6 employee records to keep (+ automated workflow ideas)

Employee record-keeping has always been essential for HR success — enabling quick access to critical information for tasks like leave management, payroll, and benefits administration. 

Today, record management is largely digital and looks much different than it did a decade ago. It’s the second most popular HR tech use case, with 78% of HR leaders emphasizing the need for a unified source of People data to drive better decisions.*

But before you can think about modernizing and optimizing your record management process, you must understand the employee records your business must maintain for essential HR functions and compliance. This article will cover exactly that, plus explore potential automation ideas to save you time.

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‍*Leapsome Workforce Trends Report, 2024
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6 top employee records HR teams should keep

Legal record-keeping requirements vary depending on where your business operates. However, there are six types of records businesses commonly prioritize. These records typically include critical employee information that supports HR processes, such as onboarding, performance management, and learning and development (L&D) initiatives. 

1. Personal information

Personal information is unique and typically includes an employee’s:

• Legal and preferred names
• Contact details
• Address
• Date of birth
• Emergency contact information
• National identification or social security number

These records are essential for identification, communication, and emergency response.

Unlike other records, personal information is not directly tied to the employee’s role or performance within the company. As a result, it tends to change less frequently. However, any updates should be reflected promptly in your document management system. Providing team members with a platform that has a self-service portal, like Leapsome’s HRIS, can streamline real-time updates.

🤔 Unsure where to get started with file management? We’ve compiled a guide on the best employee file management software of 2025. Our top picks offer access control, document storage and sharing protocols, and employee self-service features.

2. Employment records

Employment records outline an employee’s journey from candidate to team member and throughout their tenure. These records typically include documents from the hiring phase, onboarding process, and ongoing employment period, such as:

• Job application
• CV
• Employer references
• Offer letters
• Employment contract
• Job description
• Start/end date
• Visa documentation (if applicable)

These records outline someone’s terms of employment and the role’s expectations, helping prevent misalignment.

To ensure compliance with local regulations, it’s essential to store these records securely and only retain them for as long as legally required. We’d recommend consulting a legal or HR compliance expert to verify your retention and storage policies.

3. Compensation & payroll records

Payroll and compensation records detail how much an employee is paid, as well as when and how those payments are made. Relevant documents often include:

• Salary structure 
• Bonus information
• Applicable benefits
• Tax forms
• Bank account details
• Payslips
• VSOP agreements
• Pay adjustments

These records are critical for accurate salary payments, tax reporting, and adherence to applicable labor laws. Since many jurisdictions have specific regulations regarding payroll records retention, it’s essential to understand what must be stored and for how long.

4. Performance records

Performance records document an employee’s progression and growth. Relevant files may include:

• Performance evaluations
• Feedback from managers and peers
• Self-assessments
• Promotion history

While performance records aren’t considered traditional employee records, maintaining them alongside other employee files can help you track team member development over time. Reviewing performance records across teams and your entire organization can also inform your people enablement strategies and employee development program. 
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5. Training & certification records

Training and certification records contain information about team members’ attendance and completion of learning and development courses, workshops, or programs. For instance, if an employee participated in a mandatory Ethena training course on compliance topics via Leapsome Learning, it would be reflected within their training and certification file. 

Documenting an employee’s training and certifications supports legal compliance and demonstrates the organization’s commitment to growth and skills development.

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6. Leave & attendance records

Leave and attendance records track the time employees spend at work and any time taken off, whether for paid time off (PTO), sick leave, or other types of leave. While specifics may differ between full- and part-time employees, these records typically include:

• Sick leave
• Vacation time or PTO
• Parental leave
• Bereavement leave
• Any other time-off records
• Timesheets

Maintaining accurate leave and attendance records is essential for ensuring fairness, compliance with labor laws, and effective workload planning, particularly during peak periods.

Be aware that laws regarding leave entitlements and record retention vary by jurisdiction. To ensure compliance, consult with legal or HR compliance professionals to determine the specific requirements for your region. 

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Ideas for automating the employee record-keeping process

Knowing which employee records to keep is only part of the puzzle. You must now determine the most efficient, secure, and compliant way to store, access, and manage those files.

