Processing HR Forms in a Remote Workforce

With so many businesses transitioning to a remote workforce, there’s a need to create digital templates of common HR forms in order to adapt previously manual or paper-based processes. From offer letters to employee exit forms, companies need to be able to generate, send, sign and manage employee forms remotely. One way to streamline the experience for potentially frustrated or overworked HR teams is to leverage digital, prebuilt templates for some of the most commonly used HR forms. 

In a recent study conducted by Forrester, 62% of HR departments process over 500 agreements every month. That’s a whole lot of HR forms, especially if teams have to complete and process them all by hand. From recruiting and interviewing prospective hires to navigating complex payroll and benefits systems, there are plenty of far-reaching responsibilities that HR operations professionals have to worry about on a daily basis. Generating and managing employee forms should not be one of them.

How e-signature solutions can simplify the process of completing HR forms online

Choosing an electronic signature provider that offers prebuilt templates for common HR forms can make processing employee information remotely much easier. Using DocuSign for HR, the process of sending HR forms to any number of employees can be completed in eight simple steps:

1. From the Templates page, click New and select Create Template
2. Scan & upload the HR form into DocuSign eSignature as a template
3. Add recipients who need to complete the form
4. Import a bulk list if you have a large number of employees who need to complete the form
5. Add the appropriate authentication methods to make sure the recipients are properly validating their identity if necessary
6. Detail standard instructions to go with the form or private messages for specific recipients
7. Tag the fields on the form that need to be completed and indicate those that are required vs. optional; this ensures that the signer will be reminded if they accidentally skip a field and saves the HR team time spent following up on incorrect forms
8. Send the form to employees

If you’re a DocuSign customer you can see specific details for how to create templates in our support center.

DocuSign prebuilt templates for HR forms

To save even more time, DocuSign has already created templates for the most commonly used HR forms. As a DocuSign customer, you can access all of the templates listed below. If you’re interested in using these templates for your HR work, click on one of the template links below. Once you’ve logged in to your DocuSign account, you will be able to download the templates.

Who can access DocuSign pre-built templates?

DocuSign customers and DocuSign CLM customers, as well as anyone with a DocuSign trial account can access the template library, which includes the templates listed below and many more. If you’re not a DocuSign customer, you can learn more about the template library in the DocuSign Community.

Below we go into detail on a few examples of DocuSign’s digital prebuilt templates. If you’re interested in using templates to manage HR forms, but don’t see the form you’re looking for here, search our template library to find what you need.

Employee Change Form

During these unprecedented times, there are bound to be changes among your workforce. Often these changes require fast, accurate and remote form processing. DocuSign’s Employee Status Change Request makes it easy for managers to initiate requests for employee title changes, shift updates, transfer requests and more, allowing HR teams to process employee changes without having to spin up, print, scan or fax forms for every unique employee request.

FMLA Form

HR teams are generating new forms to manage employee leave as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. To request expanded FMLA leave as provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and our Expanded Family and Medical Leave Policy, DocuSign is offering a prebuilt FMLA Leave Request form for employees to submit and sign with their HR teams. This form, like all the DocuSign prebuilt forms, are available to DocuSign eSignature customers on the DocuSign Knowledge Market.

Employee Offboarding Form

When it comes time to offboard employees, DocuSign is here to help your HR staff manage and process requests from people managers within your organization. This Employee Offboarding Request form makes it easy for managers to kick off requests for temporary or permanent staff offboarding. 

W-4 Form

Late in 2019, the IRS announced changes to the W-4 form, including an increase in the number of questions on the form and changes to the structure of the form that would impact HR operations professionals since it will lead to changes in the payroll process, costing them valuable time. DocuSign’s new W-4 Template, made easily available via PowerForms, offers a quick and easy solution. Using the shareable template, employees can fill out the form faster and HR professionals can upload the templates to their systems more efficiently.

I-9 Form

Like the W-4 form, the I-9 form is essential to employee onboarding, thus one of the most popular documents used by HR departments. With HR teams transitioning their hiring and  onboarding to remote practices, it’s more critical than ever before to have digital forms readily available to send to employees.

Furthermore, by digitizing the process, HR professionals are able to avoid the complexity of obtaining ink-and-paper signatures as well as the tedious scanning, faxing and mailing back-and-forth required when illegible handwriting makes vital data unreadable. With so many employees working from home, it’s not reasonable to expect current employees, new hires or prospects to manage all that hassle to receive or provide information.

DocuSign is here to help employers maneuver this uncharted territory in any way we can. For more tips on digital hiring and onboarding take a look at our Guide to Digital Hiring & Onboarding whitepaper.