Protecting & Respecting™
Documentation Doesn't Need to be Complicated
Here are some helpful tips to make it easy to protect yourself and the organization through documentation.
- Create an email folder for each of your direct reports. Label each with the employee's name.
- To document an observation (good or bad), or an event such as an absence or a missed performance expectation, simply write an email describing it. Then send it to yourself. When received, file it in the email folder you made for that employee.
- Copy HR or your supervisor if the observation or event is serious.
- Write the note and send it as soon after the observation or event as possible. Don't procrastinate!
- If you decide that discipline or termination is in order, document your decision when it's made, not after the action takes place. Remember the "Fred" example below?
