As the hiring manager, you have all the employment contracts written up. All you now need is for it to be signed-off by the HR head and CEO of your company.
So, you email it to the two C-suite executives and wait.
And wait. And remind them (over email). Check-in again to see if they have signed it. Then, wait some more. Until finally, they sign the document. That’s a week or two wasted.
Next, you forward the document to the new joinee - only to face a similar delay. What a productivity-draining process!
Clearly, amid the current social distancing to contain COVID-19, getting all the hiring paperwork cleared has become more strenuous.
Online contract signing tools can swoop in to save the day and eliminate these daily struggles by allowing users to rapidly authenticate documents without the use of paper and pen. An electronic signature tool, such as Signeasy, allows you to share contracts with single or multiple parties, and automatically send them reminders to approve the document and share document status; from anywhere and any time.
Yet, I bet that “online contract signing” still isn’t amongst your top 5 business priorities for 2020. Dive into today’s post to find out why it should be.
Why sign contracts online for remote hiring?
At every step of hiring and pre-onboarding, there are so many documents that require the ‘signature of approval’ from new hires and internal stakeholders:
- Offer letter
- NDA
- Employment contract
- New employee forms
- Policy documents etc etc
Physically delivering (and following up on) the printed copies of these contracts to new joinees or freelancers isn't going to be possible in the near future, owing to the current ‘remote-work experiment’ that we are all participants in. And even if you were to email the contracts, it will still need to be printed, signed, scanned and then emailed back to you. Not only would this archaic way of document processing cause a drop in productivity, but the delay will also end-up creating a poor impression about your company on new hires.
The only logical solution needed, in this case, is eSignatures.
This need is further amplified by the Gen Y and Gen-Z powered growing gig-economy.
No wonder, research states that the global electronic signature (e-signature) market is expected to generate revenue worth $9,073.1 million by 2023.
The question is: With all roads pointing to adopting signing contracts online, why wait another minute?
Let's find out what tools which help you with signing a contract online, such as Signeasy, so special for your company’s productivity :
Extremely user-friendly
Upload an existing document and assign signees to it, within your electronic signature tool. From there, your employment contract is ready to be served! Then simply hit send and wait, in the comfort of your own home, for the signed document to return to you, within a few hours or even minutes.
It really is that simple and intuitive.
- NO printing physical copies of employee contracts/ resumes/ compliance documents
- NO mailing it to employees for signature
- NO scanning signed copies of the contracts
- NO storing tonnes of employee files
Think of the thousands of dollars saved on paper, postage, mailing supplies and effort!
What’s more, with Signeasy’s mobile-friendly electronic signature app, new joinees can insert their signature into your hiring-related documents with a mouse, stylus or finger - on the go!
Signeasy has even reached the sun-kissed beaches of Aruba. At the island’s La Cabana Resort & Casino, the tool helps collect signatures for essential documents related to recruitment, onboarding and the like. Thus, making it easier for La Cabana to manage its workforce of 200+ full-time employees and about 100 contractors.
No more paper pushing
No matter what timezone your new hires are in, nothing warrants having to eternally wait and follow up on document signatures. This cumbersome process can be crunched into less than a few hours by adopting an efficient eSignature solution that allows you to:
- Set rules that keep the document owners up-to-date by sharing status notifications (who reads and signs the document) and signed copies automatically
- Send automated reminders that nudges slow signers to complete the document
- Remotely authenticate documents, in a secure manner.
Smoother workflow
Self-quarantine or not, you are likely to be using Zoom or Skype to interview candidates, assess them and then enter their details onto an HRM software.
Wouldn't it be great if, right after the data entry, you could also send the offer letter to the candidate from within the HRM tool itself?
Electronic signature tools make this possible by integrating with existing productivity-enhancing applications ranging from Gmail and Freshteam to Google Drive and Microsoft Teams. It forms a layer over your favorite apps and allows you in sending and signing contract online within the flow of work.
Also, you may set up approval workflows that automatically encourage recipients to sign contracts online in a specific order or simultaneously.
Templatized contracts
Contract templates can end up being a big productivity booster for you in 2020.
By saving your most-used contracts as a template on the eSignature tool, your recruitment team can do away with the whole process of typing out new employment contracts (and the like) and highlight the signing fields each time.
To add a touch of personalization, Signeasy even allows you to place your company logo and colors on to the template. After all, building your company’s brand is so essential in the first few interactions with your new hires.
With all those man-hours saved in penning and designing contracts, you are free to focus on what's really important - the more strategic and creative aspects of hiring.
Error-free and secure documents
Sometimes, employment contracts can be quite complex to navigate - dozens of signatories and clauses. Since they now have to be signed remotely, in the absence of a point of contact to quickly clarify the queries that arise during sign in, your new employee may inadvertently make mistakes in completing the document.
To prevent this, Signeasy has document fields that guide signers and helps parties understand how to fill-in the document. And this, in turn, saves your team effort in checking each hiring contract or NDA for errors.
To ensure that the document is not opened or signed by unintended recipients, the eSignature software also allows you to secure the document with a passcode and biometric authentication.
Say aye! As online contract signing reshapes the future of work
At the end of the day, I say, look at this current remote-work scenario as a grand opportunity to redesign your hiring and onboarding process. You will need an arsenal of best-in-class tools to meet the challenges of the post-COVID-19 world.
Case in point, digitizing of paperwork and leveraging online contract signing.
Luckily, online contract signing is no new kid on the block. It's widely accepted and has been relevant since the early 2000s. So, no matter where your hires are located, contracts with e-signature will be as legally binding as (and more secure than) the old-school wet ink version - compliant with ESIGN act in US and eIDAS regulation in Europe.
Still on the fence about it? Why not sign up for the 14-day free trial Signeasy to see how much the online contract signing experience can benefit your HR team in real-life.
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