You are already aware of the opportunities for introducing an electronic employment record and human resources (HR) digital transformation. Yet, you are still considering whether to make the decisive step to switch to the increasingly popular tools for optimizing and automating these processes? You are also doubting whether you will ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements, guarantee data security, and maintain internal processes? Still hesitating if it is worth the change and what benefits it may bring?
In this article, we will discuss some key challenges you could resolve by introducing an electronic employment record, the advantages of its practical implementation, and the value added it may create.
Challenges of Managing Employment Processes
While each organization has specific internal processes, the classic management of employment relations often features some standard traits.
Common Challenges Organizations Face
The main challenges related to the traditional way of managing employment relations are more often than not expressed in the following:
- Increased costs: organizations have to process and administer a large number of physical documents, which generates costs for labor, paper, storage, printing and couriers;
- Slow processes: companies perform physical administration of documents, which leads to delays, risk of human errors, problematic traceability, etc.;
- Lack of flexibility: remote work is difficult, as are document handover processes; adaptation to changing legal provisions is slow, etc.
Without appropriate digital solutions, managing employment processes is often expensive, ineffective, and characterized by a high administrative burden.
Some consequences
Even though the problem is more significant in larger organizations, each company spends valuable HR resources on creating and maintaining paper records. This puts a strain on the HR teams and deprives them of the opportunity to work remotely and focus on more strategic tasks. Further, the old method of managing employment processes has a significant environmental footprint that often contradicts companies’ sustainable development goals.
How can the electronic employment record help?
Art. 128b of the Labour Code and the respective Ordinance provide for the introduction of an electronic employment record in Bulgaria. The Ordinance envisages the types of documents that may be electronically stored and sets requirements for the employment record system that an employer may introduce.
Direct Benefits of Introducing a Digital Solution
The tangible benefits of introducing electronic employment records depend on the specifics of the selected system and the company’s needs. In general, key benefits may include:
- Reducing costs: the digital employment record saves costs for the processing of documents, use of paper, printing and couriers;
- Reducing carbon footprint: good electronic employment records can fully eliminate the paper of employment records;
- Improving the effectiveness of HR processes: a suitable digital solution may automate routine employment processes, save time and free up resources for strategic tasks;
- Guarantee compliance with legal provisions: good electronic employment records align with the country’s legislation and minimize legal risks;
- Enhanced information security: by encrypting and ensuring various access rights, electronic employment records may improve data security;
- Minimizing the risk of losing documents: a digital system may reduce to a minimum the risk of human error and may improve traceability;
- Faster administrative processes: Employees may submit and agree their employment documents fully digitally in seconds, and through specific mass digital services, management administration time can be reduced at times and even cut to zero.
These aspects may be enriched in different ways that improve organizations’ experience. For example, they may include integration with other systems, self-service portals, mobile apps for employees, etc.
Value Added
The introduction of an electronic employment record creates overall value added by modernizing the organization’s way of work. It can fully optimize employment processes, enhance HR productivity, and improve employees’ administrative interaction with the company. It is also a practical step towards building a “green office” and reducing the company’s carbon footprint.
The electronic employment record could act as a link in an “ecosystem” of human resources management solutions. If properly implemented and integrated with other solutions, it can lead to the automation of all HR processes and legitimize digital communication in labor relations in Bulgaria.
Final Words
The legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria provides for the introduction of an electronic employment record. It sets requirements for the digital system that an employer may introduce.
Good solutions bring both direct and indirect benefits to the work of the HR team, the employees, and the organization as a whole. Some of them include cost reduction, enhancing the HR team’s efficiency, and improving data security. They also create additional added value related to modernizing the way of working, introducing green policies, and improving the employee experience.
Contact us to learn more about the first legitimate electronic employment record in the country!
