How HRs can Improve Employee Onboarding using E-signatures
Onboarding employees is one of the most tedious tasks for any recruiter. Ask any HR firm or manager, and you will hear them grumble about the paperwork involved. From offer letters and collecting documents to employment contracts and benefit forms, agreements, policies, and tax forms, these are just a few documents that recruiters must create, customize, get signatures on, manage, and store. Even an internal recruitment process becomes cumbersome with dozens of documents requiring employee signatures, approval and transfer documents from previous departments or designations, etc. This exchange, which involves a lot of back and forth, increases the hiring time of the desired candidate, and the business stands to lose out not only on the perfect addition to the company but also on productive time. A good, capable candidate is always in high demand and will look at various prospects. In essence, speed is critical among HR teams to get the best talent for their company. Enter e-signatures, one of the most optimal solutions for an onboarding process.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, eSignatures saw a boost in adoption rates due to the social-distancing norms in place. In addition, remote work led to a change in various internal processes, HR recruitment and onboarding being no exception. eSignature platforms assisted HR teams in gathering signatures from prospects on their offer letters and approvals from internal managers and other departments to put in hiring requests. eSignature platforms assisted HR teams in seamlessly getting signatures on documents like offer letters, hiring requests, hiring approvals, etc., 80% faster than the traditional way, improving the TAT to hire new candidates and providing a smooth onboarding process.
How to Create Effective Offer Letters
Offer letters are pivotal in locking in the right candidate. They contain information on the company, employee salary details, and job expectations from the candidate. A well-designed offer letter is likely to find the right-fit candidates. Here are a few points a compelling offer letter must contain:
Step 1 — An offer letter must contain the joining date for the candidate. In addition, it should ideally include the dates of medical insurance, 401K contribution, and time-off accrual period.
Step 2 — The job description should contain all the details discussed in a previous telephonic interview with the candidate. Any additional details need to be discussed candidly with the candidate and added to the letter.
Step 3 — The base salary must be mentioned clearly, as discussed and agreed upon during the interview process. The compensation must also be broken down into precise components to ensure the candidate is clear on their salary.
Step 4 — Bonuses must be explained clearly with their percentage and timing. It also needs to be specified whether it is discretionary or guaranteed.
Step 5 — Perks and benefits are an attractive feature for anyone considering joining your company. The HR needs to include all the information on off-days, bereavement days, health insurance, medical insurance, and other benefits.
Step 6 — Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidentiality agreements must accompany an offer letter. The candidate needs to keep sensitive information on the company private or risk being terminated. This also shows the candidate that you want them onboard as soon as possible.
Step 7 — Non-solicit agreements, at-will employment, and arbitration clauses, if added, need to be given a full descriptive page of their own.
Step 8 — Lastly, a field for an e-signature should be given for the candidate to sign and accept the offer letter. This culminates in getting acceptance from candidates quicker and helps in faster and smoother onboarding.
Also Read: How E-signatures improve Efficiency of HRs
Advantages of using eSignatures in HR Processes
● Consistency and Speed — Adoption of eSignatures can increase productivity within their teams and get the necessary paperwork of candidates completed rapidly. HR teams can be consistent in their process and reduce errors.
● Improved Efficiency — Businesses can achieve 70% to 80% efficiency improvements after removing manual processes and adopting digital technologies like eSignature solutions. HR managers can streamline entire workflows, improving overall efficiency.
● Less Paperwork — American businesses spend more than $120 billion annually on paper documents, although most of these paper-based forms will be outdated in three months. To avoid this, HR teams can shift their paper-based processes to digital and aim for a paperless office.
● Centralized Document Management — All important documents to be sent to potential candidates can be managed by storing them in a central location online. Using an eSignature platform, you can even send documents to multiple candidates simultaneously for signing online. In addition, you can track the status of documents in real-time and send notifications to candidates to sign them on time, eliminating any cause for concern amongst the HR department.
● Employee Experience — eSignatures provide a positive employee experience for new hires to the company. In addition, it also helps the HR team create a good first impression as a brand that holds employee convenience at the top of their priority list.
● Sustainability — U.S. companies, typically print 1.5 trillion pages per year — that is a 95,000-mile-high stack of paper or the equivalent of nearly 20 million trees! By eliminating the high consumption of paper, adopting e-signatures ensures your business’s growth and helps in saving the environment. With major internal processes going paperless, e-signatures can help offices in their endeavor to be environmentally responsible.
3.5 million — pages saved in one year by implementing e-signatures. This volume of paper would have exceeded the height of the Empire State building. — United Healthcare
Automation is pivotal in transforming major processes in organizations as we move forward in a digitally advanced ecosystem. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the HR department underwent a massive upheaval and adapted quickly to changing dynamics in the office workspace. Furthermore, employees preferring remote work or choosing to work in hybrid cultures have gained prominence in recent times. A rocky start, maybe, but HR teams have managed to embrace virtual operations and provide smooth transitional experiences to employees without creating bottlenecks. As they say, even superheroes need help to do their best. An e-signature solution has numerous benefits, as noted above. However, choosing the right one makes all the difference.
The DrySign Experience
DrySign is an easy-to-use electronic signature solution designed to help users sign, send, and share documents from anywhere, anytime, from any internet-enabled device. By making the document signing process digital, DrySign empowers businesses and institutions to instantly pave the way for paperless workflows. With a user-friendly dashboard, simplified document tracking, and online auto-archival, DrySign enables seamless remote signing without the need to download any additional software.
The DrySign Experience
DrySign is an easy-to-use electronic signature solution designed to help users sign, send, and share documents from anywhere, anytime, from any internet-enabled device. By making the document signing process digital, DrySign empowers businesses and institutions to instantly pave the way for paperless workflows. With a user-friendly dashboard, simplified document tracking, and online auto-archival, DrySign enables seamless remote signing without the need to download any additional software.
Document Upload — Upload offer letters and other documents to your account to send to the candidates.
Templates — Create templates of vital documents such as NDAs, I-9, 401K, and others and customize them effortlessly.
Group Sign — Send documents for signing to multiple candidates with DrySign’s super-efficient Group Sign feature.
Add Fields — Add fields to support the signing within documents for additional compliance.
Real-time Trail — Track actions made on your document with a real-time mail trail with time stamps.
Conclusion
The recruitment and onboarding process of any organization is the first place you will notice a significant chunk of paperwork being required. Even today, a majority of the HR processes, especially recruitment, require HR to deal with massive volumes of paperwork, multiple approvals, checks, and follow-ups. The process of interviewing prospects, getting the respective stakeholders to sign off, processing onboarding documents, and pursuing traditional wet signatures can get cumbersome for both HR professionals and new employees. DrySign automates document workflows to reduce inconsistencies and facilitate smoother functioning, lessening the dependency on candidates to be present at the office to sign offer letters and complete other onboarding formalities, ultimately helping HR close hiring faster. With DrySign, managers can provide instant approvals with the click of a button, transforming the onboarding experience for new hires and scaling overall business outcomes.
DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.
