According to Urbanbound, 77% of employees who went through a formal onboarding process have achieved their KPIs. Having a process in place and documenting HR steps ensures documentation helps preserve standards and expectations from the very beginning.

Performance

Measuring employee performance is another way HR contributes to the overall company performance. While collecting the metrics remains the job of supervisors, the HR dept comes as the place where the employee's performance and contribution are measured holistically and comprehensively. This requires a good set of documentation as well as the tools that make them accessible. Using performance management software and maintaining records of employee evaluations ensures that documentation makes tracking growth and addressing behavior or performance concerns easier. A performance improvement plan instead of abrupt termination is often a more sustainable approach when supported by proper documentation.

Attendance

Attendance appears to be the metric that is easy to measure, and that’s true – it appears so. Without a stockpile of documents, measuring the actual attendance of the employees can be a challenge impossible to overcome. Attendance records are part of essential documentation records and are typically required for wage and hour compliance and tracking eligibility for leave, including under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

• Schedules – contain the information on the planned employee attendance and need to be stored for future reference
• Time tables – store the data about one’s real working time. Some jurisdictions make storing them obligatory and a basis of payment. Having at least these two mentioned above gives the company a full and unbiased view of one's attendance and habits.

Compliance with internal policy

Finally, every company has multiple internal procedures to follow, and having them listed is the only reliable and compliant way to have them followed and not become dead over time. These are part of the core HR foundation, helping companies follow consistent policies and procedures.

Depending on the type of the internal policy, the documents supporting it can vary and be either the way to spot the early signs of abuse or burnout or ensure the following of the rules. An internal employee satisfaction survey, for example, can be considered an effective way to reduce employee turnover. Documentation indicating employee feedback or early warning signs plays a key role here. Proper HR documentation of such processes ensures consistency and trust across departments.

Sickness, disability, and maternity documentation

Intuitively, medical documentation shouldn’t be a major issue if the company is not operating in the healthcare sector. That’s a hard truth – every document that contains information about one’s health can be considered medical documentation. These include:

Sick leaves

Depending on the labor laws in the country the company operates, there are various regulations regarding sick leaves and the types of documentation the employer may ask for. For example, in the UK, the employee may decide to deliver the full note from the doctor, including the details about his or her condition and the length of the sickness. This is to help the employer adjust the workplace to one’s needs.

Maternity leaves

Maternity leave can also be considered clear information about one’s physical condition. On the other hand, the employee has no right to refuse leave. Furthermore, depending on the legal framework, there are various privileges and levels of protections granted to a person on maternity leave.

Accommodation of a disability

There also are multiple legal and organizational incentives for hiring disabled people. Yet if the business owner decides to hire one, there is a significant amount of paperwork to do around that – and this includes multiple papers and statements from physicians regarding the type of work one can perform.

According to the Kessler Foundation, no more than 33.1 percent of people with disabilities are working in the US – this number could have increased if employers were better prepared to hire people with various disabilities.

Reasons to keep HR documents

Each HR document serves a particular purpose in a defined process in the company. Yet on a higher level, there are greater purposes, the Human Resources department needs documents. And they influence all the aspects of the company’s operations.

Compliance

First and foremost, there is a large group of HR documents that are required by the state administration to be kept. Depending on the legal framework the company operates in, this may include the proof that the social security has been paid or the logging of working hours, to ensure the fair payment for the job delivered.

Depending on the data kept in the company, there are various norms the company needs to adhere to while keeping compliance, and mitigating various risks by choosing a reliable tech partner is vital.

Professionalism

Having all procedures written and codified instead of relying on gut feeling makes the company operate in a more professional manner. These documents are points of reference for everybody interested, be that the employee, the supervisor, or the member of a state administration who needs to conduct some kind of investigation.

It is generally a good practice to run the documentation in a way that makes it possible to be shown to someone from outside the organization at any time. This makes the process more efficient and ensures that documents are legible and organized in an accessible way.

Smooth operations

An organized and accessible documentation system in the HR department makes multiple business processes more smooth and more efficient. While this rarely applies to the technological, development, or production processes, HR work is easier.

This includes keeping the employees happy, gathering and providing feedback, launching new hiring campaigns, onboarding new employees, and processing leave requests, among others.

Effective HR delivers an immense boost to the overall company productivity and supports the company in basically any field by providing new talents to the available talent pool. For example, the team can focus on hiring – an average job vacancy costs businesses $98 per day – and if the HR team has no procedures to follow and documents for guidance, these costs stack up with the process getting lengthy.

Transparency

Having clear and organized documentation delivers a great level of transparency company-wide. Documents reduce the shades between what is and what’s not allowed in the company, as well as deliver a clear picture of any agreement or policy made.

Moreover, the documentation is fair and unbiased, and that provides the company with a single source of truth regarding what to do in conflict situations. Shifting from arbitrary decisions to structured rules anyone can stick to is a great way to build a culture of transparency and fairness, with anyone being considered equal.

Summary

Human Resources relies on soft and interpersonal skills in their daily operations. Yet behind the human approach and conciliarism, there is a strong need to build stable and reliable rules to adhere to. Having an organized and actionable documentation system filled with knowledge and procedures that make life easier comes as great support for the HR department. And by that, to the whole company. By that, the importance of documentation should never be underestimated.

If you wish to talk more about the ways the company benefits from using the documentation in daily HR operations, don’t hesitate to contact us now!