Best practices for HR document management system

Only an HR personnel understands the complex paper processes the HR department goes through in every day proceedings. Right from the starting of the recruitment process to actual recruitment and termination, everything involves huge amount paperwork and documentation. These documentations continue till the employee is a part of your organization. It is important to have an effective HR document management system in place to get things done at the speed of a though without committing any human errors.

In a world of technology, depending on physical records and documents is the most backward thing an organization can do. It not only wastes a lot of time but also slows down activities. There are many software system that can be used to maintain a proper HR document system in your organization, which will simple transform the HR department in good ways.

Why do organizations need an effective HR document management system?

The following are the advantages of having a good HR document management system:

1. HR document management helps your organization to concentrate less on paper work and more on employees. More time can be devoted to promote employees development and value addition. This will help in retaining your best employees. 
2. You will be amazed to see how much time it saves on the part of your HR department to perform a particular function be it conducting recruitment processes, holding interviews, paying remuneration, employee promotion, organizing training programs or termination procedures. 
3. Having a good HR document management system will keep vital employee-related information safe. 
4. With HR document management system, your organization will be able to fulfill all HR related compliance properly with minimum compliance risk. 
5.  Your employees will also be motivated to provide necessary information on time when the HR document management system is proper and seamless.

Some of the effective practices every organization can adopt to ensure proper HR document management system

Identify the requirements of your Document Management System:

Based on the type of industry to operate; the documentation process will be different for the HR department. Some of the basic points that can be decided beforehand are:

• How complex your HR document needs are? 
• Do you have a good IT structure for investing in software system? 
• What is the budget for spending in a good software system? 
• Where is the office of the organization? How would you manage internet connectivity? 
• Are you a branch or head office, etc.

Organized storage

Every smart HR document management needs to be well organized. A well-organized document management system will help in easy and fast document retrieval. You should always go for a system that provides for a good document indexing feature. The indexing system should be based on content, description, and keywords.

Protect extra-sensitive files

You should invest in a HR document management system that helps in keeping sensitive files protected. Make sure they have restricted access. There should also be a way to track activities if someone accesses the restricted files and make any changes therein.

Improve document-handling workflows

A good document management should support good document handling workflows for helping staffs to find a necessary document within fraction of seconds. Spending a considerable amount of time on finding a certain document reduces productivity to a great level and slows down business processes.

Manage Document Lifecycle

HR document management system proves beneficial when you can manage the document lifecycle. A good document management system should help allow you to tag document as active, archive or ready for disposal whenever required as per the needs of the business.