Retention Periods For HR Records

There are various different laws and regulations surrounding the retention and protection of HR records in the UK. Businesses need to ensure that they adhere to the correct retention periods for different document types in order to maintain organisation and remain compliant. Cleardata’s scanning and archive management services can help you to efficiently manage your HR record retention periods and destruction dates.Record-Retention

The importance of retention periods

Retention periods are an important part of records management and HR. Whether it’s employee records, salary and payment information or sickness and absence data, HR documents need to be retained for the correct amount of time.

GDPR means that employees can request to view information that a company holds about them, even after they have left. For this reason, it is imperative that records are retained for the duration of the legal retention period and are easily accessible.

As well as making sure documents are kept for the right amount of time, companies also need to ensure that documents are properly destroyed at the end of the appropriate retention period. If they fail to do so, they could breach data protection requirements and put themselves at risk of a large fine under the GDPR regulations.

How long should HR records be kept for?

The retention period depends on the specific document type and the content contained within. You can find out all the information you need about HR record retention on the CIPD website, which has a list of statutory retention periods.

Furthermore, retention periods for documents are always changing, so HR professionals need to ensure they stay up-to-date with all the latest laws and regulations. This requires a holistic view of all HR records that is continuously updated.

Managing retention periods

Cleardata’s document management solutions allow you to maintain this overview and effectively manage all of your HR records.

This starts with efficient archiving and indexing of your paper documents. Cleardata offers a professional archive service, which includes sorting and uniform indexing of documents, and secure storage in our facility. When it comes to managing these documents, Cleardata’s archive management system Cleardox AMS allows you to view a statement of your records held off-site.. Here, you can clearly set and view retention periods, manage destruction dates and see a full electronic audit trail of any interaction with your documents.
Retention periods for digital and digitised documents can similarly be managed with Cleardata’s electronic document management services. Documents can be digitised using OCR scanning technology, intelligently indexed and assigned termination dates as with archived documents.

For more information on how Cleardata’s solutions can help you manage retention periods for HR records, get in touch with us today. We will discuss your business needs and our different document management services and systems to find the right solution for your business. Call us on 0800 046 8081 or fill out our contact form to learn more.