Managing HR Policy Updates for Returning to Work

As parts of the world start to lessen social distancing restrictions and allow physical workplaces to reopen, human resources teams at many organizations are building processes to design productive and safe new working environments. Whether they are rehiring furloughed or laid off workers, or planning to bring remote workers back to the office, HR teams need to be able to send and track company-wide HR policy updates in real-time to employees.

The World Health Organization (WHO) publication, Getting Your Workplace Ready for COVID-19, covers preparedness and prevention. A key recommendation is to contact and screen everyone in advance of in-person meetings. Pre-screening determines if a person carries any risk factors or is feeling unwell.

But before a person even thinks about stepping back into an office, human resources teams in charge of employee health can mitigate risk with information – thanks to waivers.

Digitized employee forms simplify the process

The single biggest obstacle for HR teams is repetitive document generation for agreements. This costs HR considerable time to send, manage, and track employee completion of forms.

In preparing to reopen, HR will have its hands full screening all employees who plan to physically return to their places of work – even if only periodically. HR teams will need to send policy updates and forms to determine if an employee has potentially come in contact with or is themself currently showing symptoms of COVID-19. A self-assessment waiver should not be confused with a legal waiver. It is simply used to gather important health information to safely return to the workplace, not a tool to limit company liability if an employee contracts the virus while at work.

As corporate policies and procedures around COVID protocol continue to be updated and change, it’s important to not only communicate those policies but also have your employees consent to the latest versions. DocuSign Click is a great way to inform your employees, have them consent with a single click and allow staff to manage versioning of the policy. You can easily keep track of who consented to which version and then have employees acknowledge receipt and agreement when you make significant changes to your policies. Since these are standard agreements, employees can simply read and click, offering a fast and positive user experience.

The bulk send functionality in DocuSign eSignature makes quick work of sending out a high volume of documents ready to be completed and signed remotely. Teams can simply import a list of employees and each receives a unique, personalized copy of the waiver to sign – eliminating the need to create and send separate envelopes or emails.

Templates let you standardize your screening waivers and forms. Reusable templates automate end-to-end data gathering with common fields and a clear click-to-sign signature box. You can also include freeform fields or add an attachment. These forms can be customized to contain both health information as well as new operational procedures for returning employees to sign off on.

DocuSign powerforms are the perfect method for pre-screening clients and visitors. A single click takes employees to a self-assessment questionnaire that can be completed at any time. A custom form is generated from their answers; the employee then signs the waiver remotely from their own personal device (PC, tablet, phone). Powerforms are the most efficient way to create on-demand, self-serve documents for signature – and protect everyone who may come back to the office.

Benefits to human resources

Using remotely signed back-to-work waivers, HR teams gain:

• Proactive protection for all employees
• Streamlined compliance with federal and provincial health guidelines
• Secure end-to-end encryption of private employee information
• Automated and auditable method for contacting all staff
• Customizable forms suited to your work environment
• 24/7 access to waiver forms for convenience

For HR teams, the pressure of the pandemic has put a strong focus on employee protection. Digitized, contactless solutions – especially those that help avoid potentially unsafe personal interactions – put the health of people first as organizations reopen their doors for business. Learn more about the DocuSign Agreement Cloud for HR.