Paperwork is an integral part of all businesses, and the employee onboarding process is no exception. Before any employee starts work, they need to fill in and sign some forms, ideally on the employee’s first day. The labor laws require some of the forms, while others are necessary documents or payroll forms you need for your business. These forms must be filled in and signed by every employee.
The U.S. government requires for each new employee to fill out several forms. During the onboarding process, all new hires must complete the I-9 form. It checks the identity of each individual hired. In addition, it verifies that he or she is authorized to work in the United States. The federal Withholding Allowance Certificate, Form W-4, must be completed so that companies know exactly the amount of federal income tax they need to withhold from their new employee’s wages. Depending on the state that you are in, you might also be obligated to complete a tax withholding form.
Different states have different regulations. In some states, new employees will have to sign additional documents such as health insurance, workers’ compensation, disability forms, sexual harassment forms, and more.
During the employee onboarding, each new employee should complete a job application form and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
Electronic signatures’ implementation dramatically reduces the amount of time required to sign all the papers needed for the onboarding process. E-signatures allow employees to sign the onboarding documents in a matter of minutes. In addition, they save time, reduce the cost, eliminate errors, and improve the employee experience.
Here is a list compiling the top five reasons for using eSign Genie software during the onboarding process:
Speed up recruitment
New employees hate the administrative part related to starting a new job. Most new hires spend their first-day signing reams of documents. In some cases, there’s a back and forth with HR sending back incomplete forms. For both new employees and HR, the recruitment process is drawn-out, slow-moving, and even amateurish.
Implementing an electronic signature solution can expedite your workflow. You will be able to get future employees to sign the necessary paperwork faster and more efficiently. The more paperwork, the more significant the advantages of using electronic signatures
eSign Genie can boost the speed of the onboarding process. By adopting an e-signature tool, new employees will be able to sign any onboarding documents with the click of a button.
Efficiency and Cost Savings
An e-signature solution allows new hires to complete and sign all the required employment paperwork quickly. They no longer have to wait for the HR staff to be available at the office to complete the onboarding process. New employees, managers, and the HR staff can sign the documents from anywhere and on any device. Hence, enabling the workflow in unprecedented ways. This software can prove to be extremely useful, especially in the case of mass recruitment. In the long run, your Human Resources department’s digital transformation means avoiding copying, printing, and scanning. On top of this, you already have the digital document available. With eSign Genie, you can easily save all the documents digitally and readily available for retrieval and review. Thus, you avoid entirely losing or damaging papers.
According to recent studies carried out by AIIM, using electronic signatures has the quickest return on investment than any other technology we are frequently turning to. According to the survey, 81% of all companies implementing a digital signature have noticed a payback within 12 months. A quarter of the companies saw an ROI in three months or even less.
Ensure a positive employee experience
Embracing electronic signatures right from onboarding reinforces your company’s image.
According to a BCG study, the onboarding process has one of the most significant impacts on company profitability and profit margin. In addition, Bamboo HR research shows that an effective onboarding process increases employee performance by 11 percent. This is especially important because, around the world, only 29% of employers have fully-engaged employees.
Ensure accuracy and compliance
Employee documentation contains private information. As a result, it’s important that your company can secure those forms by identity authentication tools. For this purpose, eSign Genie uses multiple types of authentication
Keeping all documents in a digital format will help your company avoid the potential compliance risks that you would face by taking the paper route. By preparing the onboarding documents manually, discrepancies and mistakes are less likely to show up.
The EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, obliges employers to retain particular records such as the employee’s personnel file and a benefits plan (including pension and insurance for at least one year after the date of termination. With eSign Genie, the HR departments have a complete audit trail, and if someone disputes the signature. This audit trail with the employee’s signature will prove their employment for years after it was signed, and even when a person chooses to move on. Digital signature software offers a much more robust approach compared to its wet counterparts. Furthermore, no one can forge an e-signature.
Increased Security
The HR department handles confidential and sensitive employee data and information relating to both employee and the organization, such as a Social Security number and employer identification number (EIN). All personal information and documentation must be stored securely.
E-sign tools keep track of who signed a document and at what time. These signed files are automatically stored in the systems so they can be easily retrieved for future use.
E signatures feature great authentication methods such as tamper-evident seal and secure encryption. Another security benefit is that e signatures fulfill the auditor’s requisites and comply with ESIGN and UETA laws. When electronically signed documents are stored and managed following the law’s requisitions, they are far more dependable than their hardcopy versions.
Conclusion
HR departments are embracing e-signing services or technology to speed up the onboarding process and handle their documentation. eSign Genie’s signature tool makes it easy to follow directions and quickly complete the signing process. It makes it easy for any company to review, sign, and date all the documents needed for the onboarding process.