How to Reduce Print Costs and Paper Volume with an HR Document Management System
Ask five people which department in their organization uses the most paper and there is a good chance a majority of them will say human resources. HR departments perform a quintessential function in an organization by making sure that personnel, partners, and customers always have what they need. However, HR can also prove incredibly paper-intensive in its processes. These can be slow, antiquated, and wasteful. In response, many companies are turning to a document management system for the HR department specifically.
HR can represent one of the hardest areas to reduce printing costs and paper volume within an organization, but an HR document management system can help.
Simplify and Streamline: Document Management Systems for HR
Handling paperwork efficiently has long been a challenge for companies in every industry. Paper documents are notoriously slow, laborious, and prone to getting lost. Likewise, file storage and access control present their own challenges – if someone wants to access a particular file, they must physically go to the filing cabinets. If they’re going to share documents, they either need to make photocopies or scan them to a computer.
The workflow processes in human resources handle a tremendous amount of documents. Depending on the industry, these documents can range from highly regulated medical records, to employee files and records, or documentation of training for heavy machinery. Not all of it will be ultra-sensitive, but all of it is crucial to have on hand should questions arise.
In contrast, a document management system can simplify these processes and help an office streamline its workflow. For an HR department, this makes it faster to create documents, process the ones they receive, and transmit paperwork to the necessary individuals.
An HR department can take advantage of features such as:
- Business Process Automation
- This is when automation takes over low-impact, time-consuming manual processes, like data entry or approval processes, and makes them more efficient. Overall, business process automation allows professionals more time for what truly matters.
- Artificial Intelligence
- Algorithms can “read” documents to extract valuable information, scan for keywords, or highlight anomalies in a document.
- Centralized Document Ecosystems
- With all documents in one place, the staff does not need to waste time shuffling papers between offices or databases.
The Advantages of Electronic Documents
As the business world moves faster, paper-based document processes are simply no longer practical in most offices. That is especially true in HR, where file management can rapidly become unmanageable.
In contrast, electronic documents offer:
1. Enhanced Security
Keeping personnel files secure is just as important as safeguarding customer data. Some of the most significant data breaches have targeted employee records. By protecting the privacy rights of employee files, this protects the employer from liability. An HR document management system takes advantage of digital solutions, to keep documents secure from sophisticated user role permissions to automated backups stored offsite.
The following types of records should be taken into consideration: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requests for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, requests for ADA accommodations, results of drug/alcohol tests, reimbursement requests for medical expenses, financial, and medical records.
2. Easier Accessibility
Ever felt the frustration of looking for a document that had been misfiled? With electronic filing, that will not happen anymore. A robust HR document management software suite deploys advanced document storage features, including:
- Standardized file names to keep organization consistent
- Advanced search functions to locate document names and content
- Optical character recognition – a type of optical recognition used by scanning software that allows the software to read the entire document. Once the document has been scanned, the text is placed at the top of the PDF document allowing the content of the document to be searched.
- Smart directory building based on rules defined by the administrator
3. Reduced Reliance on the Printers
With the department handling more electronic documents, they will spend less time printing paper documents. Printing represents one of the most significant expenses that a company has, and reducing the amount of printing a company does is one of the easiest ways to reduce overhead.
Integrating Efficiency: How a Managed Print Service Can Help
For most companies, deploying a document management system in the HR department is only part of a broader strategy to reduce printing costs. While a reliable file management strategy will reduce a company’s reliance on printers, a managed print service can help take it a step further. In addition to all of the benefits typically delivered, such a service can:
- Improve printer security and control access to ensure that only what needs to be printed gets printed by the staff with the appropriate printing privileges.
- Implement print tracking to start reducing waste (across a company or a department).
- Integrate a centralized multifunction printer with a document management system to support digital document processes such as scanning or FoIP services.
- Assist with the digitization of paper documents.
Take Control of HR Paperwork with RJ Young
For HR, a document management system is a must-have. These powerful software platforms simplify and streamline the document-intensive business processes that these departments conduct. With the right program, an HR department can enjoy a secure, accessible, centralized file management strategy that reduces its overall reliance on printers.
Reducing an office’s overhead is a common and productive strategy to remain competitive in the business world. Paper-based documents are slow, impractical, and often expensive. Amplify a department’s productivity and cost-effectiveness by transitioning to digital documents. Save time, money, and headaches with an HR document management system.
RJ Young specializes in helping companies achieve operational efficiency in all of their departments. Start a conversation today about how a document management system can boost the efficiency of a company’s HR department.