Document management software helps HR teams manage and store employee documents.
HR professionals interview candidates, onboard new employees, and conduct exit interviews, among other workforce management tasks. All of these processes involve piles of documents, handling which using a manual paper-based system just doesn’t cut it. Investing in human resources document management software can help streamline and digitalize the process.
Document management solutions help store and organize employee documents, maintain compliance, and improve the administrative efficiency of HR teams. This article looks at the three best document management tools trusted by real users from the HR industry. (Read how we selected these products.)
What features does HR document management software offer?
The core features of HR document management software are:
Document capture: Convert physical documents into digital files.
Document storage: Store documents in a centralized repository for easy access.
Full-text search: Look through HR documents to find specific information such as an employee’s address.
All the products listed in this report include the features mentioned above.
Besides these core features, HR document management systems also commonly offer:
Access controls/permissions
Archiving and retention
Collaboration tools
Compliance tracking
Document classification
File conversion
File management and sharing
Employee data portal
Optical character recognition
Version control
What we cover for each product
For each product, we cover the following:
How have users rated the featured products on different aspects?
We analyzed 71 reviews across all products to uncover how users perceive these products on parameters such as ease of use, customer support, value for money, and functionality.
What do users say about the products?
For each of the featured products, we’ve included some review excerpts from the trailing year.
How are the products priced?
Pricing models are generally one of the following: flat rate, usage based, per user, or per feature. Also, most of the time, the payment frequency is either one time, annual, or monthly.
Are the products a good fit for your HR staff?
Some tools are specifically built for enterprises, while others work perfectly for small or midsize companies. Knowing the typical user base of these products is another differentiating factor to help decide the right fit for your HR staff.
Top 3 HR document management software
Note: The products are listed alphabetically.
1. Dropbox Business
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Managing files in DropBox Business
Excerpts of the most positive reviews for the product:
"It's very easy and awesome to have a shared folder system with my coworkers. Dropbox made my day today jobs with my team mates easier. Previously it was a hassel to store shared data with my team mates. But now, with dropbox it is totally a new level and a wonderful experience."
"The feature most important about Dropbox Business is that it allows for collaboration within your company. Individuals can upload their work into the program and that work can be organized into folders to keep everything clean. Content can be organized to what site it is meant to be uploaded to. The site is very user friendly and accessible making it a great easy tool to aid in your business."
"Love the simplicity of Dropbox, but I don't agree with their pricing and lockin for licenses. . . If I am to offer a solution to clients, it has to be winwin, and other solutions simply win because of licensing."
Read all Dropbox Business reviews here.
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2. Google Drive
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- Free Version
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Managing documents in Google Drive
Excerpts of the most positive reviews for the product:
"What I like most about this software is how I am able to save anything onto it. From pictures to PDFs to documents. Anything is able to be saved onto google drive. In a way it is like a portable and digital flash drive. The big amount memory is also great."
"It's have many feature's and all features are really awesome but my favorite feature is cloud storage. honestly I like cloud storage and I think this is a best cloud backup and restore. you can get your old phone data into new phone without any pc, data cable which is really good option."
"Google drive is the smart choice for file storage and backing up important documents. It integrates easily with Gmail, which makes sharing files super easy and quick. Being able to organize documents into different folders and determining who has access to individual folders is a great tool."
Read all Google Drive reviews here.
3. Microsoft 365
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Creating a new Excel file in Microsoft 365
Excerpts of the most positive reviews for the product:
"A good software for cloud age, excellent for work on most variables locations. A set of good Office softwares that help all the time in one place.. More flexibility and functionality than other Suits. Good collaboration with Microsoft Softwares."
"The 1tb space on Onedrive is just fantastic. I have a family plan so several people share this benefit. The best application for me is Excel. The other applications are also very good and productive."
"What I like best is the fact that it can be easily navigated and easy to understand. Makes doing work a bit more enjoyable as well due to the many features."
Read all Microsoft 365 reviews here.
How to choose the right HR document management software for your business
Purchasing software can be challenging if you don't know what to look for. Here are some recommendations to keep in mind when shortlisting document management software for your HR team:
Check whether the software offers document restoration. This feature will let you recover and restore employee documents in case of accidental deletions. An ideal document management tool will maintain a backup of all your HR records and documents to prevent data loss.
Look for the document scanning service. Manually keying in data from a paper document into the software is a time-consuming task. But if your chosen software offers document scanning functionality, you can easily scan paper files to convert them into digital or electronic documents.
Ensure the software has an employee self-service portal. Select a document management solution that offers a self-service portal where your employees can update and access their documents, such as W-2s and I-9s. This functionality will help not only reduce the burden on your HR department but also improve the employee experience.
Common questions to ask vendors when buying HR document management software
Does your software offer text search for documents?
An ideal document management tool should let you search for specific documents such as payroll records or employee contracts using a text search feature to make processes such as onboarding and exit interviews more efficient.
Can I store documents under various categories and control user access?
It’ll become easier to search for information if your digital document management system lets you store documents under multiple sub-categories, such as employee data and business information, and share them with specific people within your organization. When shortlisting software options, ask vendors if their product lets you segment document types and restrict user access to them.
Does your software integrate with third-party file management platforms?
The software you buy should be able to integrate with third-party applications so you can easily migrate and transfer important employee data and documents. Be sure to ask vendors whether their product has such integration capabilities.
How did we choose these products? We didn’t—you did
To find your ideal software match, you need information you can trust—so you can save time, stay on budget, and focus more energy on growing your business. It’s why we vet and verify all our user reviews and recommend only the tools endorsed by people like you.
In other words, our product recommendations are never bought or sold, or based on the opinion of a single individual—they’re chosen by your peers, reflecting the views and experiences of our independent base of software reviewers.
The human resource document management tools featured in this article are the most recommended based on verified user reviews. However, if they don’t meet the document management requirements of your HR team, you can check out our document management software directory to find a best-fit solution.