As businesses emerge from lockdown and the workplace starts to grow again, our working practices are continuing to change. As a result of the global shutdown and social distancing measures, a high majority of the workforce were driven to work remotely, with 51% of employees in the UK being asked to work from home.

The concept of a mobile workforce goes beyond simply allowing your employees to work from home. With 81% of CEOs identifying investment in mobile-enabling technology as strategically important, there is groundwork to undertake, in considering what devices and technology you should invest in, and the processes needed to facilitate effective team collaboration.

Prior to the pandemic, just under 50% of companies had invested in digitisation of document creation and collaboration tools, which are critical technical requirements in mobile workforce management. Organisations were even less prepared in other areas, with just over 40% digitising employee records, HR processes and contract management, including the use of electronic signatures.

Having recently spoken with several companies, we have found that many are addressing their document processes and are looking for solutions that as well as support remote working, also improve business workflows – in particular, within Human Resources.

Streamlining HR administration

Many functions managed by an HR department are time-consuming and document-intensive. Take recruitment as an example - dealing with CVs, application letters, interview notifications, contracts and general on-boarding, in paper form or by email, is not only inefficient, it’s absorbs a lot of time which could be better directed.

To help ease the administration burden and increase productivity, a document management system, like DocuWare, could be the solution.

DocuWare offers comprehensive features for digitising information: an electronic file gives all HR staff and managers central and secure access to relevant employee data and documents. Individual access rights restrict entry to parts of personnel files to guarantee confidentiality. Through dynamic electronic workflows, processes are streamlined and documents progress automatically through workflows to speed up authorisation. Tracking features help managers to identify (and remedy) any bottlenecks along the way to eliminate delays.

In order to work productively, HR staff need quick and easy access to the most current documents, such as job descriptions, guidelines, requirements, laws, publicly displayed regulations, union contracts, corporate bylaws, etc. Managing multiple data sources can result in duplicated effort, tedious searches, and an unwieldy workload. By storing files in one centralised DocuWare document pool, documents are easily retrievable. Employees can also access all general information from HR with a simple mouse click.

DocuWare integrates workflow applications that are easy to use yet give you the power to significantly speed up core tasks and processes. As an example, the process of on-boarding can be automated from receipt of CV through to hiring and induction, probation and training management.

Replacing your paper-based workflows with digitised, automated processes is the first step to digital transformation that opens a pathway to a mobile workforce and other innovations and improvements – for your HR team, and business in general.

If you’d like to read more on how you can transform your business through digitisation, click here, or contact us for more information and we’d be happy to help.