Let’s highlight some of the most promising ways People teams are automating the employee record management process so they can spend less time on admin and more time on strategic HR initiatives. 
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Create automated workflows to approve changes

Employee records are dynamic and require regular updates to remain accurate. Since many of these records contain sensitive information, implementing robust access control measures is essential.

With the right employee record management solutions, like Leapsome’s HRIS, People leaders can establish workflows that safeguard sensitive data. These systems can restrict access to confidential information based on authorization levels and require admin approval for specific document changes, ensuring unapproved updates are never finalized. This approach safeguards sensitive data without compromising efficiency.
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Adopt smart e-signature capabilities

Employee records often require signatures from both the employee and HR, and managing this manually can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Automating this process helps save time, reduces the risk of missed agreements, and ensures smoother workflows.

HR automation tools, like Leapsome’s HRIS, simplify this by auto-filling standardized documents — such as onboarding documents and job offers — with relevant employee data. They also send automated reminders to signees, minimizing administrative delays and ensuring important agreements are finalized on time.

Leapsome’s built-in e-signature solution supports full compliance and automatically triggers the Advanced Electronic Signature (AES), which meets eIDAS standards for employment contracts.

Connect payroll with your employee data

Keeping accurate employee records is essential for preventing time-consuming issues like off-cycle payroll runs. By centralizing employee information, you can streamline the entire payment process and reduce the risk of errors.

For even greater efficiency, consider adopting an employee record management solution with integrated time-tracking and payroll features. A comprehensive tool like Leapsome’s HRIS automates key tasks, from collecting payroll-relevant data to processing timesheets. This minimizes manual work, so all you need to focus on during each payroll cycle is approving personnel or compensation changes.

Plus, Leapsome’s software automatically flags adjustments, making it easy for admins to spot and address discrepancies quickly.
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Record-keeping made easy with Leapsome

Now that you have a better idea of the employee records your HR department needs to store, it’s time to audit your current approach to employee data management. Do you feel like you’re drowning in employee files? You may need a better document organization, retention, and deletion policy. Have you identified gaps in your existing records? It may be time to automate the record retrieval and storage process.

Regardless of your concern, Leapsome is here to help you. Our HRIS was built to streamline the employee record management process so you can worry less about (digitally) rifling through files and focus more on leveraging employee data to improve the workplace experience and make better, more data-guided decisions. 

😍 Managing employee data has never been easier

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and doesn’t offer legal, tax, or financial advice. While we’ve done our best to ensure accuracy and completeness, we can’t guarantee everything is up-to-date or error-free. For tailored advice, we recommend consulting a qualified lawyer or tax advisor.
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FAQs about employee records

What are employee records?

Employee records (or employee files) contain information about team members and their history with a company. Most employee records fall into one of two categories:

• Personal information about the employee, like their national identification or social security number. This information doesn’t change and is usually confidential.

• Data about the employee’s relationship with their employer, including work agreements, ongoing learning and development (L&D) information, and compensation records.

Employee records are necessary for administrative tasks like running payroll. They also contribute to people analytics initiatives by providing critical insights into the success of your people enablement campaigns.
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Why is it important to keep employee records?

Keeping employee records is essential not only for core HR processes like payroll, leave management, and benefits administration, but is also critical for the following: 

• Maintaining compliance — Many employment laws require employers to maintain basic employee records. For example, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mandates the retention of personnel records. Accurate record-keeping ensures compliance with these requirements and prepares you for potential audits. Always consult with legal or compliance professionals to confirm retention requirements in your jurisdiction.

• Performance management — Records about an employee’s performance, including their progress toward goals and OKRs or obtaining specific training and certifications, inform a people-first performance management strategy. These records also help create a fair, data-guided compensation management strategy by identifying candidates for internal promotions and raises. 
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How long should you keep employee records?

The time you should retain employee records depends on several factors, including your organization’s location, where your employees work (especially for remote teams), and the record type.

For example:

• In the United Kingdom, the Pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) system requires payroll records to be retained for three years.
• In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) mandates a three-year retention period for payroll records.
• In the United States, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also requires employers to keep basic personnel records for one year after an employee’s departure.

Because record-keeping regulations vary across jurisdictions and record types, we recommend consulting a legal professional to ensure compliance with applicable laws.