Is Keeping Separate Employee Files for Managers and HR a Common Practice or a Recipe for Confusion?

Dear All,

There is a suggestion coming from our management to maintain separate personnel files. One file would contain all the technical certificates, technical comments, and appraisal forms, which should be in the custody of the Manager for easy accessibility. The other file, which will remain with HR, shall contain all documents related to employment, such as offer letters, appointment letters, and promotion letters.

Is Maintaining Separate Employee Files Common?

Is the system of maintaining separate employee files (one with the manager and the other with HR) common? I feel this situation will lead to confusion and duplication of work, but I am not sure how to communicate this to management.

Regards,
Arti

Confidentiality of Employee Documents

Personal documents of employees are confidential and should not be accessed by unauthorized persons. It is the responsibility of HR to maintain this confidentiality. You may put separators in files and segregate documents as required. These should be with HR, and for any reference, managers may seek HR. This is a general practice.

Handling Appraisal Documents

Copies of appraisal documents are provided to reporting managers. Discuss with management about the consequences on the organization and employees if data is missed, leaked, or wrongly utilized. I hope they will understand.

Regards,

Personal documents should be maintained and accessed by the HR team to ensure complete confidentiality of the documents. Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Dear Arti,

In our organization, nobody is allowed to enter the room where we keep all personal files' records. We have two keys for that room: one key is kept by the Security Officer, and the second key is kept by the HR Manager.

The employees' personal files' records are strictly confidential and cannot be shown to others. Please convey this to your management, and I am confident that they will understand your point.

Regards,
Rizwan
Lahore

Dear Arthi, All our fellow members have been provided with great guidance from you. If the assessing officer requires the performance appraisal details assessed by him for his reference, prepare a consolidated statement from the PA points and hand it over to him. However, never send the full performance appraisals to him.

Regarding the technical certificates and technical details, you can send Xerox copies of the same to the concerned managers.

Regards, S. Sethupathy Excellent HR Services, Erode.

Hi, PE files are the responsibility of HR and should be maintained by the HR department only. Line managers don't have the proper resources to maintain records, leading to a violation of confidentiality. Please inform your management team about this issue, and they will understand.

Thank you.