January 2 Tip of the Week

“New Year, New Info”

As we begin the new year, it is a good time to take stock of the information that you have regarding your employees.  When an employee joins your organization, you go through a number of onboarding activities, including having them complete their tax forms, their emergency contact information, and other necessary recordkeeping processes.  But, after the initial introduction between the company and the employee, do you ever revisit these activities? 

January is a good time to reach out to employees to ask them to update their personal information.  In some companies, those updates can be done by the employee themselves in the HRIS system, while in others, it may require the completion of a form and manual entry by a personnel representative.  In either case, the importance of having current addresses and current emergency contacts on file makes the effort worth it. 

When an employee leaves your employee, you are required to provide them with certain information regarding benefits and their termination, final paychecks, etc.  Having an up to date physical, as well as email address, ensures that you are able to provide this information in a timely fashion. 

By the same token, if an employee is injured at work, you will want to let their emergency contact know what is happening.  Imagine a situation where you call the injured employee’s emergency contact, who happens to be their ex-spouse and the break up was contentious.  Because the information that you had was outdated, you have now shared an employee’s personal information with someone who does not have a need to know and who may use that information not to help the employee but to advance their own vendetta against the employee.  An extreme example, admittedly, but for those of us who work in HR, we know that crazy things happen on a regular basis. 

Be proactive and reach out to employees to obtain updated personal information from them.  Now is the best time to do so, when there is not an urgent need for the information.  Obtaining this information now will ensure that you will be ready when the need arises.  If you need assistance in developing a form or have any other questions regarding employee issues, myHRcounsel is here to help!