What is a personnel file, and how do you keep one digitally

The wording of the law is brief. The employer keeps in this file, together with the employee's identity details, every document and record it is required to draw up under the law. The same provision places a second duty on the employer: to use what it learns about the employee honestly and lawfully, and not to disclose information the employee has a legitimate interest in keeping private. The current text of the law can be read in the Legislation Information System.

Example scenario: picture a furniture workshop in Kayseri. The file is requested during an inspection or when an employee leaves. If the documents are spread between the accounts cupboard, the workshop manager's drawer, and the HR officer's email, the answer takes days, and a missing document is noticed only on that day.

The file protects the employee as well. Length of service, training received, and leave history are also the employee's evidence in a disagreement. A well-kept file takes an argument such as 'I did that training' or 'I never used that leave' out of guesswork and ties it to the record.

This list, from identity details to leaving documents, is a starting point for most workplaces; other documents required by law are added depending on the nature of the work. Confirm with your accountant or employment law adviser which documents are mandatory for your workplace.

• Identity and contact details.
• The employment contract, with any annexes and amendments.
• The employment start notice to SGK (Turkish social security).
• Diplomas, certificates, and vocational qualification documents.
• Pre-employment and periodic medical reports.
• Occupational health and safety training records.
• Annual leave records and leave requests.
• Asset assignment records.
• Documents drawn up when the employee leaves.

As the list grows, the names of document types start to matter. If the same document is saved as 'medical report' for one employee, 'report' for another, and 'document' for a third, search stops working. In a digital system, document types are defined in advance and every document is tied to a type. A missing document for an employee then shows in the type list without opening each file one by one.

The most sensitive part of a personnel file is its health documents. Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law lists health data among special categories of personal data and subjects its processing to stricter conditions. The guides page of the Personal Data Protection Authority lists a separate guide on processing special categories of personal data.

In a paper file, the medical report sits in the same folder as the ID and the contract, and whoever opens the folder sees all of them. In a digital system, health documents can be kept as a separate type with narrower access: the person preparing payroll sees the contract but not the medical report. This section is general information; consult your legal adviser about your own workplace.

Going digital starts with rules, and scanning comes after. The document types, who each type is open to, the file naming format, and when a document gets updated are written down first. Whether a scanned copy can stand in for the original is a separate question; decide with your legal adviser whether originals with wet signatures should be kept.

At the Kayseri workshop this could work as follows: when a new starter's contract is signed, it is scanned and linked to their record as an 'employment contract'. When a leave request is approved, the approval record stays in the file; how leave is tracked on the record is set out in leave tracking. A tool handed over as an assigned asset is entered on the staff record with its handover form. You can see what an asset assignment record covers in the asset assignment tracking entry.

A file is not set up once and left. A document goes out of date when a medical report is due for renewal, a certificate expires, or a training course is due to be repeated. In a digital system these dates are written with the document and upcoming renewals land on a list; in a paper folder, an out-of-date document is often noticed only on the day of an inspection.

A former employee's file is still useful: it may be requested for a certificate of service, an inspection, or a lawsuit. On the other hand, keeping personal data longer than needed also causes problems under KVKK. That is why the retention period is set per document type, and when it expires the record is erased, destroyed, or anonymised.

How long each document is kept depends on the relevant legislation and the nature of the work, so no periods are given here. Draw up the retention table with your accountant and legal adviser. In a digital system each document type carries its period, and documents whose time is up appear on a list without relying on anyone's memory.

Alongside the staff, attendance, and leave calendar screens, the Human Resources module has document type definitions, so the company defines its own document types. Leave, advance, travel expense, and payment requests are raised in the product and go through an approval flow. Asset and assignment records are in the same module, and assignments sit on the staff card. The Corex360 Human Resources page shows the module's screens.

Files are kept encrypted and permission-bound in Corex Drive; the same file appears to each department with its own permissions, and every view and download is logged. Personal data is processed under KVKK (Turkey's personal data protection law). Which document types to open and who can reach sensitive documents are set at setup, using your own workplace's list.