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Instituting more environmentally friendly or “green” business practices has become a goal for many companies. The Human Resources function in organizations has often participated by shredding and tossing out unnecessary paper files on employees. In many organizations, HR has gone a step further, creating computer or Internet-based HR systems to maintain employee information without paper.

Michael Zirngibl, president and CEO of Angel.com, a provider of on-demand call center and interactive voice response (IVR) solutions, suggests additional ways that HR and organizational leadership can become more green, (environmentally friendly) while providing better and more efficient service to employees. Some solutions include prescreening of employment candidates, employee orientation to safety and security practices, employee benefits sign-up, and security badge registration.

Zirngibl comments, “The telephone as a key technology in the context of a paperless office is experiencing a revival right now.” Some employers had switched to Internet-based solutions for many employee-related functions and processes and then found that an all or nothing approach doesn’t always work.

“It’s not always feasible for all employers to roll out Internet technology to their entire employee base; for example, large retailers with personnel in many retail locations where easy access to a website is not feasible,” explains Zirngibl. Other organizations with employees that may not have Internet or even computer access include manufacturing facilities and healthcare providers.

Using the 40,000-employee retailer, Family Dollar, as an example, Zirngibl explains that this organization had a cumbersome onboarding process in terms of paperwork for two different processes—securing employee badges for new staff and training the new employees in security and store procedures. By using an interactive telephone system instead of faxing information and signatures back and forth from stores to HR and vice versa, this organization has tracked fewer mistakes, improved efficiencies, and employee understanding.

“By people calling in [to the system], spelling their names over the telephone, and automatically creating an entry into the HR system with no person involved, there’s no human error,” he says.

“The onboarding process, with explanation of practices and procedures [and badge registration] takes 7 to 10 minutes. New employees must acknowledge that they heard the information and that they understood it before they can be permitted to work. The
IVR system is intelligent enough to connect with an HR professional if the caller can’t understand the information being shared.”

Employee benefits sign-up can also be handled through an IVR system that enters employee data automatically into a computerized database, automating the benefits registration process, according to Zirngibl. There is always an option to speak with an HR representative so that an employee with questions can opt out of the automated, interactive system to talk with someone.

One of the most timesaving and ideal uses of an IVR solution is for employment-applicant prescreening because it can be used at different levels of sophistication, notes Zirngibl.

An IVR system can be used for a caller to go through prescreening questions and leave a message that is then routed to a recruitment specialist if the caller meets minimum criteria.

Another option, with a higher level of sophistication, would allow a caller who has successfully answered prescreening questions to instantly be directed to an HR representative for further screening and to schedule an interview.

Zirngibl comments that this system increases efficiencies, cuts down on recordkeeping, and helps employees comply with employment laws because “a person doesn’t become an employment applicant until they get through the prescreening process.”

For more information on using IVR technology in your HR processes, visit www.angel.com.

This article originally appeared in Best Practices in HR, a publication of Business & Legal Reports (BLR). BLR has been helping HR, Safety and Environmental professionals with legal compliance and professional support resources for over 30 years. For more information, visit www.blr.com or hr.blr.com.