Majority of HR Executives See Document-Related Compliance Burden Increasing Through 2018; Document Management Cited as Productivity Inhibitor That Limits Time for Strategic Tasks
New York – November 23, 2015 – PeopleDoc, the leading provider of cloud-based human resources (HR) service delivery solutions, today announced the results of “Employee File Management: Best Practices for Convenience and Compliance,” a national PeopleDoc-sponsored HR Daily Advisor Research|BLR survey focused on the intersection of technology, HR, and how professionals are handling important workforce documents. Continued reliance on paper to manage employee files is the chief pain point for 67 percent of HR professionals, followed by incomplete files (33 percent), searching for files (30 percent), document security (30 percent) and documents scattered across systems (30 percent).
Paper Still Reigns Supreme with HR in an Otherwise Digital World
Among the PeopleDoc survey’s key findings are that 84 percent of HR departments still file employee documents by hand or via a paper filing system, while only 32 percent use an HRIS to track employee documents and 11 percent have a system dedicated to document management. In the past five years, the majority of HR professionals report “considerable growth” when it comes to the volume of documents they handle, and teams currently spend 10 to 15 percent of their time managing documents. And while 75 percent of HR professionals admit that document management inhibits their productivity and takes time from executing strategic tasks, only 21 percent have plans to implement a digital document management system to streamline processes.
“HR is at a crossroads. Though employee engagement ranks high among corporate growth priorities, HR professionals continue to be saddled with time-consuming but necessary processes like employee document management, which limits their ability to play more strategic roles,” said Jonathan Benhamou, CEO and co-founder of PeopleDoc. “By digitizing HR and investing in a document management system, companies can transform and customize the way they approach compliance and documentation requests and focus their time and energy on more impactful initiatives like talent management and performance.”
Though Compliance is a Priority, Document Tracking Found Lacking
The PeopleDoc survey found that compliance is a high priority for HR executives; they have a great ability to respond to compliance laws and are confident that they can quickly and accurately produce documents for compliance audits. However, nearly half (49 percent) of HR executives cannot prove a document was received and acknowledged by an employee, and fewer can prove that a document they have on file is an original copy (38 percent) — two requirements critical for proper audit responses.
Customizing Processes Deemed Necessary, but Difficult to Achieve
Ninety percent of HR professionals say easily customizing processes and assigning document-related tasks based on employee roles and attributes has become even more important. But, the majority of HR professionals indicate there are now more employees per HR team member than ever before, and so sorting through paper, working with many different systems and creating and sharing individualized files and for each employee has become more difficult.
Survey Methodology
The PeopleDoc Employee File Management: Best Practices for Convenience and Compliance survey polled 525 HR professionals working in for-profit, nonprofit, public and government organizations across the United States (95 percent) and abroad (5 percent). These insights were shared by professionals from the executive, managerial, supervisory and staff levels, as well as from specialized roles like compliance and bookkeeping representing a wide range of industries such as health care, manufacturing and professional services. The survey was conducted in August 2015.
About PeopleDoc
PeopleDoc empowers employees to simply and easily access relevant HR information from hire to retire, bringing greater value and capacity to the HR function within corporate enterprises. Named by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in Human Capital Management in 2014, PeopleDoc’s cloud-based HR delivery solution increases productivity and improves employee loyalty. For more information, contact us or follow PeopleDoc on Twitter or LinkedIn.
