With as many advances as we’ve seen (and helped bring to life) in HR, management of off-cycle changes and personnel action forms continues to lag behind. Inefficient, paper-based processes take up an inordinate amount of time and energy, and are further encumbered by opportunities to veer off track. It’s time to let technology do the heavy lifting.

What is a PAF? And why do we need a new approach to them?

Personnel action forms are critical—and time-critical—documents. Even if you call them by another name, PAFs are any documents related to changes in employee status, compensation or position. They need to be managed efficiently and accurately. Yet printing forms, hand-delivering them for signatures, and manually inputting data into various systems is time-consuming and prone to errors.

Worst of all, delays in processing can make employees feel undervalued or add stress if raises don’t come through as expected.

7 smart reasons to automate personnel action forms

1. Far superior efficiency: Rather than having the HR team and various managers spend hours on PAF paperwork, you can streamline workflows according to your specific business rules, enabling faster processing of requests and approvals.
2. Employee satisfaction: Employees aren’t left in the dark, wondering whether action has been taken. New employees in particular—who may not be ready to ask questions or advocate for themselves—can feel confident about their decision to join the organization.
3. Advanced accuracy: Human error is human nature. Mistakes happen. An automated PAF system, however, takes the human variable out of the equation, ensuring consistency and reducing the risk of lost or misplaced documents.
4. Enhanced data management and compliance: Personnel action forms and decision making can be informed by the most up-to-date policies and comprehensive historical data, as well as maintain audit trails for all actions.
5. Cost savings: In addition to lower paper and printing costs, automated personnel action forms can substantially decrease administrative overhead and minimize time spent on manual data entry, routing and filing.
6. Improved security: A purpose-built solution can control access to sensitive information, rather than risk pages left on a printer or someone’s desk.
7. Easy integration: Automated personnel action form workflows can seamlessly connect with other HR systems, enabling smooth data flow between departments and eliminating the need to re-enter data.

An easy switch

Implementing an automated system for personnel action forms and off-cycle employee updates can be surprisingly simple. For example, the CWS Software DataEnvoy web-based platform is designed specifically to manage off-cycle compensation requests. PAF processes are tailored to your specific routing requirements, allowing the system to manage every step—from initial request and payment calculations through approvals and submission to payroll. An intuitive dashboard provides complete transparency as requests progress.

DataEnvoy can go beyond digitizing your existing processes to helping you reimagine and optimize PAF management for today. Find out how DataEnvoy by CWS Software can drive greater efficiency, satisfaction, accuracy and compliance in your HR processes, starting with your personnel action forms.