Employment attorney offers tips on how managers can effectively track employee behaviors and discipline
Documenting employee actions and behaviors is a vital responsibility for managers, so much so that one leading employment attorney encourages employers to include it in managers' job descriptions.
Allison West, Esq., SHRM-SCP, principal at Employment Practices Specialists in Pacifica, Calif., explained why and offered valuable guidelines for the documentation process during her "Seven Steps for Creating Bulletproof Documentation" concurrent session at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2022 in New Orleans on June 14.
"Managers are repeatedly told, 'You need to document,' but too often they don't know exactly what to document and how, and that becomes a problem, particularly if an employee-employer case reaches a trial," West said.
Including dates and drilled-down specifics about a worker's performance when it comes to things such as arriving on time, meeting deadlines, behavior toward team members or following any company policies is just as important as avoiding bias, opinions and accusations, West said. Once managers notice something troubling, they need to start writing it down.
"We are often told you need to be consistent in how you document, but that doesn't mean doing it exactly the same for everyone in every case," she said. "What it means is that you must do so within a range, be fair and have the documentation over a long period of time, and not just the...
A court has ruled that Seo Mi-hwa, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, and media outlets that reported her interview claiming former National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Standing Commissioner...