How Westbank First Nation Uses Laserfiche to Improve the Employee Experience

Laserfiche Solution Contributed By: Chad Rota, Supervisor, Records and Information Management, Westbank First Nation

Located in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada, self-governing Westbank First Nation (WFN) is one of seven bands that comprise the Okanagan Nation Alliance. WFN has a membership of approximately 900 people and employs more than 200 staff to serve the nearly 10,000 residents living on Westbank reserve lands.

Before Laserfiche, WFN used paper forms to process employee change notification requests. These forms started out as PDF forms and were printed, signed, and passed around the various departments through inter-office mail. This process was inefficient, time consuming, and prone to lost and/or wasted paper: if any update needed to be made to the request, the process had to start all over.

Laserfiche Forms Built a Lot More Flexibility into the Process

Instead of filling out a PDF form and printing it, an employee now fills out an electronic form. The employee can select the appropriate manager to whom the request should be routed. If the employee reports directly to the director of operations, then the application is routed directly there and skips all the other approval levels in between.

This image shows an electronic form with various options for status changes
The employee can select from multiple status change options

At each level of approval, the approver has the option of sending the request to another manager, directly to human resources, or back to the submitter with required changes.

This image shows an electronic forms with three different options for approval decisions
The approver can make one of three decisions before submitting the form

Each request can be reviewed and approved by one or multiple people. Once all managers have viewed and approved it, the request is vetted by human resources and then sent to the director of operations for final approval. Throughout the process, the request can be sent back to either reviewer or submitter at any time to make changes. Each reviewer can also make some changes to the form while reviewing it.

Finalized requests are stored in Laserfiche, and Forms sends an automatic notification to payroll. A payroll employee checks that all documentation in the folder is compiled properly and makes the appropriate changes to the payroll system. Once finished with their task, the payroll employee launches a Laserfiche Workflow business process which routes the documents to the appropriate places in the repository for storage, names them correctly, and applies the relevant security tags based on the document type.

This workflow also uses the Employee Number field to look up information in the human resources database to populate the rest of each document’s fields.

This image shows a Laserfiche workflow taht routes documents to the right folders.
Laserfiche Workflow moves the documents to the right folders and applies the appropriate security tags. Click to view larger in a new window.

This Workflow business process is used to move, rename, and apply security to all human resources documents, not just change requests. WFN processes over 50 human resources documents every week, and this workflow ensures that the human resources portion of the repository remains organized and secure.

Employees Can Access All Forms and Documents through a Custom Portal

In order to help employees find the appropriate document or form to fill out, the staff at WFN created a custom staff resources portal. This portal is actually a Laserfiche form with the Submit button hidden. The button is hidden by making its color and text blend in with the background.

The staff resources page is created in Laserfiche Forms
This image shows how to format the Submit button so that it blends in with the background color.
The color of the Submit button can be changed in the Themes tab in Laserfiche Forms

Employees specify what they would like to do by checking the appropriate boxes. This opens up other fields which contain links to the appropriate Laserfiche WebLink pages or Laserfiche Forms, including any directions.

This image shows the various options on the employee portal that appear when the user checks the Laserfiche Forms and Tutorials option

This image shows the employee portal when a user checks the Policies and Procedures Library option
Different options appear based on what was checked for the first question

Since launching the staff resources page, the records management and information technology teams have received significantly fewer emails and calls with questions regarding where to access specific forms. Employees are able to find everything they need on their own. Since this portal is created using Laserfiche Forms, it can be easily modified and updated with any new available resources.

“The new portal has eliminated a lot of mystery and curiosity around Laserfiche. Users can now access everything in one place. This has led to a lot more independent Laserfiche users,” says Chad Rota, Supervisor, Records and Information Management.

Moving forward, WFN plans on exploring an integration between its payroll system and Laserfiche using Laserfiche Connector to help automate various human resources processes even further.

How the City of Southlake, TX Automated Police Department Hiring

Laserfiche Solution Contributed By: Veronica Lomas, Records Manager and Chris Chaillot, Talent Acquisition Partner, City of Southlake, TX

The City of Southlake, TX is a suburb of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex with a population of 30,000. Based on median household income, Southlake is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States.

One of the ways that Laserfiche is helping Southlake support its mission of delivering excellent customer service and governance to its citizens is by allowing the city to automate the police department hiring process.

