Document Management Blog

Using an Employee Management System | DocTech

Written by Nicky Metcalfe | Tuesday Sep 07, 2021

With an Employee Management System, Human Resources departments can replace paper-based or manual processes with digital workflows that mean there’s more time to assist staff with career progression, training needs or mental health support.

Human Resources teams are under more pressure than ever to support a dispersed workforce, stay compliant with evolving legislation, and improve employee experience all while managing increasingly complex workflows.

An Employee Management System removes the manual, repetitive work that holds HR teams back. Instead of dealing with paper files, shared drives and disconnected spreadsheets, HR departments can rely on automated, secure digital workflows that give them more time to focus on strategic goals such as career development, wellbeing support, training, and retention.


 

What is an Employee Management System?

An Employee Management System is software that securely stores and manages all employee-related documentation and information from contracts and performance reviews to onboarding forms, training records, and Right to Work evidence.

Modern systems can be hosted on-premise or in the cloud, depending on your organisation’s needs. Documents can be added via email, drag-and-drop upload, mobile device, or scanner, and are indexed automatically so they’re always easy to find later.

With high levels of security, automated workflows, and clear audit trails, HR teams can eliminate manual document handling and ensure critical records are always complete, compliant and up to date.

 

What does an Employee Management System do?

An Employee Management System or HR management system removes the high volumes of manual data entry and document administration that come with managing employees.

They help HR teams:

Reduce administrative workload

Automation handles repetitive tasks such as document routing, reminders, onboarding steps, and retention rules.

Improve searchability and accuracy

Employee documents are indexed by key data such as name, department, contract type or date providing accurate search results in seconds.

Standardise and automate key HR processes

Including:

  • Recruitment and onboarding

  • Performance reviews

  • Absence and holiday requests

  • Training and compliance tracking

  • Policy acceptance

  • Contract variations and updates

  • Retention and GDPR-related tasks

Enable employee self-service

Staff can securely access their own documents, holiday data, and forms  reducing HR inbox traffic and improving employee experience.

Why are Employee Management Systems Important?

Employee Management Systems play a crucial role in reducing manual, time-consuming administration tasks. HR teams today manage a wide range of challenges from supporting hybrid working arrangements to keeping up with evolving employment legislation and a document management system helps streamline this workload significantly.

With many employees now working across different locations, maintaining engagement and clear communication is essential. An Employee Management System supports this by giving staff secure access to their own information, including holiday entitlement, contract documents and performance reviews. This self-service approach reduces the need for HR to provide routine updates, ensures everyone is working from the same accurate documents, and removes the need for paper copies or desktop duplicates.

The software also eliminates repetitive data entry. When an employee joins, they can complete a digital form that automatically populates subsequent documents with their key details, ensuring accuracy and consistency throughout. All forms and documents are stored securely and indexed against the employee’s name, making it easy to retrieve everything connected to them with a simple search.

Digital signature integration further enhances the process by speeding up contract completion and onboarding. Documents can be reviewed and signed electronically in a legally compliant way, removing the need for printing and enabling new starters to complete important paperwork quickly and efficiently.

 

 

Are Documents Secure in an Employee Management System?

Documents are extremely secure in an Employee Management System.  It provides secure and centralised access to employee records than cannot be lost or tampered with.

A modern Employee Management System offers:

  • AES-encrypted document storage

  • HTTPS/TLS secure data transfer

  • Strict access permissions ensuring only authorised staff can view or edit sensitive files

  • Full audit trails for every document touchpoint

  • Version control to ensure transparency and prevent tampering

This creates strong, reliable digital governance essential for HR, payroll, IT security and compliance teams.

With our cloud solutions, 99% of viruses are already known by the system so an affected document can’t even enter the system. 

 

How can an Employee Management System improve how I manage my Workforce?

An Employee Management System improves how you manage your workforce by efficiently dealing with all employee records and streamlining associated workflows.

Better Data Management

Employees can access their own records, handbooks, policies, and holiday information. This empowers staff and removes the need for HR to answer the same queries repeatedly.

A Smoother, Digital-First Onboarding Process

First impressions matter. Automated onboarding ensures new starters receive:

  • Contracts via digital signature

  • Pre-employment forms

  • IT and equipment requests

  • Welcome kits and schedules

Digital forms automatically populate repeated information (name, address, etc.), eliminating duplication and preventing errors. HR teams can focus on people not paperwork.

Easier Performance Review Management

Automated workflows:

  • Notify managers when reviews are due

  • Store review documents securely

  • Assign follow-up tasks (training, equipment, salary changes)

  • Provide a clear record of goals and outcomes

This strengthens communication and accountability throughout the organisation.

Support for Training, Compliance and Development

Training records, certificates and course completions can be stored against each employee and triggered automatically when updates are required.

Choosing DocTech for Employee Record Management

DocTech’s HR document management solutionsare designed for busy HR professionals. With simplicity in mind and based on years of experience, we will remove manual and time consuming document processes and replace them with automated digital solutions.

Any document - employee records, policies or contracts are either scanned, sent from Outlook or dragged and dropped into the system where the data from them is accurately captured and stored.

Key information such as employee name, start date, department etc. are indexed making future searches easy, bringing back results in seconds. No more searching through endless network folders or in off-site storage.

DocTech solutions will help you support remote employees, automate the recruitment process, improve on boarding and help with legal requirements such as document retention, audits and Subject Access Requests.

Conclusion

With more pressures on HR teams than ever before to support a remote workforce, and while managing growing employee legislation and health and safety rules, many business leaders are looking to technology to help.

Organisations can no longer afford to be held back by paper, slow processes and manual data entry. With an Employee Management System from DocTech you can digitise processes, saving time and money, all while reducing the stress faced by HR teams.

Your employee data will be safe and secure when stored in our software and allows only those with authorised access to view / edit documents. Employee records sit at the heart of the solution and provide the foundation to create workflows. These workflows enable you to automate processes and tasks when you’re ready to do so.

Have a chat with a member of our team and talk through what the biggest challenges are in your HR department. You’ll understand how our Employee Management System will help and you’ll wish you’d made the change sooner.