Why using digital employee files make you more productive?

In large corporations the benefits of HR digitisation have been known for a while. Currently, there are HR software solutions for employee management, data and document management systems available for small and medium companies.

For the most part, these software solutions also include digital employee file. Small businesses where the HR processes are done on the side, would greatly benefit from this feature.

To point out some benefits of digital personnel file:

• Simplifies employee file management
• Tracks personal data changes
• Includes all the employee information in one platform
• You don't miss important dates, such as birthdays and contract expiry dates.
• Different views for managers, supervisors and employees
• Employee Self Service (ESS)
• Increases efficiency
• Defines company policies in the software

Digital employee files increase efficiency

But why? The answer is simple. Through a consistent digital employee file system, the data being collected here will only need to be kept in electronic once, regardless of how many times it needs to be retrieved.

Therefore, it won’t have to be stored in multiple places, several times. Moreover, anyone who needs this information, will be able to access the digital file.

For instance, if an employee applies for leave, all the parties concerned and who are required to review the request will be instantly notified. Not only would the HR department be informed, but also the employee's department and team leaders. Even if it only takes some phone calls or emails, remember that there is always room for improvement.

But digitisation means much more than just transforming HR documents and information into the digital form. Whether the person in charge writes the vacation request on a piece of paper or enters it in an Excel spreadsheet is irrelevant for this topic.

Entering it in the Excel spreadsheet does not even initiate the required process. Going back to the leave request example, digitisation means much more than immediately informing everyone in the office or speeding up the approval process.

A really good HR and absence management software goes even a step further. Employees can request leave with just a few clicks and receive the required feedback the same way. To make things better, some standard checks will be done automatically.

For example, it checks whether the holiday request overlaps with those of other employees. Therefore, avoiding that necessary staff go on vacation for the same period of time. This is possible by defining your own company policies into the resource management system. Another example would be to grant holidays during school holidays to employees with school-age children.

Once the HR system is perfectly configured, it will be able to perform many standard tasks on its own. In addition, it will also reduce the workload of steps that would still need to be done manually. By reducing the time spent on repetitive processes, you will be able to focus on more important things.

Finally, in times of fast turnover, onboarding process and offboarding are increasingly becoming very time consuming tasks for human resources department. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to reduce time and costs? As a pleasant side effect, it also takes a big step towards becoming a paperless office. This will significantly reduce office supplies costs, and significantly reduce the company's carbon footprint.

Consumption of paper and trash produced will drastically drop with HR database. This action will also make a good first impression in your company flyers, image and in applications for support programs from federal and state governments.

It is not only more efficient, but it is also socially responsible. Plus, you will save more time and maximise resources when you streamline all your employee files in one secure place with a document management software . Start your free trial today and enjoy the many benefits of going digital.