Originally, candidates for the police department had to fill out a 28-page paper application packet. Candidates had to write N/A in each of the form fields that weren’t relevant to them, and because the application was so thorough, there were many fields to fill out. Once filled out, the application had to be either scanned in and emailed, or mailed back to the police department. It was difficult to track the application and all associated supplemental documents. In addition, the application contained a lot of sensitive information, such as social security numbers, which made security a challenge.

Each application had to be reviewed by the sergeant, and applications that passed the initial review were sent to HR to invite to testing. The time between receiving the application and approving it for an interview took anywhere from two weeks to a month.

In preparation for the applicant’s interview, a copy of the application was made for each member of the interview board. This entire process wasted a lot of paper.

Southlake used Laserfiche Forms to make the police department hiring process faster, more streamlined and efficient. As a result, the volume of new applicants has doubled. The department now has a larger pool of applicants to choose from, and can hire more qualified people. Since the time to process new applications has decreased to 90 minutes from 2-4 weeks, qualified applicants are offered a job much faster than before.

“We know we are always competing with the other departments for top-notch applicants and the person who gives the offer first wins. When we get to tell people that they can get hired within six weeks, we end up winning.” says Chris Chaillot, Talent Acquisition Partner.

The Time between Application Receipt and Interview Approval Is Now 90 Minutes

New candidates for the police department fill out an electronic Laserfiche form. This form is dynamic and displays only the fields pertinent to the applicant, based on the information provided in the form. For example, if the applicant answers that they have served in the armed forces, they have to fill out different questions than an applicant who answers that they have not served.

If an applicant did not serve in the armed forces, they can simply move on to the next question
If the applicant served in the armed forces, they have to fill out more specific information before moving on to the next question

These questions are governed by over 80 field rules. In addition, the form has many questions set as required, so that only fully completed forms can be submitted.

Once the form is submitted, it is routed to the sergeant who is responsible for the base review of the application. The sergeant reads through the application to make sure that applicant did not select any of the questions in the Criminal Legal History that result in an automatic disqualification.

Certain questions on the form, if answered in a particular way, automatically disqualify the applicant

In order to help the sergeant with the review, Laserfiche Forms has different levels of priority configured for the review task based on which of the options in the Criminal Legal History section have been checked. The sergeant can easily see in his Inbox tasks that require Urgent attention, since they will be marked in red.

Setting a different priority level for applications based on options checked by the applicant streamlines application review

Once the applicant passes the initial review, he or she is automatically added to the candidate testing pool. As the candidate passes or fails each test, a member of the talent acquisition team enters the information into Forms for tracking and notifications.

The application goes down a different path depending on the test results.

  • If the candidate fails the written test, he or she is eligible for an immediate retest
  • If the candidate fails the oral board, he or she can retest one year later

The Forms process ends when the candidates pass both tests or fail one but don’t want to participate in the retest. Otherwise, the application is held within the Forms process until the retests are successful.

“Laserfiche Forms has transformed the way we process applications. Even when I am away from the office I receive an alert and have the ability to evaluate new applications from my phone or tablet. This incredibly efficient turnaround allows us to confirm candidates for our test dates sooner, and we start a dialogue with the candidate while the City of Southlake is still fresh on their mind. Strong first impressions and a positive candidate experience are key to retaining quality applicants, and the sooner those conversations can start the better!” says Sergeant Mike Dunn.

Out-of-the-Box Reporting Tools Help the City Stay Compliant with Regulations

Laserfiche Forms helps Southlake keep compliant with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) requirements by tracking all of the testing requirements and results. Authorized individuals can run reports within Forms and pull metrics for TCOLE compliance.

In addition, Forms reports allow the talent acquisition team to get an overall look at the applicants in various stages of the hiring process and how long each stage is taking.

The reporting tools in Laserfiche Forms make it easy to see how many applicants are in different stages of the hiring process

The dashboards in Laserfiche Forms show how long each stage of the hiring process is takingIf an applicant has a question about their application, a talent acquisition team member can quickly find the applicant’s entire application history in Laserfiche Forms.

Each step that the candidate’s application took as part of the hiring process is displayed in a centralized History tab

Benefits of Laserfiche

Automating the police department hiring process with Laserfiche Forms has resulted in the following benefits for the city of Southlake:

  • The volume of new applicants has doubled. As a result, the department has a larger pool of applicants to choose from and can hire more qualified people.
  • Since the time to process new applications has decreased to 90 minutes from 2-4 weeks, qualified applicants are offered a job much faster than before.

