Retention Policies

Retention Policies decide how long documents stay in the system and what happens once their retention period ends. A well-thought-out retention setup keeps you compliant with legal requirements, reduces unnecessary storage, and protects employees’ personal data from being kept longer than needed.

What you can do here:

• Set a default retention period for all documents
• Override the default with custom rules per document type
• Pick what triggers the retention countdown (creation date or termination)
• Choose whether expired documents are archived, deleted, or only flagged
• Auto-archive documents when an employee is terminated
• Send expiry-warning notifications a configurable number of days in advance

Page Layout

The page has four cards stacked top to bottom:

1. Default Retention Period — fallback rule when no per-type rule applies
2. Document Type Rules — per-document-type overrides
3. Terminated Employee Documents — what happens when an employee leaves
4. Expiry Notifications — advance warnings before documents expire

Default Retention Period

This is the catch-all rule. Any document that doesn’t match a specific Document Type Rule uses this period.

Document Type Rules

Override the default retention for specific document types when they need different treatment (e.g., tax records have to be kept for 7 years even if your default is 5; insurance cards can be deleted after 1 year).

How to Add a Rule

1. Click + Add Rule in the top-right of the Document Type Rules card
2. An inline rule row appears with four fields
3. Fill in each field (see table below)
4. Click Add to save the rule, or Cancel to discard

The empty state shows “No retention rules configured — Add rules to define retention periods for specific document types” when no rules exist.

Rule Fields

”After” Options Explained

“Action” Options Explained

Example Rules

Terminated Employee Documents

Settings that govern what happens to an employee’s documents when their employment ends. The card has a warning icon to flag that misconfiguring these settings can permanently destroy records.

Interaction with Document Type Rules

If a document has both a Document Type Rule and the Terminated Employee Documents settings could apply, the per-type rule wins:

1. Look up the document type’s rule
2. If a rule exists, follow that rule’s Retain For + After + Action
3. If no rule exists, fall back to Default Retention Period + the Terminated Employee Documents auto-archive/delete behaviour

This means you can have aggressive defaults but specific exceptions — e.g., default delete-after-termination of 5 years, but Employment Contracts kept for 15 years via a per-type rule.

Expiry Notifications

Notifications give you a window to:

• Review documents before automatic action (archive/delete) is taken
• Extract information you need to keep
• Make exceptions for documents that should be retained longer than the rule says
• Bulk-export to an external archive before deletion

Best Practices

1. Consult legal counsel first — local labour law and data-protection rules (GDPR, CCPA, etc.) drive minimum and maximum retention periods. Get them documented before configuring.

2. Document why you chose each rule — keep an internal record (in a separate doc, not RadixHR) explaining the legal basis for each retention period. Useful during audits.

3. Start conservative, then tighten — default to Archive instead of Delete until you’ve validated the rule is correct. You can always switch to Delete later.

4. Use Notify Only for sensitive types — for documents where automatic deletion would be risky (medical records, legal correspondence), set the action to Notify Only so a human reviews before disposal.

5. Review annually — laws change. Audit retention rules every year to make sure they still match the current legal landscape.

6. Test with non-production data — before enabling Delete actions, run a small batch through with Notify Only first to confirm the rules trigger when expected.

7. Combine Default + Type Rules thoughtfully — set the Default Period to the longest minimum required by law, then use Document Type Rules to relax retention only where you’re confident it’s safe.

Common Compliance Reference Points

These are general guidelines — always verify the specific requirements that apply to your organisation:

Region-specific notes

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