Modern document management solutions for Human Resources professionals can revolutionize the way you handle almost every aspect of your workflow. If you still rely on paper-based documents and manual record-keeping systems, it’s time to deploy a state-of-the-art HR document management system (DMS) that elevates your position as a forward-thinking employer.
From employee records and compliance to recruitment and training, a DMS that integrates seamlessly into your HR processes will save time and money through newfound efficiencies.
What is HR Document Management Software?
HR document management software integrates seamlessly with existing HRIS and other enterprise systems allowing you to work smarter. You can foster collaboration, sharing documents and employee data using a single system. This allows you to share documents from anywhere, creating a more flexible hybrid workplace that creates a better work/life balance. You can also use your DMS to facilitate automation to conduct HR and business-critical tasks through improved workflows.
Challenges of Paper HR Document Management
Paper and manual HR document management presents ongoing challenges for your organization including:
Disconnects between HRIS, payroll and recruitment/onboarding: When you use manual paper processes you create a disconnect from teams that rely on each other for information. Documents are held in separate locations making it difficult for employees to collaborate and complete basic HR-driven tasks. This can also lead to repetitive work, wasting time and leading to redundancy and errors.
Lack of self-service options for new hires and employees: Manual processes make it difficult to offer self-service options during the onboarding process, as well as throughout the employee’s lifetime. Disparity among storage systems and a lack of connection between managers and HR make it impossible to deploy DIY documentation for things such as updating addresses, facilitating training, completing paperwork, etc.
Non-compliance: Having paper-based personal employee data makes it more difficult to adhere to government/company policy and rules governing retention and privacy laws.
Security: Security breaches expose employee-related sensitive information such as banking, SIN, medical details and more. Security risks increase when managing paper documents that can be misplaced, stolen, or read by unauthorized personnel.
Increasing workloads: Growing businesses place strain on HR teams tasked with menial manual processes related to managing a growing employee database. It becomes more difficult to trace documents throughout the employee lifecycle, making it easier to lose track of critical HR responsibilities such as employee status, position changes, raise or promotion authorization, and retention time for documents.
Office space: Growing businesses also face office space issues as paper files take over HR and other departments.
Efficiency: Manual document management is time-consuming even when performing the simplest tasks. Document retrieval and refiling alone can take about 20 minutes per document. Inefficient practices related to multiple approvals and signatures involved are some of the worst culprits for wasting time in manual HR processes.
Adopting HR Document Management Software
An HR document management system can alleviate these burdens by automating document workflows, ensuring data accuracy, and enhancing security through role-based access controls. As a result, you can:
Improve workflows with automation
Streamline workflows between departments using a single employee file management system. Eliminate lost time to tedious administrative tasks related to paper document storage that hold people back from optimizing efficiencies. Automation tools provided via an all-in-one employee record management system allow teams to maintain control over documentation and traceability using automated routing customized to your HR processes and workflows. You also improve accountability by tracking what changes have been made and by whom.
Remain compliant
Laws regulating employee documents circle around privacy, retention, and access. Electronic employee files allow you to categorize documents based on type and category to adhere to retention and privacy laws while automating purging based on required timelines. You can standardize compliance and create audit trails based on users and interactions ready for review in case of an audit.
Secure employee information
Highly sensitive employee information is easier to protect using an HR electronic filing system. Held in a secure central document management system, information is stored and accessed using authorization and role-based conventions. By having digital data and documents stored in one place you have regain control and ensure information is only accessed via the rules you set.
You can also track interactions to understand who is responsible for possible breaches, determine who sees what, and who can do what based on document type and user roles. You can even limit access to specific fields or sections of a document, so people of different levels only see the information they need.
Reduce workload
Technology helps enhance employee experiences by reducing workloads and allowing HR professionals to focus on their core skills. You can eliminate menial tasks to improve cross-departmental functions and leverage automation to attend to lower-value work. Your HR team can become more efficient by reducing the burden of manual work and introducing tools that help streamline processes such as eForms that integrate into existing workflows. Document templates provide time-saving features such as:
- Auto population of common fields
- Indicating fields that can be viewed by all and those that must remain private
- Routing documents to appropriate stakeholders for approvals
- Including candidates in the process such as forwarding offer letters
This not only boosts HR productivity but also contributes to a more engaging and productive workplace to help reduce HR employee churn.
Talent acquisition and retention
As mentioned above, automating and streamlining lower-value HR processes creates a more engaging workplace where HR professionals feel valued. Tools not only improve HR workplace experiences, but employee experiences across the organization. For example, automated document management can create self-serve opportunities throughout the employee’s lifecycle.
DIY onboarding documents foster engagement from day one and can also be customized to trigger career-building opportunities such as ongoing self-serve training, regularly scheduled employee reviews to understand career goals, tracking benefit preferences to help improve compensation and more. By adopting advanced document management software, organizations can position themselves as forward-thinking, on-trend, and efficient entities in the competitive HR landscape to attract top talent.
Advanced HR document management allows you to allocate more time and resources to strategic HR initiatives, such as talent acquisition and employee development. HR document management software is the cornerstone of modern HR processes, empowering you to unlock your full potential in human capital management.
Optimize your HR document management software now with MEDI Document Management Solutions. Contact MEDI to automate your HR department!