 
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How Breckenridge Grand Vacations Automated HR Onboarding with Laserfiche Forms

Laserfiche Solution Contributed By: Irina Garner, HR Technician, Breckenridge Grand Vacations

Breckenridge Grand Vacations manages three timeshare resorts in Breckenridge, CO and is currently building a fourth one. With 400 employees and a 50% turnover rate, the hiring process used to involve a great deal of paper. Here is how Laserfiche Forms made onboarding new hires a quick and painless process.

Legacy process

After a prospective employee accepted a job offer at Breckenridge Grand Vacations, the hiring manager had to:
  • Fill out a lengthy new hire form in Microsoft Excel with all of the new hire’s personal data and salary information.
  • Submit a new helpdesk ticket to set the new employee up with all appropriate hardware and software, such as computer login and phone number.
  • Register the employee for new employee orientation.

Hiring managers generally performed these steps at different times, so the people who needed the information frequently didn’t receive it in a timely matter. The new hire form in particular had to be printed and driven around the organization’s eight different locations through interoffice mail to be signed. It was then delivered to HR, where an employee manually entered all of the new hire’s information into the HR system, only to find out that required information was missing or the form was not filled out correctly.

Here is what the old, cumbersome new hire form looked like:
breckenridge1

Current process

With the new process, the hiring manager simply fills out one Laserfiche form to perform all of the tasks listed above. Here is what this form looks like:
Improved HR onboarding form using Laserfiche Forms

This form is created to be as user-friendly as possible so that the hiring manager only enters a minimal amount of information. Some of the most useful features of this form include:
  • Drop-down fields that ensure the manager selects an answer that is appropriate to the question. For example, the Location field has a list of all of the available locations. The manager does not have to remember the proper spelling or name of a location.
  • Field rules that guarantee the manager only fills out information that is pertinent to the particular new hire. For example, the compensation structure fields only appear if the manager selects the commission pay type.
    Setting field rules for HR onboarding flow with Laserfiche forms
  • Database lookups that allow some of the information, such as the name of the hiring manager’s supervisor, to be prepopulated directly from the employee database. This ensures that the form is routed to the correct people for review.
  • Custom JavaScript applied to the Start Day field that ensures that the new employee starts work on the day of a new hire orientation (every Monday for English speakers and every Friday for Spanish-speakers). This eliminates the problem of a new hire starting on a Tuesday, and not attending the new hire orientation until the following Monday. Here is what this JavaScript looks like:
    Custom javascript for HR onboarding form
  • Read-only fields that ensure that some of the prepopulated data cannot be changed. For example, the three different approvers who need to review the form are automatically populated based on the employee ID of the submitter. Those fields are set as read-only so that the submitter cannot alter the chain of review.

Once the form is submitted, it goes through three different levels of approval (unless the first approver is one of the company’s executives, in which case the other two approval levels are bypassed.) The reviewer is notified by email of a new hire form to review and can view and approve/reject this form directly in Laserfiche Forms. Alternatively, the reviewer can reply directly to the email with either “approve” or “reject” in the email body. Either action will move the form along in the process. Here is what a sample email looks like:
Sample HR onboarding approval e-mail from Laserfiche Forms

If the reviewer doesn’t approve or reject the form in three days, he/she receives a reminder email. If at any point the form is rejected, an email is sent to the hiring manager and the process is terminated.

Once the form has been approved by all reviewers, the HR assistant is notified by email. Another email is sent to the IT helpdesk. The IT email notification contains all of the information the IT employee needs to set up the user in all systems.

Here is what the entire Laserfiche Forms business process looks like:
breckenridge6
Click image to view larger in new window.

Benefits of Laserfiche Forms

Automating the new hire process with Laserfiche Forms has resulted in the following benefits for Breckenridge Grand Vacations:
  • The HR and IT departments receive information that is always correct, complete and timely so that everything is ready before the new hire’s first day.
  • The forms can be built by an HR technician, who can also make changes without having to wait for assistance from the IT department.
  • Direct approval allows managers who travel between locations to approve new hire forms quickly from their email inbox without having to log into Laserfiche Forms.
  • Employee information is more secure—there is no longer the possibility of a form being lost on the way to another location or accidentally viewed by an unauthorized person.

