Thanks to digital handwritten signatures, recruitment agencies are getting rid of paper

2017-03-29

Electronization of contracting documents

The staff of AGENTURA PLUS, one of the largest recruitment agencies in the Czech Republic, signs contracts and payroll slips on tablet, thanks to which the company has completely digitalized its entire paper-related agenda.

Do you have any idea of how many sheets of paper you print, sign and file in your company archives on a daily basis? AGENTURA PLUS, one of the largest recruitment agencies in the Czech Republic, calculated its consumption. The staff of its headquarters and seven branch offices printed roughly 38 000 sheets of paper in a month.

Each day, job seekers, temporary workers as well as full-time employees at recruitment agencies sign employment contracts, agreements to perform work or to complete a job, and various related documents such as tax relief affirmation, indemnification affirmations and payroll slips. All this results in high printing and archiving costs and unnecessary downtime. Printing, filing and searching for documents takes up a significant part of the job description of the staff.

AN END TO PAPER INEFFECTIVENESS

Handwritten digital signature – SIGNATUS The paper archives of AGENTURA PLUS stopped growing last year because all documents – starting with contracts and ending with payroll slips – are signed digitally through SIGNATUS. This company took the first step towards electronization many years ago when it began to use FINUS electronic software developed by ANASOFT. Last year, the company implemented the digital signing of documents and got rid of the necessity to print out every document which had to be signed and filed.

Today, when an employee of a branch office prepares a document to be signed in the system, he/she doesn’t start the printer, but clicks an icon on a tablet. Employees and job seekers alike can see the document in a similar way as before – the only difference is that they are not holding a piece of paper but a tablet.

LEGALLY VALID AUTHENTICATION

Signing of legally binding documents The SIGNATUS software, which can cooperate with any economic system, will connect signatures with documents and send them to the server or also to a selected e-mail address. As opposed to signing on a sign-pad, commonly used by banks, this method prevents possible disputes that an employee placed a signature under something other than intended. Even handwriting examiners can work with a document signed on tablet, and it is as legally valid as a paper form.

All the documents related to the employee or job seeker, including those signed by the person in question, are filed in his/her folder from where they can be easily accessed from any branch office. Thus a manager from the headquarters can control in real time the recruitment of new people in branch offices and whether freshly recruited individuals have provided all of the necessary certificates and authorizations. In the event of an inspection from authorities, he/she can also instantly look up any documents related to employment or hiring.

LOWER COSTS, HIGHER EFFECTIVITY

Enhancing effectivity Electronic archives are also useful for the employees of branch offices. For example, if a temp worker comes to complain that he/she was not paid, or about any other documents related to his/her work at the agency, they no longer have to look for payroll slips in boxes or binders full of papers while exerting time and energy.

The direct cost of printing one sheet of paper covered with text is approximately 1.3 Eurocent, which for a company which monthly prints 50 000 sheets, amounts to an expenditure of almost 8 000 Euro per year. However, costs related to the use of paper are not only comprised of the price of paper and ink. It is a waste of employees’ time, which is usually not obvious. According to The Paperless Project association, an office employee goes through papers for a one fifth of his/her working time. In other words, the staff spends an entire working day each week by looking for information.

Therefore, the enhancement of the effectiveness of branch office staff operations is also a great benefit for AGENTURA PLUS. This will also be projected in faster servicing of hired or contracted workers. Moreover, digitalization, including signing, opens new possibilities for this company, for example, field work.

In any case, the management and employees can be proud of the fact that their agency has turned green.