When you are in charge of a company, keeping track of how your employees have been working can be very difficult. If you simply rely on your memory, you could get confused or even forget how your employees have been performing. Documenting your employees’ successes and failures is a necessity to any company of any size. One thing is for sure, though: The performance of your workers needs to be documented.
One of the most important reasons that it should be documented is the possibility of having a legal case brought against your company. If an employee who was dismissed from your company tries to take you to court for dismissing them because of discrimination, you’ll have a strong case against it. You’ll be able to show that the employee had poor historical performance and that the logical decision was to part ways.
As an employer, it’s important to have employee performance documented so that you can have an accurate performance review, as well. During the review, you can look at the employee’s strengths and weaknesses, and set goals for the next few weeks or months. It’s an excellent way to measure progress and see what your employee needs to work on in order to become more efficient.
Keeping your employees happy is an important part of any business. Documenting their successes and failures is a great way to see who is due for some kind of reward, and what they should receive. If you’ve noticed that your employee is working hard and going the extra mile, make sure to write it down and remember what they’ve done. Write your praises, and in a review with the employee, read those praises to him/her. They’ll feel excellent that somebody is paying attention to them and is noticing the quality work they are doing. It’s great to set up a new recognition program to show your employees how much you care.
There are a few different ways that you can go about writing down employee performance. Some people prefer something as simple as a legal pad and a pen, others have intricate, color coded spreadsheets. With so many different options, you could try each one out and see which works best for you, or you could create something on your own. There are some things that need to be included in each write up, though.
One of the most important things that you can have on the write up is the date and time. This will show you exactly how long it has been since the last absence, tardy, reward or anything else, and you can use it as legal documentation, if necessary. These are also good for your employee reviews. You can use them to keep track of when it’s time for a review, and if the employee is curious, you can provide the exact moment when the act occurred.
Another necessity for documenting performance, is writing down a detailed account of any noteworthy or disruptive events. Write down who was there, what was said, how it unraveled and anything else that you can think of. Be very descriptive and include every small detail that you can remember. This could end up saving you a lot of trouble and saving your company a lot of money.
No matter how you run your business, there is one thing that you cannot overlook—the importance of documenting performance. Making sure that things are well documented is something that needs to be done, and it’s important to the success and security of your company. If you can’t document things yourself, hire someone who can keep track of everything for you. You won’t regret it.