RMT 06204:

PERSONNEL RECORDS
MANAGEMENT
BY
MADAME ANNA M. SHAYO
Concept of personnel records
 What is a record?
 It is a document regardless of form or medium
created, received, maintained and used by an
organization or an individual in pursuance of
legal obligations or in business transaction of
which it forms a part or provides evidence.
 It can be; Letter, Minutes, Video, Proposal,
Drawing, Chart, maps, Title deeds, Invoice,
Graph (s), Newspaper article, Report, X-Ray film,
certificates, picture, purchasing order, leave form
 Concept of personnel records

 Who is a personnel?
 These are people employed in the organization.
 They work for the enterprise, company or
organization for the purpose of achieving its
goals. They are also known as human
resources.
 Personnelrecords are records relating to
employees of an organization. They are
recorded information documenting the
 Concept of personnel records

 These records are very important to the organization

and they must be managed for a long period even if
the employee has left the organization for the purpose
of safeguarding the rights and interests of both an
employee and the organization.
PERSONNEL RECORDS INCLUDE
 Employment letter - medical reports
 Confirmation letter - OPRAS forms
 Promotion letter - disciplinary documents
 Characteristics of Personnel records

Existence of personnel; government offices at levels

and locations maintain personnel records of some sort.
The existence of personnel in the organization,
automatically create the existing of personnel records.
Links with other systems; there is a strong link
between Personnel record keeping systems with other
systems. These personnel records provide the
authority for the payment of salaries by payroll
systems.
 Characteristics Cont.….

 Different uses; personnel records provide a

basis for planning and decision making in every
area of personnel work whether individually or
group or the entire workforce.
 Sensitivity;personnel records are sensitive or
confidential because they contain personal
information about employees, hence access to
the records must be strictly controlled.
 Characteristics cont.….

 Longevity; some personnel records will need to

be kept for the entire career of the employee and
then for a period after the employees’ death,
retirement or separation from the service.
 Ownership; in the public service, all personnel
records are government property and must be
maintained by the relevant record keeping
authority (PO-PSM). They shall not be destroyed
without the authority approval.
 Categories of personnel records

Every employer has the responsibility of maintaining

personnel file for each employee. Records
management practices require to keep more than one
personnel file because these files contain different
types of information, with different contents and
purpose.
There are two main categories;
1. Subject file
 Categories cont…

1. Subject files; these are files related to human

resource functions such as recruitment, selection,
training and development, payroll, discipline,
transfers and promotions, performance appraisals.
Etc.
2. Personal files; they contain records which
documents an individual employment history
throughout his or her career in the service and they
must be managed through their lifecycle.
 Categories cont…

Types of personal files

A. Master file (confidential file)
B. Working file (open file)
A. Master file
 It is assumed to be confidential and long term records.
They contain core record of service, basic personal details
and all records that are needed to document the legal and
contractual relationship between employer and employee.
 These files are held in confidential registry
 Categories cont…
 LIST OF DOCUMENTS TO BE HELD ON MASTER
FILE
 Appointment letter -letters of transfer/posting
 Birth certificate -medical reports
 Change of name -next of kin card
 Copies of educational/professional certificates
 Copy of National ID -pension certificate
 Disciplinary records -performance ass. forms
 Letters of confirmation-vetting documents
 Categories cont.…

B. Working file
 Theyare also known as open file and are short term
records
 Therecords contained are not critical to the
employee contractual relationship.
 Maycontain copies of key documents held on the
master file
 The records are held in open registry
 Categories cont…
LIST OF DOCUMENTS TO BE HELD ON
WORKING FILE
 Academic progress report -payment vouchers
 Acting appointments -payroll data sheet
 Allowance applications -loss reports
 Leave forms -salary arrears
 Curriculum vitae -salary advances
 Details of of government loans
 Details retired imprests
 Users of personnel records

 Allaction officers who are directly linked with

employees are the users of personnel/HR records.
These users include;
 Public service Commission
 The office of the head of the civil service
 The ministry in charge of finance
 The personnel management of the office of the
accountant general’s department
 Users of personnel records

 National Security Office

 The Public Service department
 The pensions office
 The audit office
 The national archival repository
 Users of personnel records
At organizational level
a) Human Resource Officers
b) Records officers/personnel
c) Accounting officer
d) Heads of Departments
e) Managers
f) Other officers eg. Accountants, Auditors
g) Immediate supervisors
Aim of managing personnel records

 The aim of personnel management is to use the

human resources of the organisation to best
advantage. This is done by deploying existing
resources to meet current needs and developing
those resources to meet anticipated future needs.
Personnel records are critical to the personnel
management function.
 Good personnel records are necessary to allow the
best use of available staff and promote efficiency in
the organisation.
 Importance of personnel records

 Personnel
records serve as the authoritative source
of accurate information about employees
working/worked in the organization.
 Personnel records protects people’s rights and
entitlements. They are used as evidence to
determine peoples’ payments and other benefits
such as salaries, extra duty, acting allowance etc
 They provide evidence of employees progress and
their employment history.
 Importance of personnel records

 They help the organization to plan for their

workforce requirements (Human Resource Planning)
and monitor staff performance.
 The information available in the personnel files can
be used to make decisions such as transfer,
promotions, redundancy.
 It is helpful in framing various training and
development programmes based on the
Importance of personnel records

 It helps to keep update records of

leaves, lockouts, transfers, turnover of
the employees.
Processes in creating personnel
records are;
 Staff recruitment,
 Deployment,
 Development and training,
 To disciplinary matters,
 employee appraisals process
 human resources planning and budgeting
 Etc.
 Uses of personnel records
 They can be used to promote right staffs
 Personnelrecords can be used to control the
performance of employees through OPRAS form
 Can be used to conduct data cleaning
 Can be used in human resource planning
 Personnel records can be used in budgeting
 Personnel
records can be used in identify training
needs hence provide training and development
System used in managing Personnel
Records
 Individual assignment…

 END OF TOPIC 2
 TOPIC 3
PROCEDURES FOR DISPOSING AND ARCHIVING PERSONNEL RECORDS

Topic Outline
 Meaning of appraisal, disposition and archives
 factors to be considered in appraising and
disposing personnel records
 Procedures for appraisal and disposition of
personnel records
 Procedures for archiving personnel records