How To Solve Your Modern Age Employee Records Management Problems?

The Human Resource(HR) department handles a lot of information right from the time the recruitment process begins to the final selection and hiring of the candidate. Once the employee is hired, then the volume of information further increases with tax forms, employee verification, personal medical records, and all other records that are created till the time an employee is employed with the organization. Even after the exit of employees, the organization has to maintain records for a specified duration as per the regulations. The process of managing employee records has evolved from paper-based to electronic format and now the digital or online version, and the industry term for the process is employee records management.

What is employee record management?

Employee record management systems are software that helps organizations automate the process for the management and maintenance of employee records. Employee record management (ERM) is important to keep track of human resources working from multiple locations, and for compliance and audit purposes.

ERM has evolved from a simple Human Resource File Management System to present-day SaaS(software as a service) solution. Organizations have mitigated challenges in moving from paper-based to electronic records as well, with changes in regulations, technology innovation, and work environment evolution, specifically after the Covid-19 pandemic when work from home (WFH), and hybrid work environments have become the new normal.

What are modern age employee records management problems?

Employee record management software has evolved from scanning of paper documents to tagging and indexing for easy retrieval of employee records. Even as process improvement and technology evolution has addressed some problems of employee record management, however, the challenges still abound for the human resource department. As the organization expands and the digital workplace becomes mainstream, there is a need for flexible and scalable employee record management (ERM) solutions to address the modern age ERM challenges. Some modern age ERM problems are:

• Regulatory compliance

The federal, state, and local laws for maintaining employee records vary across regions and industries, and regulatory compliance is still one of the problem areas for HR organizations. The issue is compounded by the fact that the retention requirements of different employee documents also varies.

The rules also differ depending on designations and seniority of employees with authorities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandating compensation records of senior-most employees should be preserved, failing which companies are liable for prosecution and fines.

• Security and Privacy

Human resources share employee records with other departments within the organization and with external agencies for payroll processing, insurance, and other purposes. The security of employee personal data is the responsibility of the employer, and they will be accountable for personal data breach of any employees.

With the proliferation of online channels and employees working from home, the probability of data getting disclosed on online public platforms has increased manifold. An ERM is as good as its security and privacy features, and organizations find it challenging to implement all safeguards considering that employee data may be stored in multiple HR applications in use within the organization.

• System Integration 

According to a Deloitte estimate, a Human Resource department uses at least seven different software systems for employee information management, and this does not include those for time and attendance. Employee database management system is one such application that allows employees to enter, update and access their data.

Employee Record Management should seamlessly integrate with the core HR application or HRIS(Human Resource Information System) to seamlessly exchange information and enable centralized access to employee records.

• Document Tracking and Retrieval

With multiple HR systems being used by organizations, record tracking and retrieval may be a challenge due to variations in record-keeping methods followed by different systems. Consistency is the key to effective record keeping, and it should be uniform across the systems for easy document tracking and retrieval.

How to solve modern age employee records management problems?

• Artificial Intelligence for Indexing

Indexing process labels or tags the document with an appropriate search team, which ensures its discoverability. Any error with the indexing process may lead to incorrect storage of the employee document. Even as the volume of employee records increases, the indexing process ensures that these are properly stored to help HR personnel save time in document retrieval. According to a McKinsey report, modern-day knowledge workers spend 25% of their time or 9.3 hours per week searching for documents to do their work.

ERM solutions can eliminate human error by using artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled document recognition technology that can automatically tag the employee document as per your customized categories. Machine Learning can constantly improve the process to improve the quality of employee records storage and retrieval.

• Centrally accessible records

The ability to securely access employee records from anywhere is crucial for the continuity of HR services, which has become a necessity after the Covid-19 pandemic disruption. After you have indexed your employee digital records, you need to store them in a structured manner to make them accessible to authorized HR personnel from wherever they are located.

A cloud-based employee record management system enables secure access to employee records from a central database hosted on the cloud. The cloud solution features advanced search capabilities that help retrieve employee records quickly and efficiently. The solution enables seamless collaboration between employees and also with external agencies.

• Compliant and Secure records management

The cloud solution includes in-built compliance features that enables you to adhere to country-specific regulations and local laws. As the regulation continues to evolve, a cloud-based solution will ensure that the system is updated to be compliant with the latest regulation. This helps to free the time of your team, who can devote their efforts to strategic areas. The solution features advanced security features and is monitored 24/7 by security experts to prevent any cyberattacks or data breaches. An organization can thus securely integrate its ERM solution with other applications and share records with external agencies.

How Wep Digital can help you address modern age employee records management problems?

As the workplace continues to evolve and hybrid work models gain traction, HR organizations need to adopt new processes and systems that offer flexibility in managing and maintaining employee records. This is an appropriate time to address the modern age employee record management problem by implementing solutions that help you to transcend those challenges and also prepare for the future.

Wep Digital consultative approach combined with technical expertise will help you implement the modern-age employer record management system. You can contact us for more details.