| 12° Terrace Review — Wednesday, March23, 1988 Business Beat Organizing your personnel records As your business begins to grow, a well- maintained system of personnel record- keeping probably will become an impor- tant management tool. In large corporations, full departments are employed to keep track of such person- nel concerns as recruiting, training, staff planning, salary administration, and benefit plans, The average small business probably won’t need to maintain such a wide variety of files, but certain key records are all important. Flies Are Important There are two types of personnel files you may want to keep for your own business: @ Personal files, Establish individual files to contain copies of all documents and correspondence relating to each of your employees. The first document in the file could be the employee’s application form. Other items to keep in the file could include employees’ let- ters of reference, information required for Workers’ Compensation and year-end taxation forms, vacation schedules, and records of absenteeism. @ Employment records. Summarize each employee’s personal data, including education and job and wage histories, on a card or sheet. If your company issues security passes or other identification, keep a photograph of each employee in the file. Update Your Files Plan to update your employment records at least annually. You probably will want to file a written review of each employee’s per- formance. At the same time, be sure to set up a personal meeting to review each employee’s record and note his or her comments. Whenever you hire, fire, relocate, or reassign employees within your company, add that information to your employment records. Similarly, keep track of all payroll transactions and any pay changes. vs by Phil Harti Manager, Terrace Federal Business Development Bank Destroy Old Records Maintain the records of former employees and unsuccessful ap- plicants for a reasonable period. Former employees might request references or information for their tax returns, while applicants . might wish to recover some of their documentation. . When you no longer require certain records, make sure they are properly destroyed, This will prevent your system from becoming over-burdened with unnecessary files. More important, proper disposal of out-dated records protects the individuals who have sup- plied their personal data to you. Before you destroy any records, however, be sure to check with federal and provincial authorities about whether the records may be discarded. Certain records, such as payroll and Workers’ Compen- sation data, must be maintained for lengthy periods. Personnel records can be an important management tool — but only if you keep them scrupulously up to date. Make the time to keep a simple personnel record-keeping system working for you. ~ Under-100 girls’ hoop taken by Hope team ‘. The Lakes District high school -of Burns Lake had the honor of hosting the first-ever senior girls "*Synder-100"' B.C. basketball championship on the March 5 weekend. But the host team could only manage a fifth-place finish, while Northwest zone ‘winner Hazelton wound up last in the eight-team modified double-knockout series. Top-ranked Hope put together three straight wins, in- cluding a 55-49 victory in the ti- tle match against Dawson Creek, to capture this first-time -event that deals with schools having an enrolment of 100 or ~ fewer girls overall. In. the battle for third and fifth it was Vancouver’s St. Pats ~ over Lakes District 63-53. Spar- --woed won fourth place by beating Oliver 45-44. Oliver set- ‘tled for sixth spot. -. Hazelton lost 59-33 to Vic- ~‘toria’s St. Mikes in the seventh _and eighth playoff game. Later, Hazelton was awarded the most sportsmanlike team trophy. Tracey Nogarchuk of Hope was tamed most valuable player. First-team all-stars were Sylvia Lowen of Lakes District, Jeanette Bailey and Diane Pet- tigrew of Dawson Creek, Leah Hernandez of St. Pats, and Robin Hockeridge of Sparwood. Lakes District’s Shauna Noy was named to the second team while teammate Stacey Peterson was given an honorable men- tion. Fire report On Saturday, March 12 at 1:25 a.m. the Thornhill Volunteer Fire Department at- tended a fire on Queensway. Deputy Fire Chief Bill Deleronde said the A-frame house was totally destroyed. There were no injuries reported. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. On Saturday, March 12 at 2:45 p.m. the Thornhill Volunteer Fire Department at- ‘tended a garage fire on Old Lakelse Lake Road. Deputy Fire Chief Bill Deleronde said there were no people around at the time of the fire, but a vehicle inside the garage was destroyed. The cause of the fire is still J under investigation. Quick and easy... | TERRACE _ Thornhill Grocery & Laundromat % Open 7 days a week 8 a.m. - 17 p.m. *% Fresh meat cut dally *% Fresh produce ‘Take-out’ foods _ % Stamp Agency © 635-6624 _ across from Thornhill Elementary - -KALUM ELECTRIC Major Appliances: Frigidaire West Coast | Chimney Service Clean Chimney Maintenance Dealer for: FINGARD CHIMNEY FIRE EXTINGUISHERS 635-9557 Pro TECH ELECTRONICS 4519 LAKELSE AVE., TERRACE 635-5134 Electrohome Complete electronics Westinghouse Quasar T.V. repair services Sales & Service VCA_ Servi ; tet . Parts Depot We service rvice centre for most for ali makes all makes major brands Satelite TY systems 3234 Kalum St. 635-6286 | Kalum Electric Ltd. Your complete