In the previous article, we depicted that SMEs are labor-intensive organizations coupled with a lack of resources. This combination triggers the necessity of deploying a document management system. Business process automation is more crucial to SMEs to resolve the resources shortage. Let’s go deeper and review how a document management system can assist each department of the company and more specifically in Human Resources (HR) departments. To automate HR processes in SMEs is the goal, e.g. the employee hiring process. But how can you manage employee files digitally? How can you achieve regulatory compliance?

As part of a daily routine of running my small business, the most tedious and obligatory routine is managing employee documentation!

Especially in my case, I hire temporary personnel and I outsource the payroll processes to my accountant. By law, I am obliged to manage anything related to employee documentation onboarding and off-boarding. Until I implemented the docuvita document management solution, I managed all these documents in paper format. Meaning:

• I had to sign the employee contract and collect all personal documents, retain them for five years after the contract expires!
• Some data I should track include social security numbers, banking information and other sensitive data by law needs to be tracked in a system that meets certain compliance requirements. The paper format doesn’t meet this compliance requirement.
• The physical storage was expanding exponentially.
• I had to rely on my accountant for tracking documents, due dates or update employee files.
• I had to copy all the documents and share them with my accountant, which is not the best practice security wise.
• I couldn’t comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and more specifically making available the employee files with each employee and also securing the access and sharing of the employee data.

All the above may not look so serious. But these are time-intensive administrative duties. Apart from losing time you can lose big money, in case of a single mistake or mishandle brings about huge fines.

I am a person who tries to improve my productivity. I struggle with my company’s growth. I cannot lose time over managing processes and not in customer service and sales. I cannot afford to pay fines.

How did I automate my HR processes?

I leveraged the docuvita document system to automate HR processes in my business. docuvita offered me the high-functioning infrastructure I needed to digitize the employee documents and centralize them in one electronic repository, making them searchable and traceable. I captured via a scanner all employee paper documents and docuvita automatically archived and classified the documents in the corresponding files. I moved forward and integrated the document management system with the Accounting Application. This was the best decision I made. Now, docuvita seamlessly updates the employee data into the Accounting System. It also facilitates the sharing of employee files with the accountant without my involvement!

Now, any action that should be taken on those documents under law requirements is automated and there is no excuse not to meet deadlines. From signing an employee contract to announcing the employee hiring to employment organization or fires and document retention, I automated all processes!

No more physical storage, HR data are stored in digital format – safe and secure. docuvita offers a secure user-based sign-in, access to employee archives, databases and documents can be granted only to those with designated permissions. We back-up documents regularly on a secure server. In the event of an unexpected disaster, this means that the information critical to keeping my business running is always available.

Benefits of docuvita Document Management System to Automate HR Processes in SMEs

As any SME, my small company faces many different challenges. Daily dealing with a mountain of HR paperwork is the greatest challenge. Whether it’s a government-required form, or a signed copy of an employee agreement, HR processes include the collection, retention and management of vast amounts of employee data. I found myself dependent on outdated paper forms that not only wasting limited resources time — but putting my company’s regulatory compliance and employee security at risk.

The deployment of the docuvita document management helped me automate HR processes and overcome some of my daily challenges running my business.

Some of those benefits are:

• Reduced physical storage needs, printing, and courier costs. I would say that I saved my company around 20% of my operational costs.
• Reduced risk of non-compliance with Employee Laws and GDPR.
• Increased productivity rates as I freed-up time from dealing with document management. I have calculated that I was losing 21% of my work-time to manage and share documents.
• Eliminated data entry errors and lost or misplaced files associated with manual hiring processes.
• Increased security and access to the documents anytime and anywhere.

The HR processes in SMEs are still manual and paper-based. The payroll systems offer no functionality towards managing the employee data. SMEs that are attached to paper-based processes risk getting fines and losses in productivity and competitiveness. A document management system doesn’t affect the culture of the business and the processes. It is easy to adopt and easy to use. It offers a way to automate HR processes in SMEs but also to automate other paper-based processes. This leads to many benefits, including better productivity, cost reduction and compliance, awareness of employees and effective collaboration.