HR departments can combat file management challenges with an electronic personnel file project. Here are some of the benefits of getting rid of all that paper.
Human Resources staff have their hands full when it comes to managing all of the paper coming through the department. From onboarding paperwork to ongoing performance appraisals and other documentation that needs to be added to employee folders, there is no shortage of paper-pushing around this office.
Keeping employee files organized and secure, yet accessible can be a serious challenge when everything is on paper. To combat this, many companies are taking on an electronic personnel file project to take advantage of the many benefits of the cloud and digital files in general. Here are some of the things your HR team can look forward to with electronic personnel files.
Instant Access
Swimming through file cabinet drawers and digging through manila folders is no fun when you need to add or retrieve a document from an employee’s file. Doing the same with nested digital folders on a network share drive isn’t much better, either. Instead, look for an electronic filing system that is both a “cloud” and “indexed” solution.
A cloud filing system keeps your employee files stored securely online. This allows authorized staff from various offices to access the documents they need with no lag-time in between.
An indexed filing system automatically saves your files in the correct location. It does this by categorizing the files you add to the system with things like: Employee Status, Name, ID, Office Location, Department, Folder Section, Document Type, Expiration Date, etc. This means finding documents is extremely fast. Simply enter any of those pieces of information into the system’s Search Box to instantly bring back the documents you’re interested in.
Audit Reports
Keeping track of required and renewal documents in staff folders is nearly impossible on paper. All too often a document is misplaced, misfiled or simply missing! An electronic filing system can help your HR team be sure all employee folders are up-to-date with required documents.
Simply run a File Audit Report for a spreadsheet of exactly who is missing what from their file. You can do the same for renewable documents based off of an expiration date. With reports like this, electronic filing systems can help take a lot of the stress out of an HR audit. This is another example of how an indexed system can come in handy.
If it’s a cloud system, you can even make the documents your auditor is requesting securely available to them online. This way, auditors don’t even have to come into the office to do their audits most of the time.
Permission Controls
Maintaining compliance with government regulations around managing employee files can be messy on paper. You’re required to keep files segmented into different folders, binders, drawers and cabinets. Luckily, with an electronic filing system, you can consolidate your files while maintaining compliance.
By using permission controls to segment access to your employee files, it’s easy to keep files stored together in the same system. Simply set up access rules so that only authorized staff can see sensitive forms like I-9’s or medical documents.
With an indexed system, you can take this further by giving Payroll access to just payroll files; or by giving location managers limited access to just certain documents in only their own staff’s folders. And, when your files are in the cloud, your teams can securely get to the files they need from anywhere at any time.
Electronic Onboarding
When you’re managing your files electronically, it’s nice to be able to start that file without the need for any paper. Moving to an electronic onboarding process can start your employee files paperless from Day 1.
New hires can review, complete and legally sign their onboarding documents online before their first day. Online forms, esignatures and digital workflows replace the traditional pen-and-paper process. Best of all, once everything is finished and signed, all completed onboarding documents are filed, creating the new electronic personnel file automatically.
Automated Paper Conversion
If you’re looking to transform your existing paper files to electronic ones, you might consider a scan-to-cloud solution. These are cloud document management systems that include scanning automation tools to help convert your paper files fast. This can typically give you a shortcut to electronic personnel files if you are doing the conversion in-house.
You can also outsource the conversion of your paper files to a scanning or document imaging company. Most of these companies use similar scan-to-cloud solutions to help automate the conversion of your paper files.
Getting Started
If you’re interested in taking your HR department paperless, contact us today at DynaFile. Our electronic filing system is a unique paperless solution for HR. It is a HIPAA-compliant, indexed, scan-to-cloud document management system. By providing your team with the tools you read about above, you can take the entire HR department paperless in 30 days or less. Contact us today for a free demo!