You can learn more about paperless processes in HR by downloading the free guide to HR automation.


How the City of Mount Pearl Recruits New Employees with Laserfiche

Contributed by:Rick Dunphy, Information Technology Manager and Natalia Chebel, Records Officer, City of Mount Pearl

The City of Mount Pearl hires as many as 25 temporary employees during its peak season each year. The recruiting process used to be tedious and paper heavy, but Laserfiche Workflow has changed the way the city works.

Applications

Once a request to hire is submitted to Human Resources by the hiring manager, HR advertises the job either internally within the organization or externally, depending on the position. Normally there is an application deadline of one week for internal job postings and two weeks for external job postings.

The majority of applications are submitted by email while the rest are delivered either in person or by mail.

Previously, applications were kept in paper recruitment files that could contain as many as 500 pages. Now, they are either imported into Laserfiche through the Laserfiche Microsoft Outlook integration or scanned with Laserfiche Scanning.

During the importing or scanning process, the HR administrative assistant fills out the Recruitment Candidate and Recruitment Position templates.
mt_pearl_recruitment1

Once an application is saved in Laserfiche and the template is populated, Laserfiche Workflow moves it to a brand new candidate folder that it just created and synchronizes the metadata between the document and folder. Here is what this part of the workflow looks like:
mt_pearl_recruitment2
Click image to view larger in new window.

To help the hiring committee access the applications more conveniently, Laserfiche Workflow also creates a separate folder that contains only shortcuts to the application packages.

Laserfiche Workflow also sends an email confirmation to the candidate.
mt_pearl_recruitment3

Review

As soon as the system starts processing applications, the HR administrative assistant runs a business process that sends a notification to hiring committee members letting them know that they may start the review process.
mt_pearl_recruitment4
Click image to view larger in new window.

The notification email contains a shortcut to the Application Packages folder and a brief guide on how to leave comments on the applications with metadata and annotations.
mt_pearl_recruitment5

The day after the job posting closes, Laserfiche Workflow generates a list of applicants with their contact information, qualification notes and status (internal or external). This report is a PDF form that is filled out by Laserfiche Workflow based on the information contained in metadata fields.
mt_pearl_recruitment6

Here is what this section of the workflow looks like:
mt_pearl_recruitment7

At each step of the screening, members of the hiring committee make notes, either private or visible to other members. Private notes, useful for reminding the individual committee member about what he liked or disliked about a candidate, are made using sticky notes while public notes are made in the template fields directly.
mt_pearl_recruitment8
mt_pearl_recruitment9

Once all of the members of the hiring committee make a decision about a particular candidate, they change the Agreed-on Applicant Status field to either eligible or ineligible. Candidate folders marked as eligible are moved to the Eligible folder while candidate folders marked as ineligible are moved into the Ineligible folder.
mt_pearl_recruitment10

Here is the section of the workflow that moves the files:
mt_pearl_recruitment11

Throughout the process, Laserfiche Workflow generates acknowledgement letters to applicants at different stages of the recruitment process. For example, it creates and sends letters letting applicants know that they were identified as ineligible after a certain screening stage.

If several positions with the same title (i.e. lifeguard, summer student or laborer) are filled, Laserfiche Workflow also generates standard offer letters.

Benefits of Laserfiche

Automating the recruitment process with Laserfiche has saved the City of Mount Pearl an estimated $30,000 CAD annually after the first year of implementation. In addition, the city was able to:
  • Optimize the screening process by allowing hiring committee members to work with electronic application packages, collaborate more efficiently by sharing notes on applicants, view applicants’ status in the competition and receive notifications of applications pending review.
  • Save time for the HR team by eliminating the need to print and assemble application files (which, in some cases, consisted of over 1,000 pages!).
  • Avoid the grief associated with maintaining physical records—filing, re-filing, running out of space, retrieving, preparing records for disposition, etc.
  • Standardize and speed up notifications and report generation.

You can learn more about paperless processes in HR by downloading the free guide to HR automation.
Ultimate Guide to HR Automation

Automate Employee Onboarding with Laserfiche Forms

Reviewing paper job applications can be time-consuming for HR recruiters. This article outlines how to configure Laserfiche Electronic Forms to make the hiring process more efficient.

