Employee files for South African employers

One employee file. Gaps included.

Every employee document, kept together. Even the missing ones have a place. Start with the employee file checklist below.

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Library / Employee filesOne person. The whole record.
Employee file
Employment contractCompleted copySealed
Police clearanceThe missing pieceNot on file
Driver’s licenceExpiry date recorded30 Oct
Contract amendmentFiled beside the contractSealed
A gap you can act onAsk for the
missing document.

One request link. One document returned to your Library.

Police clearanceA collection you organise
For each person

Employee file checklist

An employee file checklist for South African employers: what to keep for each person, from the offer to the last day.

  1. Signed employment contractand any amendments
  2. Written particulars of employmentBCEA s29
  3. ID copy
  4. Qualifications and professional registrationswith certified copies of qualifications where you ask for them
  5. Driving licence, professional driving permit and work permitwith their expiry dates
  6. Police clearance and medical certificateswhere the role needs them
  7. Consent forms
  8. Written warningswith the acknowledgement or the recorded refusal
  9. Certificate of servicewhen employment ends, BCEA s42

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act asks employers to keep each employee’s record of time worked and pay for three years from the last entry (s31), and the written particulars of employment for three years after employment ends (s29(4)).

Sign the employment contract, then request the papers behind it.

Prepare the offer or employment contract from your template, or start from an offer letter template. Set the order: you sign first, then the employee, who signs with a free KuduDoc account once you have. Ask for the ID copy and other supporting records with a request link, or send one onboarding form; the uploads land in your Library.

  1. EmployerSigns first
  2. EmployeeInvited next
  3. Keep togetherIn one collection
Request: ID copy One document per request

Set the signing order →How request links work →

Reminders before a licence, permit or clearance expires.

Licences, professional driving permits, work permits, clearances, medical certificates. Record each expiry date in the employee’s file, and KuduDoc emails you before it arrives: 90, 60, 30 and 7 days before, by default — or the days you choose.

Driver’s licenceRenews 30 October
90 days60 days30 days7 days

Default schedule, before the date on the record

  • Change the days, switch any reminder off, and set quiet hours.
  • Keep the replacement beside the expired record.
Document expiry reminders →

A written warning, acknowledged or the refusal on record.

Send a warning from a written warning template or your own. The employee’s acknowledgement, or refusal, is recorded, dated and sealed with it.

Your standard templateWritten warning

Acknowledgement requested · refusal recorded if declined

  • Save the warning’s fields, roles and signing order as a template. Business has unlimited templates.
How templates work →

When someone leaves, close the file.

Issue a certificate of service (dienssertifikaat) under s42 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, sign and seal it, and file it in the same collection. The file closes but stays in the Library for the period you set. See how long to keep employee records. Deletion happens only on your instruction, and export is always available.

Status
File closed
Retention
Your policy
Deletion
On instruction
Export
Always available
How export and deletion work →

A promotion needs
more than an email.

Eighteen months after the offer, the employee is promoted. Prepare an amendment with the effective date, send it for signature in your order, then file the completed copy beside the contract and role description.

The role changed. The record kept up.
Employment contractThe signed originalSealed
Role descriptionWhat the role is nowOn file
Completed amendmentEffective date on the pageSealed
Filed beside the original, not over it.
Before you start

Questions about employee files

Keep one file per person, often called a personnel file: the signed employment contract and any amendments, the written particulars of employment, an ID copy, qualifications, licences and permits with their expiry dates, clearances and medical certificates the role needs, consent forms, written warnings, and the certificate of service when employment ends.
A certificate of service is the document an employer issues when employment ends, under section 42 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. In KuduDoc you prepare it from your own template, sign and seal it, and add it to the employee’s file before you close it.
An employee file is concentrated personal information. Consent can be collected and sealed with the other records; access is limited to the people you give it to; you set the retention period; export and deletion requests are available. Write to our Information Officer at privacy@kududoc.co.za. Read the privacy notice.
Yes. The ECT Act recognises electronic signatures for an ordinary contract of employment, and employment contracts are not among the documents Schedule 2 keeps on paper. Some documents still need ink.
Personal is free, with no card and no expiry date. Family is R99 a month (R948 a year), Professional R199 (R1,990) and Business R299 (R2,868), per occupied seat, with a 14-day trial. Documents you have already sent are not affected by a plan change. Business holds up to 10 seats. Compare plans.
One file at a time

Start with one
employee’s file.

Add the contract, the ID copy and the next licence date, then request what’s missing.

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