At most companies, the department with the most print-related costs and paper usage is HR. But, unfortunately, it comes with the territory. The main functions of your Human Resources department used to depend mainly on printed documents: new hire paperwork, employee handbooks, training certifications, performance evaluations, employment contracts, and offboarding documentation.
Thankfully, today, many of these previously paper- and printer-heavy functions can now be digitized or automated, moving your organization closer to being a green office environment.
With easy-to-implement software and some user training, you’ll quickly reduce paper usage and experience print reduction and overall cost reduction.
Encouraging your HR department to print less starts with equipping them with the right tools and sharing the security, budgetary, and environmental impact of print.
Here are ways to encourage your HR team to reduce paper usage in the most paper-heavy HR processes.
Implement Print Rules
We love printer software like PaperCut for its print rules — you can nudge your users to print less without being the bad guy. For example, you can set a rule that says for any print jobs that are more than ten pages; they must be printed double-sided.
You can also implement pop-up print policy alerts that show how much a print job will cost the company and how much energy it uses to bring more awareness to the environmental impact and cost of printing. One of our other favorite paper-reducing rules: don’t allow employees to print emails (or at least require they print them in black and white).
Eliminate Small Printers
Having small printers in the HR office is no longer the only way to ensure confidential documents don’t fall into the wrong hands. Encourage your HR department to send print jobs to your large multifunction devices — they’re more efficient and have a much lower cost-per-page than small, personal printers. They also offer features that help curb overprint.
But don’t worry, you can still print confidential documents on a multifunction printer located in a common area. By using printer software like PaperCut, you can implement pull printing, a secure way to release print jobs only when the right employee is there to grab it from the printer tray.
Pull printing with software like PaperCut pauses jobs sent to your printer’s queue until the employee who printed the job authenticates at the multifunction printer with a PIN, a badge swipe, or Microsoft credentials. Only then does the printer process the job.
Not only is this a crucial way to ensure confidential documents aren’t left unattended on the output tray, but it also reduces the amount printed (and reduces print costs!). Any jobs not pulled and completed at the end of the day are cleared, eliminating accidental prints and unclaimed jobs.
Digitize Your Onboarding Process
Committing to a paperless onboarding process is easier than you might think and creates an efficient, welcoming experience for new employees.
Instead of having a new employee spend their first day signing pages and pages of documents, email them their onboarding documents before their first day. Then, ask them to fill out and sign the paperwork digitally, eliminating the need for any printing by you or them. There are document management software options available no matter your approach: starting small with a free tool that lets you create fillable PDFs like JotForm or PDFescape; or large-scale document automation software implementation.
When you start the process paperless, it’s even easier to maintain. When your new hire sends back all the signed documents, set up their digital employee records folder. You’ll have a secure, searchable database of necessary employee paperwork — minus the paper!
With the rise of remote and hybrid work environments, HR professionals are getting creative with remote onboarding. We love this idea from The Imaging Channel:
“Instead of a form, why not have an HR person record a short video that a new hire can watch and sign electronically?”
An employee you’re hiring might live and work across the country; you might not ever meet them in person. Creating a digital onboarding process means your HR team and new employees can review and sign documents anywhere from any device.
HR functions are document-heavy, but that doesn’t mean your HR department needs to use a ton of paper and spend a lot on printing. By implementing print software like PaperCut, you can utilize gentle print rules that reduce printing, eliminate inefficient personal printers while maintaining document security, and digitize your entire onboarding process.
The easiest way to reduce your entire organization’s paper usage and printer costs? Engage a managed print services specialist to analyze your print environment, set up print-reducing software, and save your organization money. To get started on a paper- and cost-reducing initiative, schedule a free consultation.
At most companies, the department with the most print-related costs and paper usage is HR. But, unfortunately, it comes with the territory. Connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn and keep up with my company imageOne. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