The process

The hiring process begins when a job opening is posted on the company’s website. The link to the electronic application form created with Laserfiche Forms is embedded in the job description. When a prospective applicant clicks the link, she is presented with the employment application:
job_app_1_cropped_revised

The applicant fills out the application. The fields marked with asterisks are required.

At the end of the application, the applicant can upload a cover letter and resume. If the job posting requires additional documents (e.g., writing samples), she can upload those as well.

The applicant does not need to complete and submit the form in one session. She can save the form as a draft and complete it later. Once everything is filled out, the applicant simply clicks “Submit.”
Job App Save the Form

The form and supplemental documents are routed to the recruiter, who inspects the application to see if the candidate might be a good fit for the job. If this is the case, the recruiter can assign the application to a departmental manager. The recruiter can also leave comments for the manager, such as the notes from a phone screening.
Form Route

If the application is approved by the recruiter, an email is automatically generated and sent to the department manager notifying him of a new application for his review.
Department Manager Notifying Email

If the manager doesn’t review the application in three business days, he’ll get another email reminder.

The department manager can look through the application and download the candidate’s resume by clicking the resume link.

If the department manager decides that he would like to interview the candidate, he clicks “Schedule Interview.” This alerts the recruiter to schedule an interview with the candidate. The recruiter notes the date, time and location of the interview on the form, along with the interviewer’s name. In order to simplify this task, the field prompts the user with company employee names.
Schedule Interview

Once the interview is scheduled, the recruiter clicks “Interview Scheduled.” This action generates an email to the interviewer that includes interview information as well as a link to the original job application.
Interview Scheduled Email

The interviewer can view the information, download associated files and print any he’d like to have on hand during the interview. When finished, he clicks “Application Viewed.” After the interview, the hiring manager receives an email with a link to the form, where he can hire or reject the candidate.

If the applicant is hired, the application and supplemental information are saved to a newly created employee folder. Otherwise, the application is routed to a “Rejected Candidates” folder for storage.
Employee Folder

What is going on behind the scenes

The entire business process is mapped out in the Laserfiche Forms Process Modeler.
job_app_10revised
Click on image to view larger in new window.

The process starts when a user fills out the job application on the website. After that, each action taken by an employee is represented by a user task. Here is what the “Department Manager Review” user task looks like.
job_app_11_revised

Every user task deals with a particular form. This process uses three different forms.
job_app_12_revised

Information from the original job application is copied to the forms that the recruiter and department manager will review, along with other fields specific to those users. For example, the form that the recruiter sees when reviewing the application is not the original job application form but the job application form with the special “For HR Use Only” appended to the bottom.
For Hr Use Only

Each form field has a specific variable associated with it. This variable contains the information that is entered into the field. For example, the “First Name” field has a corresponding variable called “First_Name.”
job_app_14_revised

For example, when creating the form that the recruiter sees when reviewing the application, instead of inserting a regular field and calling it “First Name,” we can simply insert the “First_Name” variable. This ensures that that the field will contain the same information entered in the original job application when the recruiter views it.

In order to simplify the new form creation process, we can also copy the form, rename it and then add the “For HR User Only” section on the bottom. Forms can be copied directly from within the Form Designer.

In the Laserfiche Forms Process Modeler, decisions are denoted by gateways, such as this “Did applicant pass initial review?” gateway.
job_app_16_revised

Once the application has passed the recruiter’s initial review, it is sent to the department manager for review. If the manager doesn’t review it within three business days, he’ll get a follow up email. This is accomplished by attaching an intermediate timer to the Department Manager Review user task. Here is how this timer is configured:
job_app_17_revised

Another intermediate timer event occurs before a hiring decision is made. This timer event reminds the HR manager a day after the interview to make a decision about the candidate.
job_app_18_revised

Once the HR manager decides if the candidate should be hired or rejected, the candidate’s job application and all supplemental files are saved in the Laserfiche repository with the Save to Repository service task. This task also allows the user to specify the template and fields that will be appended to the submission in Laserfiche. Since the files for hired and rejected applicants are saved in different folders, this HR onboarding process uses two Save to Repository tasks. Here is what the task for hired candidates looks like:
job_app_19_revised

Advantages of Laserfiche Forms

Some benefits of automating your hiring process with Laserfiche Forms include:
  • Job applications are always legible and complete, since required fields prevent important information from being omitted.
  • Applications can be quickly and seamlessly passed to various employees for review. Because forms can be viewed easily on desktops, laptops and mobile devices, managers can review and act on them from any location.
  • Administrators can easily see the status of each application, allowing them to quickly eliminate bottlenecks.

