We are decades past the time when the transition to a supposedly “paperless workplace” should have been accomplished. Today most businesses still find their file cabinets overflowing with documents. HR is one department where this inundation of paperwork seems never ending. Many human resources professionals are so snowed under with work that the idea of overhauling their information handling procedures seems like an impossible task.
You know that an automated, electronic data management system would bring your department in line with currently accepted best practices for HR. What if you can’t find money in your budget to purchase and implement the advanced programs/services that would make this possible? That’s when you need to start with small changes that offer immediate cost savings with only a modest initial outlay. You may not be able to go completely paperless, but you can certainly use paper…less.
Direct Deposit
The benefits of doing away with paper checks can’t be stressed enough. Many small companies still don’t realize that direct deposit is cheaper than having payroll checks printed and delivered each week. Unless you have so few employees that you physically sit down and sign each paycheck yourself, automating this task is something you should consider. Direct deposit is a highly secure method of payment that will reduce your headaches over late, lost, or stolen checks.
One bonus of switching to electronic banking is that you can use the system for paying your vendors and processing customer payments as well. That’s one stop shopping for HR, Accounting, and Sales. When you spread the initial cost of setup over several departments in this way, the ROI is much more rapid.
Automated Paperwork
It certainly would be nice to have a brand new computer program automate all your internal paperwork. However, you can actually get a lot accomplished with what you’ve already got on hand. Do you have a word processing program, spreadsheet software and an email system? Great! Managers and employees can start forwarding everything from vacation requests to address changes electronically. As long as you back up your data responsibly, this is an excellent way to reduce paperwork.
Maybe you don’t have electronic versions of your basic HR forms (many small employers still just make photocopies of existing printed forms). Assign the task of recreating each form in Word or Excel to someone who has basic typing/formatting skills and can pay attention to detail.
Upload the completed forms to a public folder in your internal email system so people can access them readily. Once everyone gets into the habit of turning in paperwork this way, they can easily adapt to a more sophisticated system later on.
Printing by Necessity
If the majority of your workers don’t have access to a computer terminal, switching to a PDF version of your employee handbook may not be feasible. In that case, you will have to keep printing and distributing them as hard copies. The number one paper saving trick here is to get your handbook thoroughly proofread before sending it to the printer. Have several people do this to ensure that any serious mistakes are corrected. That way you won’t have to pay for printing twice.
For a small workforce, printing and binding handbooks in-house is another good option. That way, you can simply make them as you need them. This avoids the problem of meeting a minimum order requirement or having to discard extra copies at the end of the year. A comb or spiral binder is a business tool that can be used by multiple departments. Even a relatively inexpensive model will last for many years.
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The author, Brenda Perkins, CEBS is Co-founder of HRBrainBank.com, a website devoted to human resources policies. Brenda’s expertise comes from creating and building three unique businesses, all of which serve the human resources profession. The unique blend of her experiences and talents allows her to see problems and solutions that are often not clear to the individuals she works with. Brenda has co-authored four books: Employee Communications 101; How to Produce Benefit Statements; Outsource Guide (to help you select the best vendor for your employees communications and benefit communications); and 9 Critical Elements to Guarantee Your Boss’ Approval. She has also co-produced several healthcare education videos with an emphasis on consumer directed healthcare.
