Before you decide to throw out old evaluations and files, consider this: An employee may sue and refer back to those evaluations from memory. If she remembers nothing but positive performance reviews until a recent poor appraisal (engineered, she believes, to get her fired), you’ll need to be able to show her employment history wasn’t as rosy as she remembers.

This month's collection of real-world quick tips from American business leaders, brought to you by members of The Alternative Board.

A recent study says that 40% of managers are considered “bad bosses” by their employees. Yet most managers assume that their relationships with their employees are running smoothly. Obviously, some of those bosses are wrong … and that can create major problems for a business. Here are seven common employee complaints about management, plus ways managers can silence them.

A survey of small business leaders performed by California-based TriNet Group says employee morale at small businesses was up or holding steady in the second quarter of 2009, according to 75% of respondents.

If you're relying solely on your memory to evaluate employee performance, you're making appraisals far more difficult than necessary. That's why it's best to institute a simple recording system to document employee performance. The most useful, easy-to-implement way is to create and maintain a log for each person. Follow these six steps:

We have an office cubicle workplace. Some of our employees like to listen to music during the day. Naturally, not everyone likes everyone else’s taste in music. I don’t want to referee these silly fights. I want a policy that says “If you are listening to music, use headphones.” Does anyone have a policy I can copy?—Laura, Boston

You’ve tried sending out memos, putting up posters and issuing gentle reminders, but nothing keeps employees from leaving their extra papers behind at the copier. You feel like a den mother, constantly cleaning up after everyone. What’s the best way to get people to change their habits? Change their environment.

A professor says most human resources professionals are ill-equipped to carry out value-added workforce planning and transformation. Addressing a crowd of about 300 financial executives, a professor of human resources soundly denounced the corporate HR profession for being mostly unable to provide analytics that are useful in making workforce decisions that build economic value.

By now, nearly everyone in HR has heard of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), under which unions would have a much easier time becoming certified. Because unions have become more aggressive and more successful at unionization even without the EFCA, I recommend that employers adopt the TEAM approach to keeping their workplaces union-free.

Like everyone else, we’ve been battered by the recession. We’ve started to turn things around, but our employees are pretty beat up by a tough business environment and a couple of layoffs we’ve had to do. Morale is poor. The general feeling is that we’re paddling like mad just to stay in the same place. Any ideas for inexpensive but meaningful ways to show staff that we appreciate their hard work and sacrifice during hard times?—Steve T., North Carolina

People tolerate superaggressive leaders if their visions are exceptionally strong, but it’s a dicey proposition. Experience shows that bullies, even when considered “visionaries,” tend to go too far.

If you notice that “summer stare” on employees’ faces as they gaze longingly out their office windows, it may be time for a morale-boosting seasonal schedule change. Here are some ideas working for the readers of the HR Specialist Forum:

Leading Gen Y workers can be a baffling experience. "How do you find the good capital ‘G’ ones?” laments one leader. You may not find them, but you may be able to train them. Teach them skills they need, including the values of your organization.

Our company has a MySpace page, to which all employees were invited to join. Soon after, one of our employees posted on his own MySpace page a derogatory comment about a co-worker. Naturally, that comment showed up on our MySpace page, and now the co-worker wants us to do something about it. But what? I'm at a loss about how or whether we can do anything. Suggestions?--Anonymous

Last year, U.S. employees filed a record number of legal complaints claiming they suffered discrimination at work. You know that U.S. anti-discrimination laws require managers to treat all applicants and employees equally. But what, specifically, do the laws require of supervisors and managers? Here’s a rundown:

Employers expect employees to get to work on time. Occasional problems with traffic or family issues sometimes make employees late. But chronic tardiness is another thing altogether. While most employers track tardiness occurrences, they should do more. How?

Everything you know about office bullies is wrong—well, most of it. Recent research shows the assumptions we make about bullies can lead us astray. For example, there’s a common belief that bullies are insecure and lack self-esteem. In fact, they’re often popular and have an inflated sense of self. Here are other myths about bullies:

In this troubled economy, it’s especially important to ensure your team remains competitive. An audit can help you determine if you are operating at peak productivity. Begin by asking your employees two questions:

One of our employees has come to me with a request that makes me nervous. She wants to invite co-workers to attend Bible study sessions on our company’s premises. The gatherings would take place before working hours in a staff picnic area on our grounds. We don’t have any kind of policy addressing this. Are there any legal or other issues I should consider before I decide what to do?—SJM, Fla.

It’s late, and you’re chained to your desk finishing work your boss needs first thing in the morning. The two colleagues who were helping with the project? Long gone. Don't get stuck going it alone like that again. These four tips will help you manage co-workers who drop the ball.

Discipline and termination meetings are emotionally charged events that carry the potential for nasty words, hurt feelings and even legal troubles. As a manager, you never know how employees will respond to discipline or firings. But you need to be prepared for anything—including employees who “let it all out” in long, loud rants. Follow these four do’s and don’ts to defuse rants and avoid lawsuits:

It’s no smooth ride being a leader in an economic downturn. Here’s what three CEOs on Fortune magazine’s most-admired companies list had to say about sleepless nights and what they’re doing about it.

“Hot teams” improvise, do more work with less supervision and make the extra effort to follow through. Management consultant Laurence Haughton offers this advice for turning ordinary groups into hot teams.

Some employees think they know their jobs better than their supervisors do. They want to decide which parts of their jobs are important and which parts are not. Then, when evaluation time rolls around, they try to show that they achieved their own goals for their jobs—even though management wanted other goals met. Don't let this happen.

We may have to terminate an employee who has been with us for more than 10 years and has worked with people throughout the organization. When he goes, people are going to notice. Due to the nature of the situation, I don't want to issue a detailed explanation to the rest of the staff. Can I just go with "_ _ _ _ is no longer with the company," or will that just whip the rumor mill into overdrive? Are there any realistic alternatives?—Noreen, S.F.