At a time when HR departments are under immense pressure to accomplish more with less, eliminating inefficiency is key. HR records management is recognised as a particularly inefficient problem area, largely due to the continued reliance on paper documents and files.
The volume and variety of documents that pass into and out of the HR department is vast. Examples will include employee's medical records, training records, expenses, payroll and salary records, appraisal information and much more. Storing these records on paper is inefficient for a number of reasons.
Analyst Coopers & Lybrand reports that professionals spend 5%-15% of their time reading information, but up to 50% looking for it. As much as 82% of records-management costs can be directly correlated to labour and it is often senior staff's time that is wasted. Additionally, the cost to retrieve a misfiled document is 10 times the cost of retrieving an accurately filed one.
It is often the sheer scale of the problem that prevents departments from tackling this paper backlog, with concerns over the cost of such an operation. The important action is to draw a line in the sand, to create a start-point from which future strategy can be implemented. Only once this line is drawn can firms truly embrace digitisation and begin to think strategically.
In fact, migrating the HR archive from paper to digital can be achieved over a period of time and in a modular fashion. It is here that communications management outsourcing partners can demonstrate real value. The right partner will know the market, will have access to a range of appropriate technology and will have the capacity to oversee the continuing information management operation.
Faster and easier access to information
The benefits of a digital HR records management system are clear. Firstly, information retrieval becomes quick and effortless. Using a simple, customer-defined search process – usually a keyword or unique number – HR staff can quickly call up onscreen every piece of information on an employee. This rapid access to information means HR staff are not wasting valuable time in the search for documents and are freed to focus on more specialist and strategic work.
Information security
Access to this information can be password-protected, enabling only authorised staff to view the contents. Any outsourcing partner should be able to demonstrate the relevant security accreditation, such as ISO 27001 Information Security Management certification. This demonstrates best practice around data integrity and means the partner will have the expertise to ensure processes are fully compliant.
Reducing the space and costs of hard copy
Consider, also, the valuable office space taken up by paper records. Now consider the cost per-square-metre of such office space. The average filing cabinet requires approximately 1 square metre of space to house the cabinet itself and allow sufficient space for its drawers to be opened and contents accessed. Multiply this requirement several times over and the sums quickly add up to serious wastage.
Supporting organisational agility
Central paper records storage is not merely a financial burden. Today's firms are increasingly asked to be flexible, to have the ability to set up fluid team and office structures and to adapt quickly to new ways of working.
Importantly, digital files can be viewed by multiple people across multiple locations and, as more businesses move towards cross-border matrix organisations and shared service centres, HR teams will become increasingly reliant on digital access to support rapid decision-making.
Taking the first step
The best outsourcing partners will have a track record in HR records management and will be able to demonstrate their commitment to data integrity and service quality. The first step might well be the hardest. But, once taken, HR departments will quickly realise they are on a fast-track to cost and efficiency benefits – not least the ability to again focus the time of skilled HR heads on more strategic activity.
Richard Thompson is vice president, Pitney Bowes Management Services International
