A comprehensive document management system can help your business boost productivity, improve the bottom line and stay out of legal trouble. Here are three ways to organize files for easy retrieval, establish a record retention schedule and tame your wild email inbox.
Records Retention
You need record retention guidelines – from organizing personnel files and electronic records retention policies to control document management and more.
Business Management Daily provides personnel records retention guidelines, helping you to improve your hard-copy and electronic record retention.
HR Law 101: Your employee handbook should include statements on these topics: a welcoming letter from the CEO, rules and procedures, your employment policies, compensation and benefits, safety and health rules, an affirmative action statement and an acknowledgment receipt form ...
Issue: Maintaining personnel files is a chore, but it's the most important element in defending lawsuits and regulatory claims. Risk: Failing to organize your files correctly exposes you to civil ...
After an injury occurs at work, do you know how (or even if) you should keep a record? OSHA recently unveiled a new online tool, the OSHA Recordkeeping Advisor, that uses a Q&A format to help you decide.
In sharp contrast to optimistic forecasts that technology would rid your company of the “paper monster,” computers seem to have exacerbated the problem. Now, you’re sending, receiving and storing information electronically and printing copies—lots of copies. You may be able to live with the mess, but what will happen someday if you need to get your hands on one of those documents?
There's no sense in becoming a pack rat if you don't need to. While the legal requirements to retain records are complex, you're probably safe in dumping those 1984 vacation-day requests. Still, knowing which records to save or toss can be critical to your business, particularly in defending against a lawsuit.
Most paper records can be scanned into electronic form, reducing storage costs and allowing users to preserve and access vast databases of records with the click of a mouse. But despite the many benefits of going paperless, a host of legal problems could derail even the best-intentioned digital records plan. Carefully consider these legal issues when transitioning to an electronic personnel records system:
Enacted at the end of 2010, the federal Claims Resolution Act amends the Social Security Act to require that employers report a new hire’s first day of work. That’s in addition to the six data elements already required for new-hire reporting.
In the name of organization, HR professionals and managers alike have been known to accidentally discard a document, whether paper or electronic, that they shouldn't have. In your quest to clean out overflowing file cabinets or e-mail inboxes, take your time and follow these guidelines.
Most people think of 50 as the magic number for the FMLA. “Oh, we have 50 employees, so now we have to comply with the FMLA,” is a popular refrain among HR departments. It is not that simple. The FMLA has two different rules that must be met before you have to offer FMLA leave to an employee—coverage and eligibility, which both have the magic number 50 as a key component.
