Digitize to Optimize: Saving Space and Time in HR Operations

The Challenge

With over 4,000 locations and more than 24,000 employees in the U.S. alone, this retailer of professional beauty supplies generates and manages a significant volume of HR and employee documents. That volume is amplified by high seasonal turnover, making strict file management and retention practices even more critical.

To meet compliance requirements, they were storing the physical files of both departed and active employees onsite at the company’s headquarters. Over time, these records became increasingly burdensome. Inefficient document retrieval was a growing issue, and so was the expanding footprint needed to store them.

Driven by the dual need to free up office space for newly hired employees at the corporate headquarters and reduce ongoing storage expenses, the company embraced a digital transformation strategy.

The Solution: An Efficient Transition From Paper to Digital Employee Records

The rapidly growing company turned to Access for help converting their physical HR files to digital.

Approximately 60,000 employee files were boxed up, securely transported to a nearby Access records center, scanned and indexed, then made available digitally via Access’ cloud-based document management platform. Afterwards, the physical files were compliantly shredded. The project enabled the retailer to achieve their goals with minimal disruption.

The Results

With all of their employee files accessible from any location via a cloud-based system, productivity skyrocketed. Regional and corporate HR teams greatly reduced the amount of time it took to find employee documents for audits and everyday business needs.

And the space that was previously being used to store physical records was repurposed for a much more important goal: adding new employee workstations without paying for additional real estate.

“We’ve enjoyed working with Access throughout our transition to digital employee HR documentation. The team has acted as a true partner to our organization, helping us to drive new initiatives and delivering a product that is easy to use while saving us time and money.” – Director of HR Operations

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