Empty Employee Files Fail to Document Performance in Business and at Work

It’s happened at least once a year over the last few decades of my HR career: a manager wants to terminate an employee for (cause, poor performance, you fill in the blank). I then ask the obvious / standard response: what documentation do you have in the employee’s file?

In almost all cases, I already know the answer: none.

I understand the challenges of documenting performance improvement. You don’t like to write. You don’t like conflict – or anticipating the conflict – with the employee who probably in reality desperately needs your feedback to succeed in their career in the long term. However, you’re missing an important coaching as well as a business improvement opportunity on several levels.

But it’s not just the documentation of substandard performance issues missing from the employee file (electronic or physical). What’s also missing is the documentation of strong and/or outstanding performance.

It’s one of the reasons I’m a fan of giving employees contemporaneous feedback on at least a quarterly basis – both the accomplishments and the opportunities for improvement / career development. On a monthly or a weekly basis is outstanding. On an hourly basis was the special gift of the best manager of my career, Bill – whether I wanted it, or not.

It was Bill who gave me a $250 Management Award 27 years ago (a little over $446 in 2020 dollars). Equally (if not more) important to me as his employee was the letter that accompanied the check. I still have it, and continue to treasure it:

How do you contemporaneously document your team members’ performance to support their professional development and success (which in turn supports your organization’s success), in business and at work?