You can learn more about paperless processes in HR by downloading the free guide to HR automation.


How the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Created a Paperless Human Resources Department

Contributed by:  Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma

With more than 350 employees, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of the largest employers in Payne County, OK. Prior to implementing Laserfiche, we had to deal with inconsistent personnel files and paperwork being constantly misfiled or lost. Laserfiche completely revitalized our human resources department and made it almost completely paperless. With twenty-five different workflows running in our HR department, we’ve used Laserfiche to automate everything from employee onboarding to employee separation.

Job application

The employee onboarding process begins when a job requisition is submitted electronically through our Microsoft SharePoint approval system. Once this requisition is approved, the HR assistant sends it into Laserfiche with Laserfiche Snapshot. Laserfiche Workflow then routes this document into a special requisition folder in Laserfiche.

The HR assistant posts this job description on our Website. Potential employees apply for the position by filling out an electronic employment application created with LincDoc – software that creates electronic forms.
Iowa Tribe Job Application<br />

LincDoc is fully integrated with Laserfiche, so once a candidate submits the employment application, it is automatically saved in the “LincwareApplications” folder in the repository with the appropriate template automatically applied.
Employment Application<br />

A large number of the fields in the template, such as “Name”, “SSN” and “Tribal Affiliation” are also populated automatically through the Laserfiche/LincDoc integration.
Laserfiche/Lincdoc Integration<br />

Laserfiche Workflow monitors the “Applications” folder and automatically routes incoming applications to the appropriate hiring manager for consideration based on the value of the “Approving Manager” field. Here is a screenshot of this workflow:
Laserfiche Workflow<br />

A shortcut to this job application is also placed in the requisition folder to await a hiring selection.

The hiring manager is able to communicate with candidates during the entire application review process by changing the value of the “Applicant Status” list field. Candidates receive an e-mail notifying them of every status change. Some of the status updates a manager can select are:
  • Does not meet minimum qualifications.
  • Application received after closed.
  • Manager declined.
  • Selected for hire.

Here is an example of an e-mail notification that is sent when the status is changed to “Manager declined”:
"“Manager

Employee onboarding

Once a hiring manager decides to hire an employee, the application is routed to Human Resources to complete the remainder of the onboarding process. HR maintains communication with the hiring manager throughout the hiring process by updating the “Applicant Status” field. Some of the different statuses they can choose from are:
  • Offer accepted.
  • Drug screen and background check completed.
  • New hire orientation scheduled.
  • Hired.

Here is an example of a notification e-mail that is sent when the status is changed to “New hire orientation scheduled”:
"“New

Throughout the process, every action taken on the document by Laserfiche Workflow is tracked in a special “WFhistory” multi-value field.
“Wfhistory” Multi-Value Field<br />

As the application moves through the various steps in the onboarding process, it also physically moves through the various folders in the Laserfiche repository.
Laserfiche Repository<br />

Once an applicant’s status is changed to “Hired”, Laserfiche Workflow notifies Payroll, Purchasing and IT by e-mail to begin distribution of company resources in preparation for the employee’s start date.
"Notifies

Laserfiche Workflow also:
  • Finds all other job applications that the applicant has in Laserfiche for other positions and sets their status to “rescinded”.
  • Finds all of the other job applications for this particular position and sets their status to “Manager declined”. This automatically notifies the candidates by e-mail that the position has been filled.

Another workflow performs an inventory of the requisition folder to check if the new employee has any missing documents.
  • If there are missing documents, HR is notified by e-mail.
"Notified
  • If no documents are missing the new employee’s documents are converted to recruitment documents and moved to a pending hire folder where they await an employee number.
  • As soon as HR assigns an employee number and fills out the “Employee ID” field, all of the documents are moved to a brand new active employee folder where an “HR-Employee Folder” template is assigned.
“Hr-Employee Folder”<br />

Another workflow scans the inactive employee record series to determine whether the new hire is a previous employee with an existing employee file. If it locates one, it automatically moves all documents back to the active employee folder.
"Workflow

Here is a screenshot of our active employee folders:
Active Employee Folders<br />

Employee document management

In addition to new employee documents, all other HR documents are stored in Laserfiche as soon as they are received. Some of the different document types are:
  • Personnel Action Notices (PANs) – forms that contain any change to an employee’s record or status.
  • Direct deposit forms.
  • Employee evaluations.
  • W4s.
  • I9s.
  • Benefits enrollment.
  • Worker’s compensation forms.
  • Discipline forms.
  • Certifications.
  • Leave donations.
  • Medical return to work letters.
  • Incident drug screens.
  • Garnishments.

