Employment contract
Signing an employment contract digitally
Since July 2016, it has been authorized to sign employment contracts digitally in Europe, which makes the lives of companies and their employees much easier. Digital signing simplifies the recruitment process by providing a quick and simple solution to initial and sign a document. Let’s review the specific features of digitally signing an employment contract.
The e-signatures requirements for employment contracts
Although digital signatures on employment contracts and amendments are very practical in company management, the must still meet a few requirements to be perfectly reliable and secure.
The legal conditions of e-signatures for employment contracts
On 1 July 2016, the European eIDAS regulation defined the legal framework for the digital signature, and gave it the same legal value as a handwritten signature. In this way, when a signatory signs documents digitally, their signature is legally valid and cannot be challenged. The digital identification process is considered to be reliable, which enables one to sign many types of document, in particular employment contracts.
Digital signatures: the different security levels
An electronic signature’s reliability depends on the company’s scope of application, as it may use three types of digital signature.
• The simple digital signature: this procedure guarantees the document’s integrity with the digital signature certificate (DSC) or the digital stamp, and the signatory’s information is directly linked to the data;
• The advanced digital signature: here, authentication of the signatory is more advanced and enables you to link the information unequivocally with a digital certificate. This is the digital signature level recommended for employment contracts;
• The qualified digital signature: this advanced signature also includes a visual check of the signatory (on site or by video conference) and the use of an SSCD certified signature.
Why sign an employment contract digitally?
Human resources departments are using digital signing more and more often, either for employment contracts or amendments. There are many advantages to this solution.
Simple
HR staff no longer waste time on a protracted task and create, sign and store the documents easily.
Responsible
Electronic signing is part of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) process because it removes the need for paper, meeting a sustainable development goal.
Economical
Contract management is streamlined and the costs involved in printing, franking and archiving are reduced.
Fast
The employee can sign their contract digitally the same day, which is especially beneficial for short-term contract or last-minute recruitment processes.
Legal
The legal security of the digital signature on the employment contract is guaranteed, and may be used as proof in court.
Do you want to put in place a digital signature in your company to streamline the recruitment process?
Connective offers a reliable and completely legal electronic signature solution for signing employment contracts digitally.
How the digital signing of employment contracts works
Signing an employment contract involves several steps, first on the employer’s side, then the future employee’s side.
Signing on the company’s side
After drafting a digital employment contract, a company’s recruitment manager only has a few steps to follow to send it to the signatory.
Upload the employment contract in Connective’s digital signature solution.
Configure the contract (fields to be filled in by the signatory, manager’s signature field).
Configure contract sending (personalised message, signatory’s email address).
Confirm sending with an electronic signature.
When configuring sending, the professional can choose to sign the document before sending it, or wait for the employee’s signature to sign it in return.
Signing on the employee’s side
As soon as the digital employment contract has been sent, the signatory receives an email containing a link to the document to be signed. They just have to follow several steps to confirm the contract signing:
Fill in the empty fields (address, surname, telephone number, etc.).
Accept Connective’s terms and conditions and data encryption and processing.
Enter the authentication code received by text message.
Confirm signing of the contract.
These steps can be taken from a mobile, a computer or tablet, and the signatory is not obliged to subscribe the to digital signature solution offer to access the documents.
After signing, a copy of the contract is sent to the two signatories, but it is also possible to create a copy for other people (HRD, CEO, etc.). The contract is then stored on the software platform and can be downloaded at any time by all the parties who have access to the document. However, the signature can no longer be changed.
