Seriously?

Sometimes it just blows me away when I encounter folks just missing or bypassing the most basic of things in the workplace. We HR people hate forms just as much as you but there are legal requirements (thank Sarbannes Oxley for most of them) that cause us to get all these documents with your signature. It's a pain for you and HR since you've got to sign them and we've got to retain them.

One of the skills I like to work on as an HR professional is streamlining processes and utilizing technology, where appropriate. Many other HR pros do this too. You may get a job with a company that will accept an electronic signature for all those pesky forms. Or you may have to sign them all in hardcopy (let's hope they are at least double sided to save some trees). The thing to remember is if you are given a form or a policy acknowledgement to sign from your friendly HR person, you sign and return it.

Simple right?

I have to stop myself from making a snap judgment as to whether a new hire has the attention to detail core competency when they don't return all the forms. It holds up the HRIS and payroll processing when all the forms aren't completed and it causes frustration all around. The worst part about this HR Administration beast is that it harkens back to the 'personnel' paper-pushing function of HR.

I certainly didn't go into HR to master the paper-pushing process. If I could do my job without ever touching a piece of paper, I would be one happy lady.