Although introduced decades ago, electronic signatures have only recently become common in the business world. In fact, electronic signatures are now starting to outweigh traditional signatures as the primary means of signing documents–including new hire employment documents such as electronic I-9 and W-4 forms.
This evolution has allowed organizations to go paperless in a variety of processes that previously used fax or mail to send paper documents. ExactHire’s employee onboarding software enables newly hired employees and human resources professionals to use electronic signatures to speed up the onboarding process and increase security and legibility–even from remote locations.
While organizations have to regard an electronic signature as official, those entities soliciting such signatures also have to request the signing in a transparent manner. Signatures gathered deceptively do not apply.
With ExactHire’s onboarding software, new employees are asked right from the start to confirm that they consent to providing electronic signatures. With this confirmed, new hires can quickly complete and sign the necessary paperwork, from electronic I-9 and W-4 forms to individual policies and handbooks.
To ensure the process is secure, new hires must enter a password before signing a form or document. OnboardCentric ensures that the employee takes action on a form or document that requires a signature by requiring the item to be opened and previewed before it is signed. Hiring managers can review and approve or counter-sign these documents quickly through our simple web-based system as well.
By going paperless, HR departments will have all of the necessary documents and forms saved digitally and easily available for retrieval and review. The documents can also be printed out and stored or mailed, but the software allows for HR professionals to perform every process, from secure storage to digital delivery, from the software platform itself.
With all the forms that often need to be completed, the process of entering employee information and other data onto repeated forms can be a slow-moving process. But with those forms now digitized into a one-time entry solution, organizations can keep moving. Simply put, your applicants will be able to “enter once, populate many.”
No matter how many forms you have requiring this information, the one-time entry capability will populate the information onto all other applicable forms, cutting your paperwork to a fraction of its former time investment. All of this information is securely stored in OnboardCentric onboarding software, which is compliant with federal employment regulations.
Electronic signatures came to rise before laws and governmental regulations were in place to protect their role in commerce. With the E-Sign Act of 2000, companies could no longer deny the validity of a signature based on its digital nature. At the same time, it gave consumers the right to refuse to sign contracts electronically if they would rather sign a paper form.
The Act paved the way for electronic signatures to catch on globally, but the public was slow to embrace the technology because organizations and private citizens remained concerned about its legality. Today, improved security and standards have allowed ExactHire and other companies to use this tool to everyone’s benefit.
By implementing ExactHire’s employee onboarding software and taking advantage of its built-in e-signature elements and electronic I-9 and W-4 forms, organizations can decrease the demands on HR personnel while making the entire process more organized and efficient. Contact ExactHire to learn more about OnboardCentric employee onboarding software.