Whether it is an event on the ski slopes of Utah, the words spoken in the hallowed privacy of Buckingham Palace, or what was said to Jane in her disciplinary hearing, recorded personal data at work is gold. What details should you record, how long should you keep it?
Courts can spend days delving into minutiae of detail relating to events that may have been only fleeting and which took place months or years ago. “Recollections may vary” can be totally true.
Clifford, whom I came up against early in my managerial career, kept a logbook. Everything that happened was recorded in it. He was proud of its value in a court case where his record clarified what happened. It enabled the case against the company to be dismissed.
What should you record?
Theoretically, anything that might cause you problems at a later date. Certainly if you have spoken to someone about their work performance, attitude or behaviour you should record it, together with a date and time. It should go without saying that any disciplinary meeting needs a detailed record of any matter that might be relevant later. It is best if the record is agreed by all parties or, if not, points of dispute are also recorded.
Today most non-verbal conversations are recorded. E-mails may endure somewhere in perpetuity – even if “deleted”. Social media records have been known to come back and “bite” people later. The challenge is not so much recording as indexing so the details can be found later. It would be worth giving thought to subject lines, key words, and structure of folders when managing emails and other documents.
In recent years I have taken on board Clifford’s practice. I keep an A5 logbook. Much goes into it; from the occasional note of a phone number, to my thoughts on a recent incident in which I or a client may have been involved. Keeping a note of your rationale can be useful if you need to defend a decision later. Unless a date is pertinent, I may add one only every few days.
Unlike Clifford I have never needed to use it in court (yet!) But I do find it useful in many other ways, including preparing for court.
Remember you can record personal data (in any form and without consent) so long as you have a legitimate business reason for doing so. If in doubt, seek advice.
Audio/video recording of disciplinary and grievance hearings
It is valuable to clarify at the outset of such meetings whether the meeting is to be recorded by either party. That the clarification has been made should go into your notes (because if could be deleted from an employee’s covert recording later).
It is very easy to make a recording. But, once transcribed, it is often extremely difficult to follow the conversation from the written content later, for example people often speak over each other. Video recording may help (I have no experience of using this) but I suspect that finding the relevant passages, which may be only seconds long in an hour or so’s recording, could be a challenge. There are organisations that will transcribe audio text, please contact me if interested.
My advice, if you choose to use such recordings, would be to also make handwritten contemporaneous notes. I type up the notes immediately, editing at the same time for the benefit of clarity, but keep the handwritten notes. Those are usually in my logbook. Occasionally I keep an additional logbook specific to a particular case.
How long to keep?
The underlying principle is that you can keep it for so long as you have a legitimate business reason (i.e. the original purpose) for doing so. Any personal data (information that can be related to a living person) should be destroyed once the legitimate reason for keeping it has expired. Pension related data would be an obvious example of a legitimate reason to keep that data (for 60 years).
Specific views on distinct categories of data varies widely. There is some guidance here.
More information
Our book, Human Resource Practice contains much information on good practice in keeping personal data at work, including references to further sources on the matter.
Malcolm Martin FCIPD
Author Human Resource Practice
Blogs are for general guidance and are not an authoritative statement of the law.