One of the first jobs I had where I was a supervisor was at a retail chain that need not be named. I think this is, I am guessing, fairly common among beginning managers. Start at a retail chain and get more experience so you don’t have to work the terrible hours associated with most retail establishments. In any case, I was a lowly shift manager, one of the denziens that allowed senior managers to head home early most weekdays and not work very many weekends.

So what does a future HR manager do? I rifle through the personnel records. I look through fellow co-workers records, I look at the Assistant Store Manager’s personnel records and I go through every last piece of paper. The cabinet had a lock on it but it was never used and I figured I was management now so I needed to look through everything to make sure everything was on the up and up. Of course, I never did anything with them (other than quench my curiosity).

Now that I am in HR, I realize what a liability that was for the company I worked for and how shocked and appalled I would be if that happened now. Not only would that be a major blow for the company if I (or anybody else who knew of it) had misused the information, it would tarnish the trust between the employer and employee.

While cases at your own company may not be this bad, there are many more minor cases that may seem harmless. Let’s take this scenario:

You’re a busy single HR professional in an office. A manager says they want to look at a file and you have your back turned to him and say “Go for it, just make sure to return it.” Manager grabs a couple files and takes a few documents out of it to never be seen again.

Maybe the manager didn’t have bad intentions but you allowed him to take a part of your corporate trust and compromise it. Bad job! No cookie!

Just kidding of course. If up to this point, you have been lacidasical about your files, you can hardly be blamed (unless you’ve been sued for a breach of private information, then…you might need some help). What are some things you can do to make sure you have all of your ducks in a row?

1. Have your files in a locked cabinet in a locked office (double the possibility of it being secure).
2. Keep all personnel records in a central place. If you have multiple offices, strive to keep everything in the central location. Less locations means more control.
3. Get in the habit of keeping the cabinet locked unless you need to access it. When you do access it, relock it. It is a simple habit to establish.
4. Audit your files periodically. Keep track of what is in the files (a check list with some extra lines helps). That way if you suspect something is missing, you can track it down.
5. Separate your I-9 information, health records and other personnel information. You should be doing this anyway but it also helps reduce your liability.
6. When somebody wants a file, you retrieve it for them, you supervise as they rifle through it and you make any copies they need. We don’t need to make it feel like prison but we do want to take it seriously.

Do you think anything else needs to be added to this list? Let me know in the comments section!