Question:
What is the best way to document employee behavior issues?
Answer:
As an HR professional or a business leader, you’ve likely heard the saying, “If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen”. This is especially true related to managing employees and keeping careful records of their workplace performance, specifically behavioral issues.
Documenting policy violations, customer service issues, or behavior concerns achieves two primary purposes:
1. Maintain accurate records to if there is a legal dispute about the outcome of a disciplinary or termination action; and
2. Provide coaching and professional development opportunities.
There are right ways and wrong ways to approach employee behavior documentation.
Here are 5 guidelines to consider:
Articulate your expectations
Prepare a clear, written summary of what you expect from each individual involved in the behavioral issue, and communicate that to everyone involved.
Example:
- Paul & Penelope (parties involved in dispute): Participate in separate interviews with HR
- Wanda (witness): Participate in separate interviews with HR
- Sarah (manager) Receive recommendation from HR and communicate decision to Paul & Penelope
Focus on facts
Document specific examples of behavior – don’t speculate about motivations or intentions.
Example:
✅ Right: “Wanda reported observing Paul raise his voice at Penelope on 4/16/24”
❌ Wrong: “Wanda reported observing Paul raise his voice at Penelope. Paul is likely stressed due to his large workload and is not a team player.”
Avoid diagnosing or editorializing
The role of documentation is to note observable issues with an employee’s performance, not psychoanalyze why issues are happening.
Adding your own editorial commentary undercuts the power of your documentation and gives the impression that you are a participant in the behavior, rather than a professional documenting an incident.
Think of the future
Think about who might be reviewing your notes 5-10 years from now, and make sure your documentation has everything needed for that person to clearly understand the situation.
Make sure to include:
- Your name
- Names of person receiving a disciplinary action and anyone else receiving a copy
- Date of incident and date of report
- Documentation file location
- Signatures, if applicable
Pay attention to patterns
One-time issues may not be cause for concern, but patterns of behavior may warrant a coaching session.
Example:
- A customer calls once to complain about Penelope’s attitude on the phone ➡️ likely doesn’t require additional follow-up
- Multiple customers call over several months with the same complaint ➡️ it’s time to sit down with Penelope and review customer service best practices with her
Takeaway
Effective documentation is factual, objective, and easy for present and future stakeholders to refer back to.