All of these documents are either created electronically and sent to Laserfiche with Laserfiche Snapshot or scanned onto the network, imported into Laserfiche with Import Agent and immediately shredded. They are also assigned the “HR-Employee Files” template.
Hr-Employee Files<br />

Laserfiche Workflow finds each new document, determines its type and routes it to either Payroll or Benefits as needed. Workflow also performs a database lookup to automatically populate the metadata. Here is the main workflow that processes our incoming employee documents:
Main Workflow<br />

Employee separation
Employee Separation<br />

In addition to employee onboarding, Laserfiche Workflow also manages employee separation. Once HR staff submits a separation PAN, Workflow scans the repository for all documents for that employee, terminates them, and files them in our inactive employee record series to keep on file per the retention schedule for each document type.

Here is a section of our separation workflow:
"Separation

Benefits of Laserfiche

Implementing Laserfiche in the HR department has resulted in the following benefits at Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma:
  • We have eliminated 80 cubic feet of filing cabinets.
  • Authorized users can access any active employee file onsite from a Web browser or offsite via authorized VPN access.
  • The workflow which checks for missing documentation saved us 300 hours a year of employee time.
  • There is now clear and constant communication between everyone involved in the employee onboarding process including the hiring managers, job candidates and HR staff.

You can learn more about paperless processes in HR by downloading the free guide to HR automation


Automate Hiring: Basic Configuration

Hiring new employees involves many individuals in different departments. From creating the application form for the position to generating the offer letter, Laserfiche can automate many steps of this process and make it almost completely paperless. Here is how Laserfiche Forms and Laserfiche Workflow help with employee hiring.

Laserfiche Forms

A candidate finds a job that she is interested in and clicks on the link to apply online. Within the candidate’s browser, Laserfiche Forms opens the job application. The name of the position automatically populates based on the job listing that the prospective employee selects.

The applicant fills out the application and can either type in or upload a resume.

Before submitting, she signs the form electronically using her mouse. She can also type in a signature, if that is more convenient.

The submitted form and supplemental documents are saved in Laserfiche and an email is sent to a recruiter notifying her of the new application.

The recruiter reviews the application and either invalidates or approves it. Approved applicants are moved to the phone screening phase. The recruiter conducts the phone screening and types notes into another Laserfiche form. The recruiter approves or rejects the candidate. If the candidate is approved, the recruiter must also select the job for which the candidate should be interviewed—it can be different from the original position for which the person applied.

Laserfiche Workflow

Once approved, Laserfiche Workflow emails the job application, supplemental documents and phone screening notes to the appropriate department manager.

The department manager either proceeds with the on-site interview or rejects the candidate by changing the value of the Application Status template field. All of the manager’s and recruiter’s actions are tracked in the job application’s business process history pane.
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If the manager decides to interview the candidate, the recruiter gets an email notification to schedule the interview.

Once the interview is scheduled, the recruiter updates the job application’s metadata with the interview date, time and location. Laserfiche Workflow emails this information to the manager along with a calendar meeting request so that the interview time can be booked directly on the manager’s calendar.

If the candidate is offered a job after the interview, the recruiter inputs information such as the candidate’s salary and proposed start date into the metadata and Laserfiche Workflow automatically generates a PDF offer letter. This letter is automatically emailed to the candidate to electronically sign.

Rejected applicants’ folders are moved to the Rejected Applicants records series in Laserfiche where they remain until they can be destroyed according to the state’s retention policy.

Benefits of Laserfiche

Automating the hiring process with Laserfiche results in the following benefits:
  • Job applications are always legible and complete, since required fields prevent important information from being omitted.
  • Managers can review and act on applications from any location by simply viewing the application from their laptop, tablet or smartphone.
  • Administrators can easily see the status of each application, allowing them to quickly eliminate bottlenecks.
  • All of the candidate’s information is stored in one centralized folder in Laserfiche, making document retrieval faster.

You can learn more about paperless processes in HR by downloading the free guide to HR automation.