Many HR departments use onboarding software to get their new hire paperwork filled out electronically, but still wind up printing forms out once they are completed.

Paperless Employee OnboardingMany of the documents stored in an employee's folder are generated directly from the onboarding process once they have been hired. For this reason, employee onboarding software has become extremely popular for Human Resources departments. Unfortunately, there are still a huge number of companies that will print onboarding packets once they have been completed and electronically signed online. This is a huge pain in the neck for HR because personnel files are a serious challenge to manage on paper. Here's how to stop printing your completed onboarding forms.

The Disconnect Between Paperless Processes and Paper Files

Employee onboarding software is an incredible tool for Human Resources. It streamlines onboarding paperwork for both your HR team and your new employee. Preparing onboarding packets for new hires goes from a lengthy process to a 30-60 second task. New employees are able to review, fill out and sign all of their onboarding documents at their leisure online. Best of all, HR can specify "required" information on onboarding forms so that they will never receive incomplete information from a new hire.

This is a great way to get the information HR needs from the new hire, but what happens to all of those documents once they have been completed and signed? Many companies still will still print out completed and electronically-signed onboarding forms after they have been finished. These are typically filed alongside the rest of their personnel and other HR documentation in manila folders, in bulky filing cabinets. As we all know, managing paper files can be a huge challenge. Finding documents and keeping track of required and expiring forms in employees' folders can be nearly impossible for a larger workforce.

Electronic Personnel Files Narrow The Gap

Since managing employee information on paper can be extremely difficult, many companies have started switching over to electronic personnel files. Unlike paper files, electronic documents are much easier to keep organized and maintain. An electronic filing system can automatically file documents in the correct location by "index" without any need for naming conventions or browsing to the correct folder.

This makes retrieval instantaneous by a number of different categories. For example, pull up documents based upon the employee's name, department, office location, the type of document expiration date, etc. The best part about your files being "indexed", though, is that you can also easily keep track of required and expiring documents in employees' folders. A simple audit or "exception report" can tell you exactly which staff members are missing required documents from their folder and which employees have a time-sensitive documents coming up for renewal in the next 60 or 90 days.

An End-To-End Paperless HR File Solution

Believe it or not, you can take your onboarding process and all of your active employee files completely paperless, but still may need to print and scan. To avoid this, a simple integration between your onboarding solution and your electronic filing system can remove the need for any paper generation. Once an onboarding packet has been completed and e-signed, it can be automatically published into your electronic filing system and create the new hire's folder for you without any data entry whatsoever. You can then add additional documentation to the employee's folder throughout the lifecycle of their file and automate retention requirements for specific documents and sections in their folder.

Learn More - Paperless Onboarding: Stop Printing New Hire Paperwork.