Managing Personnel Records - International Records Management ...

ACTIVITIES: COMMENTS
Activities 1-2
Both these activities are designed to help you start thinking about the qualities of
personnel records and about why personnel records are important. You should
compare your answers with the information given in the introductory lesson and bear
this information in mind as you proceed through the module. Activity 2 in particular
will help you consider the differences between how a personnel file is valued and
used by an organisation and how it is valued by an employee. You should have
certain expectations about how the organisation manages information about you;
perhaps you think it should be confidential, accurate, and used only for the purpose it
was gathered. Consider these expectations as you work through this module and
consider the record-keeping requirements needed to meet those expectations.
Activity 3
Every jurisdiction will have different legislation affecting personnel management. It
is important to recognise that legislation affects not only the management process but
also the records created by that process. If possible, you might want to obtain copies
of the relevant legislation and refer back to them as you work through this module.
Activity 4
This activity will help you identify the particular stakeholders in your organisation
involved with the personnel management process. You should compare your lists
with the information in this lesson and discuss your findings with colleagues involved
with personnel records care to ensure you have identified all stakeholders and
clarified their particular interest in personnel records.
Activity 5
As you will see in this activity, the flow of paper is unnecessarily complex. Examine
the illustration below showing the information flow. Your chart should be similar to
this one.
Analysing and charting information flows in this way demonstrates clearly the way in
which staff time, storage space and stationery can be wasted when records systems are
not well designed. This process is discussed in more detail later in this module.
MANAGING PERSONNEL RECORDS
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