Employee records: what to keep, and for how long
Small employers tend to keep everything forever in a shared folder. Both halves of that are a problem.
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HR operations
Records, contracts, classification, payroll basics and the administrative calendar that keeps an employer out of trouble.
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Below a certain size there is no HR department, so HR operations land on a founder, an office manager or a finance person who has other work. The task is to make the recurring obligations small, scheduled and hard to forget. For a product-level comparison in this area, review workforce optimization software. For broader independent guidance on this point, consult CIPD knowledge hub.
None of this is interesting and all of it is cheaper to do properly the first time. The recurring theme in these guides is that the expensive failures are almost always administrative rather than dramatic.
The contract and the handbook, and why they are different documents
Putting a policy in the contract makes it very hard to change. Putting a contractual term in the handbook makes it hard to enforce. Small employers regularly do both.
Read the guideEmployee or contractor: the question that gets answered retrospectively
Classification is determined by how the relationship actually works, not by what the agreement calls it. Small employers get this wrong in one direction.
Read the guidePayroll for a first-time employer
Payroll is the one HR process with a hard external deadline and an external party that will notice if it is wrong.
Read the guideTracking leave and absence without a system
Holiday tracked in a shared calendar works until two people book the same fortnight, someone carries over an entitlement nobody recorded, and the year-end balance is a negotiation.
Read the guideThe HR admin calendar that stops things being forgotten
Almost every expensive administrative failure in a small company is a recurring obligation that nobody owned on a specific date.
Read the guideHandling a complaint when everyone knows everyone
Small-team grievances are harder than large-company ones, because the parties cannot be separated and the decision-maker is rarely neutral.
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