Author: Rachel Tilley
Overcoming the challenges of workforce management is likely to be an ongoing and evolving task for many organisations. With so much to consider: safety in the workplace, up skilling workers and the admin of managing employee records - and that was all before the world was thrown into a global pandemic.
But on the 23rd March 2020 when the country was put into lockdown and working from home became the new norm, Human Resources teams had to find new and different ways to manage and support employees. Many looked to technology for help and here we discuss how an online HR Document Management System can help.
For more in depth information about how Employee Management software can support your organisation, read our Ultimate Guide.
All employees have been under enormous amounts of stress since the start of the pandemic. Many working from home with the added pressure of home schooling and being unable to see loved ones.
Recognising this and showing some understanding will support staff. Clear, open and honest lines of communication are vital – video call where possible, send individual emails and be transparent about the situation you’re in.
How DocTech Can Help:
While employees are working remotely, giving them the right tools to access their own data provides a level of transparency. Their information isn’t hidden in folders they can’t open but is easily available when they need it and in turn, reducing the reliance on HR for basic queries.
Employees come with lots of documents – emailed job applications and CVs, role descriptions, emergency contact forms, training records, appraisal forms –the list goes on. Management of these employee details is a big task, ensuring they’re secure, they don’t get lost and that they don’t fall into the wrong hands.
How DocTech Can Help:
With a HR document management system, employee records are stored digitally, in a central and secure way. They are saved according to set criteria such as by employee name, department or document type. A search in the system for ‘Joe Bloggs’ brings up all the documents stored against him. Likewise a search for ‘contract’ alone, will show all contacts saved in the system.
The first few days in any new job come with a variety of forms to complete – boring for the employee, time consuming for HR to process, but necessary to ensure organisations have the correct information.
How DocTech Can Help:
With a digital form solution from DocTech, a single form fill accurately captures all the employee information which can then automatically populate fields in future forms.
These web based forms can also be combined with digital workflows where a completed form triggers the next step in a process. When a new employee form is submitted into the HR document management system, IT can be notified that a laptop needs to be ordered or Finance will have a task set to set them up on the payroll system.
These web forms provide structure to your data and can be easily created by HR teams themselves with no programming knowledge required.
Losing or misplacing confidential employee, supplier or financial information can result in hefty fines, a damaged reputation and loss of revenue.
Data protection refers to the proper handling, processing, storage and use of personal information. The rights of the individual have to be protected and organisations need to be able to demonstrate how employee information is collected, used, stored and shared.
How DocTech Can Help:
DocTech’s HR management software securely stores and protects employee information from loss, theft or misuse. It gives organisations the tools to keep control of their data and comply with security standards such as the Data Protection Act and GDPR.
Access to documents is based on a complex rights structure which means admins can control which employees have rights to edit, read, save, export or delete.
Documents are protected from malware and with multiple backups across different data centres, emergency recovery in the event of a disaster means information can quickly be made available again.
Time consuming workforce management processes can cause bottlenecks and slow down productivity. If your department is struggling with too much manual data entry or applications that aren’t fit for purpose then online HR software could be the answer.
Different internal systems that don’t ‘talk’ to one another mean staff regularly have to flick between applications. They can also spend too much time copying, pasting and rekeying information.
How DocTech Can Help:
Employee information housed in one central document management system that can easily integrate with other applications means processes can be streamlined.
Our software can integrate with HR, Finance, ERP or CRM packages so when you want to look up documents relating to an employee, there’s no need to leave your main application. You can also store into the document management system from within any other program.
On top of this, data in the document management system can be imported into your other applications, ensuring everything remains up to date and consistent no matter which system is being used.
Whether your organisation uses spreadsheets or paper forms to track holidays, if there’s no central system to make and receive holiday requests, things can get a little messy, adding to the challenge of workforce management.
HR teams can be inundated with holiday request forms and emails from employees to find out their remaining entitlement. Further checks then need to take place with line mangers or department heads which increases the workload further.
How DocTech Can Help:
With HR employee management software, digital forms are used to capture the information needed from each employee such as date, duration and reason for the absence. When submitted, the form is automatically sent to line mangers for approval and is stored against the employee in the system.
The number of days taken and the remaining entitlement for leave is calculated and is visible to all parties.
No matter what size organisation you are or industry you’re in, the challenges presented by workforce management will be more real than ever before. Employees are looking for support, reassurance and encouragement while adapting to the new normal of remoting working, self-isolation and home schooling.
Having the right tools in place to remove manual time consuming work, automate and speed up processes mean HR teams have more time to support employees in other ways. By reducing administration tasks, greater focus can be placed on training, one to one sessions or team bonding exercises.
An online HR document management system is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection to any authorised user, meaning processes don’t stop when employees have to work from home.
HR management software can help organisations with their workforce management by protecting sensitive employee information, eliminating time consuming processes and by digitally organising employee records in one central location.
We want to speak with you about any challenges you are facing with your workforce management and explain how our solutions will help. Book a discovery call and speak with a member of our team.
DocTech are fast approaching 40 years of experience in document management solutions, implementing systems that make a difference for the long term. We will take you through the steps needed of how to get started with a HR document management system and how it will make a difference to your organisation.
Book a discovery call with one of our experts and let's start making a change now.
