How long are employee documents kept?
Each type has a retention period in years after the employee leaves (7 by default). When it has passed, the employee's documents of that type can be purged.
- The exit date is the employee's last working day. If that is empty, the last working day of the completed separation is used. If neither exists, the employee is listed as exit date unknown and never purged until HR fixes it.
- If an employee is reactivated, the clock restarts.
- Legal hold blocks purge.
- Both active and archived documents are included.
The company setting Purge mode controls the job:
| Mode | What happens |
|---|---|
| Off | Nothing |
| Report only (default) | Nothing is deleted. Administrators can list the candidates with Purge candidates on the Employee Document Types page. |
| Purge | The nightly job (03:00) purges up to 500 documents per company per night: files are deleted, details are blanked, the title becomes "[purged]", and a Purged entry stays in the history. |
Review the candidate list before switching to Purge. Purged files cannot be recovered. The purge runs even if the HR licence has lapsed.