Despite recent efforts of companies to become more digitally streamlined and environmentally friendly many departments such as HR continue to have a major dependence on traditional paper forms.
Whether these are forms being printed off and signed by employees in person or are sent out as fillable PDFs only to return to the HR department and be printed off to be stored, they are still printed forms. Having a physical copy of documents in an increasingly digital world seems incredibly unusual, and yet, many businesses still use this archaic method.
A much better option is to advance your employee agreements into the 21st century and start using electronic signature forms.
Here are several ways that switching to electronic signature forms could help your company.
Reduce Costs
Printing forms actually costs significantly more than it does to electronically send and store them. A single page is estimated to cost anywhere from 12 cents or more depending on the quality of the paper you are using and how much color is involved.
When you are dealing with hundreds or even thousands of employees, this seemingly marginal cost starts to add up. Using electronic signature forms means you do not need to waste money on printer paper or ink, which can account for a large portion of your HR department budget.
More Environmentally Friendly
Not only can significantly decreasing the amount of paper your company uses help with your annual budget, but it also helps the environment. It is estimated that 24 trees need to be cut down in order to produce one ton of paper.
Even if your company is much smaller and only uses maybe a quarter of a ton of paper a year, that is still six full-grown trees that you are forcing to be cut down every single year. The effect this has on the environment is staggering and is a great reason to switch your employee agreements to an electronic signature.
Makes Sharing Documents Easier
When an important document like an employee agreement is in need of someone’s signature, it can be a hassle to find a way to get it to that person, have them sign it, and return it as soon as possible. However, when the form is sent electronically and only requires them to insert their electronic signature, an employee can open up the document, sign it, and return it in just a few seconds.
As the documents are digital, they also do not require a physical location to file them. Therefore, if you need to share the document or refer to it, it can be easily found, without the hassle of sorting through a complex filing system looking for a piece of paper.
Understanding how to make your document sharing process as efficient as possible is extremely important to maintaining business longevity. Contact us today for some tips on how this can be implemented in your workplace.
