Keeping employee personnel files well has a lot of benefits. You need to document the action of each employee in your workplace. If there are promotions offered to certain employees, then you should have a well-documented evaluation process which made you provide such privileges to the employee. There are some employees who will let you down; they will be reluctant to work to your expectation. You will have to warn them from time to time. You will as well schedule disciplinary actions. If they will not improve, you may consider taking disciplinary actions such as laying them off. A well-kept employee personnel files will play a great role while trying to prove in court that a given employee deserves to be fired.
What is kept in Personnel Files
In the employee personnel files, you should keep record of when the employees started working in your organization and other related details. The following are details you can keep your employees’ personal files:
Job description for the position a given employee is holding
The application and resume for eh employee
Offer of the employment
IRS forms of the employee
Acknowledgment of employee handbook
Forms of employees benefit
Next of kin forms
Complaints from coworker or customers about the employee
Awards for outstanding performance
Records of completion of courses
Warning or any other disciplinary actions
Citations for excellent performance
Attendance of tardiness
Agreements with the employee and the organization
Document for departure from the company and reason why
Reviewing Personnel Files
You should set time aside and review each employee files. The files should be reviewed on an annual basis and ensure all details provided are up to date. Some of the questions you need to ask when reviewing the files include the following:
Check whether the file has all written evaluation of the employee
All promotions should be recorded
Remove all warnings after a given period if your policies state so
Update all details about the employee training
Have current information about the employee contract
What Not to Keep in a Personnel File
Medical records
You should not have medical records in your staff file. If the employee has some form of disability, then you will have to have a separate medical form which will be accessed by very few people in your organization. Even those who have no disability, you are required always to keep medical forms private.
Form I-9s
All employees in your firm should be legally legalized to work in the state. You should check the files and store them separate from your employees personal records. All unnecessary materials should not be kept in your employees personal files.

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The filing isn’t your favorite task, but it is something that needs to be done, particularly when it comes to personnel files-you must keep them orderly and up-to-date, containing the required information. Storing employee information is essential for complying with any legal requirements your state may have, but also to help you and your managers make important employment decisions.

Whether you have an existing filing system that needs to be completely renovated, or you are setting up a new personnel filing system for the first time, it is crucial to ensure that only the appropriate employee information is kept in staff records and to keep out documents that are not supposed to be there. The types of information that should be contained in the personnel files include employment applications and resumes, compensation information, promotions, training, performance evaluations, and disciplinary warning documents. Documents that are not supposed to be in a personnel file include medical records because they should not be used for consideration of promotions and wage increases. You should not have any medical information or any other personal information that could potentially be seen as discriminatory. Medical information, including documents that are used for leaves of absences, need to be kept in an entirely different file.

You should strive to make sure your personnel records are always complete and up-to-date. It is also important to ensure that you establish a routine for going through the files to take out terminated employee records. Check with your state regulations, so that the records are retained according to the legal requirements for retention.

Once you have documented the procedure for establishing and maintaining the personnel files, it is imperative to train your HR staff, as well as the managers that will need to have access to them, so that everyone knows the legal requirements and to ensure the filing system procedure is adhered to, including the retention requirements and any limited access that others may have to the personnel files.

You may want to inspect your personnel file for multiple reasons. An employee wants to know that relevant records are included. Perhaps inaccurate information needs to be tagged, removed, or make subject to rebuttal. Your personnel file will be the basis for future decisions regarding pay, promotions, reassignments and transfer, and possibly layoff or termination. You may want to inspect your case in preparation for an upcoming meeting with management or to assess the fairness and truth of a performance evaluation.

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