Basic HR documents for a company

8 of January, 2025

Human resources departments are, of course, in charge of all matters related to a company’s staff. The functions performed by this department can be very broad and diverse. For this reason, it is best to establish a protocol for each activity.

In order for the HR team to do their job correctly, they must have a number of essential HR documents at their fingertips and store them in an orderly fashion in a document management system to avoid document loss or misplaced paperwork.

HR document types

Not all human resources departments have to be the same, in fact, they all differ; it depends mostly on the size of the company. There are some basic tasks to be carried out by the human resources manager and they are very different from each other. We must have a wide variety of HR documents to streamline this department’s work.

There are a lot of documents that this specific department works with. But as in any other office, there is a series of documents without which the HR department would not be able to fulfill its most basic tasks. Below, we will talk a little about these HR documents.

Administration Documents

The legal-administrative activities of the HR department include payroll and insurance management, and hiring of employees, among others. It can be said that this is the most bureaucratic task of this department.

• Employee contract: all employees of a company must have a contract specifying the activity they will perform, detailing their working hours and their salary. This is a common document that determines what type of relationship the employee has with the company. On the other hand, if employees get a salary raise or a promotion, it is necessary to review the contract and update it accordingly. 
• Payroll: it is the document that specifies what workers are paid for their services at the end of the month or per week (depending on the agreement with the company). In order to justify the payment, payrolls need to be issued. The content of payroll usually identifies the employee, the hourly rate of the worker, the period of liquidation, perceptions, deductions and method of payment, among others.

Staff planning documents

To work efficiently it is necessary to plan working hours. This document will help employees to know when they are supposed to work and the company to know who is available to work. 

• Work calendars: this calendar specifies the days to be worked in the company.  This is an essential document to determine the production days of the employees hired in a company.
• Employee shifts: it is a variation of the previous document; basically, it is a document that contains employee work shifts. If it is a company that works under multiple shifts, it is necessary to inform employees about their daily working hours.

HR employee management documents 

Employee management refers to the tasks that are carried out around human needs. These tasks focus on knowing each employee’s role.

• Employee profile: it’s a document containing personal and professional information of employees. Companies store all their employees’ information in their Databases. They include information such as training, contact details, emergency contact, etc.
• Clock ins/outs management: in any company, it is necessary to control employees’ working days, for this reason, it is necessary to implement a time control system. There are several companies that use softwares that function as a document manager to keep track of the company’s clock ins and outs.
• Sick leaves management: employees may be on sick leave at any time. If an employee does not come to the office, a document specifying sick leave or absence from work must be arranged.
• Holidays management: all employees have the right to rest and use their annual holidays. For this, it is necessary to make manage holidays efficiently so that their days off do not affect the company’s business activity. This specific type of document allows you to establish workers’ holidays and keep track of who is off and who has to work.

At this point, you understand the importance of basic HR document management for any company. You can also use an HR Software such as Sesame, to carry out all those tasks related to the human resources department that give you so many headaches.

Cristina Martin

People and Talent Director | LinkedIn | | Web | +post

Professional with over 20 years of extensive experience in various areas of Human Resources (Recruitment, Training, Occupational Risk Prevention, and Personnel Management). Experience in the Management Department: Broad understanding of the company and HR.

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