Proper documentation is essential in human resources. Failure to properly document any issue may lead to your failure to defend or file a lawsuit. The HR Manager's Legal Reporter published a list of items that sink HR documentation. Here are the top ten:"1. Unsigned or undated documents. This is the number one failure in documentation. Sign and date everything! Have the employee do the same.
2. Illegibility. You didn't go to med school, so leave the scrawl to the doctors. In court, neatness counts!
3. Late documentation. Judges and juries look askance at disciplinary or other reports written weeks or months after the incident they describe.
4. Inaccuracy. That document looks perfect, but the facts are wrong. Even one error makes the entire document suspect.
5. Unsupported conclusions. Don't write, "Worker X was drunk" without documenting the reasons you think so, e.g. "liquor on breath, slurred speech." Statements by objective witnesses will buttress your conclusion even more.
6. Waffling. If Mike isn't making 200 widgets per hour, don't just write, "Mike's performance must improve." The judge will ask, "Improve from what to what?" Be specific.
7. Don't make excuses. Statements such as "You failed-but I know we've all been pushing hard lately," may win you a nice guy award, but it won't win your case.
8. Don't lie ... even to be nice! Saying someone was let go due in a layoff rather than for cause, if there was cause, can backfire big time in a wrongful termination suit.
9. Be consistent. If you've written up Sally for an infraction, you'd better have written up everyone who did it. Otherwise you're open to a charge of discrimination.
10. Don't over or under focus. Writing up every tiny infraction makes you seem petty. But writing only the job-ending incident makes you appear emotion-driven."
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