I have a webinar that I occasionally conduct on the importance of documentation. Documentation is that bane of existence for the HR professional, as it is absolutely necessary for the defense of the company when needed, yet it is almost impossible to get supervisors and managers to do it, willingly anyway. Recently I came across …
I presented a webinar yesterday on the importance of documentation. It reminded me of this post. Recently in Georgia, a man was executed. There were many claims that he was innocent, the courts did not agree. My purpose here is not to discuss this, I make this statement as a prelude to my observation of …
Read moreFrom the Archive: The DNA of HR Decisions: Why Documentation is Important
Document, document, document… it seems often that this is all HR people in the “trench” ever say. Supervisors and managers get tired of hearing it and, face it, we get tired of saying. Generally nothing ever happens with that documentation given the thousands and thousands of time it is said. Just occasionally we get an …
Read moreGood documentation pays off! Not once but TWO times.
I know I write frequently about the importance of documentation. There is a reason for that! It will save you grief, heartache and money. Here is yet another reason why documentation is important. The Situation Attorney Christopher Ward, of Foley & Lardner LLP, makes the point that a successful defense of a lawsuit often …
Read moreWhy you should document when the decision was made!
I have often run across companies that want to soften the impact of firing someone by offering them the opportunity to “voluntarily resign” rather than have a termination on their record. In other situations employers are “eliminating a job” or having a “layoff” or some other action to blunt the perceived impact of firing …
I wanted to point out to your five great blog posts that I think you should read. These posts will educate you, make you a better Human Resources professional and may even answer a question you have. They will certainly prepare you to answer some questions in the future. First up is a post …
Read moreFive Great posts to read to make you a better HR Manager
In a lawsuit companies and plaintiffs (those ex-employees suing you) give sworn testimony about what occurred in their particular case. The problem with this is memories fade or memories can change or be changed; and that is why documentation is important. Memories can be manipulated According to a post in BrainBlogger there have been …
Ah yes, the incessant mantra of all HR departments. Document, document, document until you are tired of hearing about it. However, I attended a legal session yesterday that emphasized the importance of documentation. The lesson The legal session I attended was put on by Drew Eckl & Farnham, LLP and dealt with the intersection …
What do you do when you have an employee who is producing the results you want but is breaking the “rules” by not following proper protocol? This is a story that shows that results alone are not always the best criteria to determine whether an employee is retained and how proper documentation will “save …
Read moreSaving Your Bacon: Results Alone are not always the Best Criteria
In HR we preach that everything needs to be documented. We do this first because our lawyers tell us that to effectively defend ourselves in court it is much more important to have pieces of paper than to have spoken words. As an attorney put it once “I would rather have one page of documentation …