ABOUT THE CUSTOMER
Ricoh is a global information and technology company and a leader in information mobility for today’s changing workforce. With a strong legacy of introducing new technologies into the workplace and a deep expertise in managing and accessing information, Ricoh is changing the way people work today with innovative products and dynamic solutions that harness the power of today’s worker in a new world of work.
CHALLENGE
As Ricoh was transforming from a company known for office imaging equipment into a services-led organization providing information mobility solutions, the Human Resources (HR) department realized that to support this new direction fully it needed to intensify its focus on strategic goals and talent acquisition. Determining steps to effectively achieve this objective, the HR department recognized it was spending way too much time managing labor-intensive paper processes, such as completing and filing the paperwork related to new hires. It needed to find a solution to reduce its paperwork processing and the number of administrative personnel needed to accomplish these transactional tasks.
Moreover, with an organization of more than 23,000 employees, approximately 1,200 square feet of office space had been dedicated to housing the nearly 900 boxes of employee files in 40 different locations. Anytime one of these files was requested, the HR administrative staff had to manually retrieve it and then scan, fax or copy and overnight the requested documents to the HR or line manager who needed the file.
SOLUTION
Our goal was to move from a decentralized administrative HR organization to a streamlined, centralized one,” said Michael Jones, vice president, human resources for Ricoh. “To accomplish that, we consolidated our HR organization in a single location in Houston, Texas and began a process of back-file conversion of legacy paper records and day- forward imaging of new documents to streamline our workflow.”
However, imaging was only one component of the content management strategy. Equally important was the organization’s plan to streamline the cumbersome process for file retrieval. “With our existing process, if an HR manager needed an employee file that was stored in another location, they didn’t have immediate access to it. In a situation such as a surprise inspection by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, not being able to quickly produce an employee file was a real drawback.”
Ricoh designed a new workflow to solve this using barcodes that allow a department manager to scan employee documents directly into the employee’s file, instead of having to send them to the HR department for filing. Each document in an employee’s file is labeled by the barcoding solution so that individual records, such as a non-compete agreement, can be retrieved without having to request an entire physical file that may contain 100 or more documents. “Our managers can now file and retrieve documents themselves without the involvement of the HR department. This has allowed us to significantly reduce the administrative coordinator staff, speed the retrieval process and stay focused on our core initiatives,” said Jones.
The new enterprise content management system improves document security as well. Embedded controls in the document indexing ensure that only authorized personnel can access each document. Safeguards were put in to place so that the Payroll department, for example, can retrieve an IRS W4 form but not access an employee’s performance reviews or other confidential documents.
Additionally, electronic storage protects critical documents from potential loss due to natural disasters. “We built in robust auditing and reporting features which have significantly improved our productivity and reduced compliance risk compared to our previous manual processes,” Jones added.
Overall, the reduction in paper processes is advancing Ricoh’s longstanding sustainability objectives as well as making information work for the business.
RESULTS
With the Enterprise HR Content Management Business Information Solutions in place, Ricoh’s HR department has reduced its administrative staff from approximately 50 persons to 20 and significantly increased its focus on strategic objectives rather than transactional document processing.
Self-service document processes enable managers to onboard employee documents themselves and access documents in real-time, greatly enhancing information mobility. The electronic repository mitigates compliance risk and improves security, disaster recovery, reporting and environmental impact as well.
The reduction in costs associated with labor, leased storage space, paper and mailing costs are estimated to deliver approximately $1.2 million in savings over five years.
“The best part of the experience is that we have now developed a portfolio of comprehensive capabilities to support Enterprise HR Content Management for our customers,” said Jones.
The portfolio includes:
- Workflow and process consulting
- Enterprise content management and capture solutions
- Back-file conversion, legacy records and day-forward imaging
- Shared services and managed services, and
- Forms management
“As was the case with our own transition, our Enterprise HR Content Management Business Information Solutions will help other HR organizations improve productivity by integrating and automating employee records for real-time access; enhance cost control through digitizing records and streamlining workflows; and mitigate compliance
risks with improved recordkeeping to help ensure proper retention and disposal of records, improved security and disaster recovery capabilities,” said Jones. “It’s a flexible suite of solutions to help HR departments identify and address their unique opportunities to improve.”
