Paperless Office?

NancyJ

This issue has been tossed around our office for the past six months, and I'd like to get some opinions from other HR professionals out there.

We'd like to go "paperless". We have the technology to scan and keep optical copies of all employee files, including I-9s, W-4s, performance appraisals, etc. As we have 650+ employees, this would save us a lot of space and time (pulling the file, making a copy of the necessary document, faxing it, etc.). In the "paperless office" environment, this could all be done at the desktop.

The point at issue is whether or not you really have to have ORIGINAL documents with ORIGINAL signatures, or will the optical equivalent suffice?

Anyone want to give their $0.02? Anyone actually implementing this or some variation?

Thanks,
Nancy
:-?

Balloonman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-04-04 AT 07:17AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I think it would fly.............because you have the "original" scanned in............ my only concern would be the signature, I would have them sign in blue ink, and make sure the scanned copies are in color.....
Come to think of it I did do this with some safety sign in sheets a few years ago.....as long as I could show verification that training was done that was all that mattered, no different an HRIS system that shows training dates electronically.
My $0.02 worth!
DJ The Balloonman

deniseE

Check with your attorney....anything that is stored (including paper, really) should have a written policy detailing retention times and methods of destruction. This will protect you in the event that records are subpoenaed and you don't have them, and it will also prevent discovery requests from being overly burdonsome because you won't have records dating back 20 years!

We keep trying to work toward a paperless office...but so many prefer viewing a document, esp. with small print on paper rather than on screen. In the end, we probably have more paper as a result of one document being printed by either several people or repeatedly.

NancyJ

Thanks for your input - I think we will try to implement a written policy and go with some variation of "paperless".

We have so much paper it's becoming a fire hazard! I'll let you all know how it works out!

Thanks again!
Nancy
xhugs

Balloonman

Of course with a paperless office I would have a clean desk for a change!
My $0.02 worth!
DJ The Balloonman