Work Smarter, Not Harder: Human Resources Made Easy

A Human Resources department is all about the people, policies and processes of a business. Responsible for the careful management of each employee’s lifecycle – from hiring straight through retirement – Human Resources is the heartbeat of a company, handling important yet extremely sensitive information daily.

The key to working smarter as an HR professional is to implement innovative technologies. By automating manual processes and streamlining administrative tasks, document management solutions replace time-consuming paper methods and free-up time for more value-adding activities. These solutions improve operations but they also cut costs, boost efficiency and aid in decision making not only for the HR department but company-wide.

HR DEPARTMENT

Whether you have 50 employees or a thousand, it can be very difficult to stay on top of all of the important paperwork surrounding the Human Resources department. From benefits, to expense reports, performance reviews and employee onboarding, implementing the right paperless solution will automate the routing of employee records, eliminate time consuming document retrieval and help you stay better organized for informed assessments. But that’s not all – let’s explore the specific benefits presented to the HR department:

• Eliminate paper based employee files by leveraging web based employee request forms.
• Set automatic reminders of future employee assessments or documentation renewal.
• No longer search through file cabinets and storage rooms.
• Meet all HIPAA guidelines by managing a secured HR repository.
• Grant document viewing/modifying rights only to those who you allow to access the system.
• Secure timely approvals and improve information circulation throughout the HR department.
• Convenient web access makes records available to co-workers out of the office.
• Barcode and Optical Character Recognition technology streamline the indexing of records.
• Advanced search capabilities allow for immediate retrieval of desired documents.
• Eliminate the need to make photocopies and physically deliver them around the office.
• Easily stay aware of document and data retention mandates.
• Adhere to compliancy regulations with digitally signed hiring forms which eliminates the need to print, sign and rescan.

APPLICANTS & EMPLOYEES

Most forms in the HR department require manual entry of the same information, over and over again. Don’t make employees waste their time. Advanced document management systems streamline the gathering of information through secure online forms. This simplifies your HR department’s document heavy processes with secure, paperless employee onboarding and management practices. Applicants and employees can greatly benefit from a paperless HR process, as listed in the following bullet points:

• Applicants can apply on a web form directly from where the position is posted on the company web site.
• Applications and resumes can be scanned into electronic versions and then automatically circulated for review and action.
• All resumes, applications and other documents already in electronic format can stay that way, and simply be emailed, dragged and dropped or imported into the repository.
• As a potential employee moves through the hiring process, pertinent information can be captured off a web based employee demographic form.
• Once employee or applicant information is entered into a field that information will be stored and automatically re-entered in the future.
• Applications automatically flow through approval processes to final decision action.
• No more lost, damaged or misplaced documents scattered across an employee’s desk.
• Employees can be provided with permissions to “self-serve” to find documentation they need.
• Sign electronic documents with the mouse, a stylus pen or your finger.
• An easy to use browser interface allows employees forms to be completed remotely.
• Advanced capture capabilities allow data elements to repopulate into other required employee forms, avoiding repetitive data entry.

MANAGERS

With document management, it is important to keep costs to a minimum while meeting both regulatory and company requirements. When using an electronic database, all of your company’s employee files are immediately accessible. This allows managers to find the exact file or form they need within a matter of seconds. Futhermore, expense forms, paid time-off requests, benefits enrollments and more can be electronically completed by employees and circulated for managerial approval by using automated workflow technology. Managers have a lot to gain by implementing a document management system into their HR department, as detailed below:

• Reduce manually-intensive administrative work.
• Enable swift and secure document circulation.
• Acquire immediate reach to HR personnel.
• Receive instant notification of approval or action needed as soon as documents are submitted.
• A flexible workflow will set reminders of post-hire activities including periodic reviews, benefits activation and credentialing.
• Loosens your budget by eliminating the hard costs of paper, ink and toner, equipment maintenance, off-site storage, filing cabinets, etc.
• Save labor expenses by cutting time spent searching and retrieving documents, photocopying and re-filing.
• High security of sensitive information. Built-in audit trail and document history logs display who viewed the record, when and what actions were taken.
• Streamline the onboarding process from interview scheduling, to approvals and performance reviews.
• Easy overview of each employee and their performance levels leading to quicker, better informed decision making.
• Access HR records as needed through your mobile device.

Work smarter in Human Resources and automate your manual processes. Solutions such as Hire to Retire from Square 9 deliver a range of benefits to the HR department, from efficiency and cost savings to enabling smarter decision making. Take better care of your people and policies. Hire to Retire improves document creation, storage and retrieval, and retention policies, saving valuable time of your HR team. Contact Square 9 today to learn more.