HR Document Management for Compliance

By Neetika Khanna

 

Challenges faced by modern HR functions

HR teams are often loaded with paperwork and administrative tasks which takes their focus away from their main responsibility of managing people. Moreover, responsibilities of HR staff are changing with changes in business operations. They now need to manage a globally spread workforce and follow rules and regulations specific to each country. HR document management solutions help address some of these challenges:

  • Multiple office sites and decentralised HR document storage:

HR staff spends 40% of their time searching for and updating employee documents”

Often each office stores employee records locally. This makes it difficult to apply standard governance and control procedures. A centralised HR document management system ensures all employee documents adhere to the same retention policies. It makes storage and retrieval of documents easier and more cost-effective.

  • Inability to share employee records

It can be very expensive to share documents between geographically dispersed offices. Also, security of records can be compromised if they are physically shipped from one office to another via post or courier. Digital documents help overcome these issues by allowing documents to be shared over secure networks.

  • Protecting employee data from theft or manipulation

Businesses could be fined up to £500,000 in case of breach of data protection laws. According to Information Commissioner Office (ICO) in 2015, 18 fines totalling £2,031,250 were levied for offences relating to data protection.

Protecting employee data is important as penalties for non-compliance are high. Non-compliance can also damage your brand reputation and have a negative impact on customer loyalty. Scanning employee documents and locking them down with security controls protects employee data.

  • Keeping employee information up to date

HR documents need to be updated regularly to reflect the most recent status of employees. For example any changes in visa status should be updated to confirm that the employee has the appropriate right to work. Third parties like HMRC can audit employee records and if a company is unable to prove that an employee has the right to work, it can be fined.

It’s a laborious process to check paper employee records. HR team members have to look through every employee file and update records manually. Digital employee records are easier to update as they can be retrieved using a keyword search and edited online. New documents can be scanned into the records too.

  • Accessibility of employee records from remote locations

HR staff based in different locations can access documents from anywhere, anytime. However, only employees with appropriate access rights can view employee records. This means that employee data is easily available yet protected.

An HR document management solution is best used in tandem with an HRIS system which can free up valuable HR staff time from any administrative tasks.

 

About

Data Capture Solutions has recently implemented a HR Document Management solution for one of UK’s largest retailer – New Look. Find out more about how to improve your HR operations or download the case study. If you would like a free audit of your HR documents please contact one of our HR specialist consultant on 01753 616720.