HR Professional - February/March 2008 - (Page 24)

FOCUS BY HARPRIT SINGH DIGITAL RESCUE: REDUCING PAPER WASTE IN THE OFFICE e live and work in a digital age where reams of information are available with just a single mouse click. That means more data is being created, stored and printed everyday. It’s no wonder businesses struggle to achieve the elusive “paperless office.” While a full conversion is out of reach for most, a semi-paperless office is not unachievable. Recent advancements in technology coupled with the widespread use of e-mail make this process simple and practical. W management software and services are available to help HR professionals and employees manage and store all their HR paperwork and documents online, on demand. Fax E-mail-to-fax and fax-to-e-mail services are now available and eradicate the need for traditional faxes. These services allow faxed documents to be sent electronically as PDF attachments to e-mails, cutting paper use at both ends of the transaction. Scanners Scanners are affordable tools that can convert any paper document into electronic format. Scanning and storing papers that already exist makes sharing documents easier and also frees up physical ﬁling space. Furthermore, optical character recognition and indexing technologies make locating a document less difﬁcult. Finance Accounting departments typically generate large volumes of paper through invoicing, purchase orders and payment processing. For billing purposes, offer customers the option of receiving electronic invoices. In turn, ask your own vendors to bill you electronically and check if they will accept electronic purchase orders. For larger companies, payments via automated clearing house may be a feasible alternative for paper cheques. Photocopying In some cases, handling documents cannot be done entirely through electronic means. But if printing or photocopying documents is absolutely necessary, simply making double-sided prints can halve your paper output. Eliminating paper completely from your office is an ambitious—and, perhaps, unattainable—goal, but drastically reducing paper usage is certainly not. If individuals recognize and capitalize on these small opportunities for paper reduction, the collective effort will be dramatic. Harprit Singh (www.Intellicomm.com) is the founder and CEO of Intellicomm Inc., an enhanced communications service provider. HR P R OF E S S I ON A L Computers In addition to desktop computers, many employees also use laptops, PDAs and tablet PCs. An easy way to reduce paper is to encourage employees to use these devices as a substitute for pen and paper. This keeps notes better organized, and makes it easier to search for speciﬁc information. Plus, when the notes are no longer needed, they can be deleted or archived electronically, ultimately eliminating paper waste. For billing purposes, offer customers the option of receiving electronic invoices. Forms In most ofﬁces, hard copies of applications, contracts and other important HR documents are distributed to employees and returned with hand-written responses. Typically, the handwritten information is entered and stored into a computer database or sent to another party for processing. But if the information on these forms is ultimately converted to electronic data, it’s better to start with an electronic version and do away with the conversion. This streamlines data processing and eliminates the burden of ﬁling or disposing of the paper originals. Business 24 F e b r u a r y / M a r c h 2 0 0 8 ‘‘ ’’ http://www.Intellicomm.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Professional - February/March 2008

HR Professional - February/March 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Contributors Leadership Matters Boards By the Numbers Did You Know Sustainability Education News: E-Recycling Communications News: HR Study FYI Ethics World Watch News: Legislation Legal Compensation Focus Strategy The Colour of Money Sustainable Skills From Brown to Green HR Trends: From Winners to Also-Rans Branding Human Capital HR 101 Interview with David Suzuki Off the Shelf The Last Word

HR Professional - February/March 2008

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