# 6 HR Documentation Best Practices - Published: 2022-07-06 (updated 2022-07-19) - Author: [Brett Farmiloe](https://bestofhr.com/author/marketing.md) - Topics: [Human Resource Management](https://bestofhr.com/category/human-resource-management.md) - Source: https://bestofhr.com/6-hr-documentation-best-practices/ - Publisher: Best of HR ## What is a best practice for HR documentation? To help you with your HR documentation, we asked HR professionals and industry leaders this question for their best strategies. From keeping it professional to recording and tracking employee goals, there are several best practices for HR documentation. Here are six HR documentation best practices: - Keep It Professional - Save Both Physical & Digital Copies - Consider the Documentaion’s Audience  - Maintain Employee Records - Digitalize HR Documentation - Record & Track Employee Goals ### **Keep It Professional** Consistency, fairness, and clarity are all important aspects of HR documentation. Stay away from expressing one’s own personal views, drawing unjustified conclusions, and writing editorials. > On the other hand, if an employee was slurring his or her speech after a three-hour lunch on a certain date, you should be more explicit about the date and time. Inability to meet deadlines or showing up to work intoxicated are two examples of how employees frequently fail to meet their responsibilities. Sarcasm and conjecture should be avoided. Keep your reports clean and use clear, grammatically acceptable wording. In conversations with employees, avoid making false promises or giving misleading explanations. Ayman Zaidi, [Great People Search](https://www.greatpeoplesearch.com) ### **Save Both Physical & Digital Copies** Saving physical and digital copies of all documents is best practice for record keeping. Digital documentation allows for remote access and retrieval, which is incredibly useful. Virtual existence is precarious, though, so having a physical copy of documentation is also critical for when the electronic networks fail. Having both physical and virtual copies of documentation also allows for cross-referencing to ensure that each copy is legitimate. Thomas Yuan, [Sanebox](http://sanebox.com) ### **Consider the Documentaion’s Audience** Documentation is an employee’s written employment record. An employee’s documentation includes activities, talks, performance coaching events, witnessing policy breaches, disciplinary actions, positive contributions, award and recognition, investigations, failure to meet criteria and objectives, performance assessment, and more. Who will read the paperwork? When determining the scope and format of documentation, the audience should be considered. Ammad Asif, [Stream Digitally](https://streamdigitally.com/)  ### **Maintain Employee Records** Maintaining records of the workforce is the best practice for HR documentation. These records are compiled with the help of federal, state, and local employment laws.  Similarly, companies need these records to resolve conflicts if an employee creates any issues against your company such as discrimination, poor work environment, or any other issues. > HR documentation also records information about employers’ relations with their personnel. Data about the roles and responsibilities of team members to evaluate their performances. Managers can also use these records to communicate with their employees and provide them with a complete job description. Finally, HR documentation laws and regulations assure successful implementation of the privacy policy and ensure confidentiality, credibility, and consistency in operations. Charles Ngechu, [EasyPaydayLoan](https://easypaydayloan.co.uk) ### **Digitalize HR Documentation** One of the best HR documentation practices is to use digital management tools to help you with all paperwork. Digital technology makes cataloging, storing and managing documents easier and quicker. Thanks to its different functions, the HR department gets the chance to automate some tasks, leverage paper flow, obtain necessary data or make alerts or reminders. Need specific information from a few years ago? No problem, use a search option. Bored of filling in the same information again and again? Sure, make templates and automate the process. These software programs are a big help, saving your time and company’s money. Forget about lost documents, confusion, or asking the appropriate people for signatures. Now everything will happen online. Nina Paczka, [Resume Now](https://www.resume-now.com) ### **Record & Track Employee Goals** One best practice for HR documentation is to keep records of employee goals. Recording when an employee passes a certain benchmark is crucial to measuring their overall career success. Requirements and outcomes are easy to record through feedback and measurement of how the goal was reached. Additionally, promotions and other rewards or compensation can be officially documented here. Sasha Ramani, [MPOWER Financing](http://mpowerfinancing.com) ## Related - [What are some HR automation best practices?](https://bestofhr.com/what-are-some-hr-automation-best-practices.md) - [What should HR focus on in 2023?](https://bestofhr.com/what-should-hr-focus-on-in-2023.md) - [What are the best employee benefits for WFH employees?](https://bestofhr.com/best-employee-benefits-for-wfh-employees.md) - [What are the best marketing books for HR professionals to read?](https://bestofhr.com/best-marketing-books-for-hr-professionals.md)