Dear Reader,

Documenting every workplace process can seem tedious to say the least.

And yes, you may think it’s a waste of your very valuable time.

But believe me; having thorough paperwork is worth its weight in gold if an employee makes a claim against you.

Take an unfair dismissal case for example.

If an employee makes a claim that you dismissed them unfairly, you will need to be able to prove how and why you decided to dismiss them.

And this is especially the case under the new Fair Work Act.

Now, you have to be able to prove that you have taken all the required steps before dismissing an employee.

In other words, you will need proof that you:

a) gave the employee warnings about their poor performance;
b) gave an employee a chance to improve and act upon your warning; and
c) notified the employee of the reason for their termination and gave them an opportunity to respond

And what better proof than paperwork – by making sure you document every meeting, keep notes of every performance management decision and keep copies of every warning letter, you are well on your way to beating any unfair dismissal claim – and saving yourself thousands of dollars of compensation payments.

Until next time…

Claire

Tags: documenting, employee, fair work act, paperwork, performance management, Unfair Dismissal, workplace process