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HR · scanning the personnel files

A box of personnel files in. A folder per employee out.

CapturePoint 6 learns resumes, offers, W-4s, I-9s, reviews, timesheets and benefits forms from a folder of your own files. It splits each box into documents, reads whose each one is, and files it under that employee, with I-9s and benefits paperwork kept apart. All of it is read on your own PC.

What it reads in the box

The free trial starts the first time you open it. No form.

A records box labelled Personnel, A to L, becomes a folder tree: Personnel, with a folder for Maria Lopez holding her job offer, withholding certificate and performance review, and a folder for James Okafor; then separate, locked top folders for I-9 forms and for benefits paperwork.PersonnelA to LOne box, unsortedPersonnelLopez, MariaJob Offer.pdfWithholding Certificate.pdfPerformance Review.pdfOkafor, JamesI-9Benefits
Named from what CapturePoint 6 read on each page, filed by a naming you choose. Example data.

Seven kinds of paper, and where each one says whose it is.

To file by employee, every document needs a name to file under. Set up on a fictional set of HR files, five of these types read one straight away. On the I-9 and the timesheet, add an Employee name field once; after a few confirmations it is read like the rest.

Resume

Name from: Applicant

Also reads: Location

Job offer

Name from: Candidate

Also reads: Employer, position, offered compensation

Withholding certificate (W-4)

Name from: Employee name

Also reads: Filing status, employer name

Benefits enrollment

Name from: Employee name

Also reads: Employer name

Performance review

Name from: Employee

Also reads: Overall rating

Employment eligibility verification (I-9)

Add an Employee name field

Also reads: Employer name, first day of employment, document list

Timesheet

Add an Employee name field

Also reads: Company name, regular pay, gross pay

Have paper the job does not know, such as certifications, leave forms or separation paperwork? Add it as your own type from the review screen, or point CapturePoint 6 at a folder of examples and it sets the types up itself.

Before you scan

The box is one pile. The law sees three.

Old personnel files often have everything stapled together. Scanning is the moment to pull it apart, because the naming can send each document type to its own top folder.

Personnel

Resumes, offers, W-4s, reviews and timesheets, one folder per employee.

The file a manager or HR opens day to day.

I-9

Every Form I-9 together, by employee, apart from the personnel file.

Kept apart, the I-9s can be handed over for an inspection without the rest of anyone’s file.

Benefits and medical

Benefits enrollment and anything with health details, behind tighter permissions.

The ADA asks that medical information be kept in separate, confidential files.

How long each pile is kept.

Federal minimums for private employers. Your state can ask for longer, and this is a starting point, not legal advice. For the I-9, the job reads the first day of employment, which is where its clock starts.

Records retention policy template
Form I-9
Three years after the date of hire, or one year after employment ends, whichever is later.
USCIS
Form W-4
At least four years, with your other employment tax records.
IRS
Payroll records
At least three years.
FLSA
Timesheets
At least two years, as records wages are computed from.
FLSA
Resumes, offers, reviews
At least one year from when the record was made or the action taken, longer if a charge is filed.
EEOC

You set the naming once, per document type.

Each type builds its folders and file name from your own words, the document type and any field it reads. Three of the seven, set up the way the picture above shows:

Resume

PersonnelApplicantResume.pdf

Withholding certificate

PersonnelEmployee nameWithholding Certificate.pdf

I-9

I-9Employee nameFirst day of employment.pdf
Your own words A field it reads The document type

When a name is missing

Choose the words to use instead, such as “Name missing”, so those files collect in one place for a quick look.

Private values stay out of names

If you pick a private field such as a tax ID for a file name, CapturePoint 6 warns you that anyone who can open the folder will see it.

Names match your roster

Load your employee list from payroll and check names against it, so a name that is not on the list waits for a person instead of starting a second folder for the same employee. The list stays on the PC.

One box at a time, at the scanner you already have.

  1. 1

    Pull the staples

    Take each file out of its folder and stack it. No separator sheets needed; the job finds where each document starts.

  2. 2

    Scan the stack

    Any TWAIN scanner on a Windows 10 or 11 PC. Unlimited scanning, so the back files cost the same as the daily paper.

  3. 3

    Check what waits

    Only pages it is unsure of stop, each with a reason. Look, fix, Ctrl+Enter. It learns from each one.

  4. 4

    Filed

    Searchable PDFs land in the folders you named, on your server, SharePoint or OneDrive on a work account, Google Drive, Dropbox, Nucleus One or Content Central.

What waits for youHere the only form waiting is a W-9 it was unsure about, with the reason shown beside the field.

If the files go to Content Central

Permissions are set per document type, so managers can open reviews while only HR opens I-9s and benefits forms. Turn on Require Reason for Access for the confidential types, give each type its own retention period, and keep anything under a legal hold indefinitely. HR document management.

Start with the first box this afternoon.

Download CapturePoint 6 and take the 2-minute tour from the welcome screen. Then put one of your own files through and look at the folder it makes.

Or bring a box to a free demo

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