According to a study conducted in the United States, it has been noted that the US usually spends over $460 billion in salaries when trying to manage paper-driven information overload. It is quite unfortunate that the cost of buying a rim of photocopying paper is cheaper compared to the cost of using that paper. That really needs urgent action.
Could it be that your organization is among the many organizations across the globe that usually spend 15% of their revenues creating, managing, and distributing paper documents? Well, that can only be realized when you change your mode of operation and document keeping in your organization.
On a daily basis, every busy organization has volumes of papers that are released from one department to another. One of the departments that is usually very busy with paperwork is the Human Resource department.
For decades, it has been known that this department is key in releasing resumes, interview records, tax forms, insurance forms, employee performance reviews, promotions, government forms, health forms, training certificates, and litigation records among other documents.
These are quite voluminous especially if the organization is huge with multiple employees. However, things are slowly changing from paperwork to paperless, thanks to the advanced technology. The migration has begun to having HR departments paperless and you don’t want to be left behind.
If only your organization which has 500 employees, can embrace paperless in the HR department, you can be saving over $2 million every year. This will be as a result of the 15% reduction in the amount of time used in dealing with the documents. Your competitors who have embraced paperless documentation are performing better than you.
Most of the millennial organizations are realizing that paperwork is inefficient and a costly way of managing information. This is the reason many have turned to an electronic or paperless document management system. You should be aware that this is a gradual process which will definitely take time to be implemented into your organization. However, you need to get started. Here are 7 steps to help you sail into the world of paperless HR department:
#1: Lead by example
Most employees under you are waiting for you at the top to begin the migration and they are willing to follow. Of course, the body waits for the direction from the head for it to do anything. If you at the top management is redundant and willing to stay at the status quo then, you will never embrace this new and cheap document management system.
If you are the head of the HR department, you need to step up and pave the way for the rest to follow. No one is willing to stay in paper works.
#2: Embrace teamwork
As long as you are leading the rest of the employees, you cannot achieve this great achievement alone, you need everyone to join hands. Human Resource department is one of the top three most rigid departments in embracing changes after finance and legal department.
This is understandable considering the sensitivity of the documents you handle. You need to educate your team on the benefits accrued in going paperless both to the organization and them as individuals. You will need to explain to them how their information will be secure because this is the worry of many employees. If you don’t convince them by clearly displaying the benefits of going paperless, they may be reluctant in joining you.
#3: Get your papers ready
Of course, if you have everyone on board then it becomes easy to prepare the papers that are to be scanned. You can be sure that there will be a lot of papers considering that an average office worker uses more than 10,000 sheets of paper annually.
In the United States, over 210 billion sheets of papers are used in faxing in most companies. And when approximated daily, most office workers in the United States usually generate almost 2 pounds of papers daily. That should tell you that getting the papers ready for scanning is quite a task.
One strategy that you can use is dividing your team members in such a way that everyone is handling their own portion of work. As an HR manager, you have a responsibility of coming up with a routine that every employee in your department will be involved.
You can decide that a certain employee compiles papers of employees who name begin with letter A to D, then the next from E to K, etc. By that, you will take very little time to get the papers ready. You need also to eliminate any document that is outdated and no longer needed by the organization.
You can also set a deadline within which you are to be through with compilation. You have to keep checking the progress of your employees.
#4: Set the Software in place
Of course, you will need to have trained a few of the employees who will work with the new systems. You need to get the right software that will execute all the tasks and represent every employee data properly.
It is important to first determine what you want to appear in your hp scanning software or any other software you may decide to use. Besides, you need to see the budget of the software and the training thereof. Do some trials before adopting the chosen software.
#5. Commence your scanning and Filing
Having acquired the software and trained some employees, now you are ready to start scanning and filling the document papers that you had compiled. It is important you create a folder for every employee, name the documents accordingly, and upload exactly the similar document as the physical.
It is advisable you start with the new incoming papers before you start scanning the backlogged. If the work is too bulky for your employees, get an intern as extra manpower.
#6: Make known to the organization
Now that every employee detail is in the software, it is time to let every employee in the organization aware. You need to clear every doubt concerning security and inform them of the benefits. Introduce to them the electronic sharing method that you will be using and show them how to make signatures electronically. This video will show you how to sign electronically. You will be surprised how much you will save when HR documents of every employee are electronic.
#7: Enjoy your hard work
Over 68 million trees are cut in the United States to produce paper and paper products. Consequently, companies in the United States spend over $120 billion every year in printing forms which some of them expire within the first 3 months. If all documents in the HR department are paperless, you can affect your environment, save a lot of time, and eventually save a lot of money. The Life Hack article will guide you some effective ways to save money.
Besides, if you choose the right software, you will enjoy maximum security of your employees’ documents and the entire organization. The money used in buying papers sheets in your organization could be used for further development and investment.
Conclusion
You will be surprised by how your document overload will be significantly reduced. Your HR department will eventually become an example of other departments. You can start the change in your organization that will bring a revolution and eventually saves a lot of money for your organization. Start the migration today, don’t wait any longer.
