Product
Policies, versions and a record of who has read them
Upload or write a policy, choose who it applies to, and HRHive asks each person to acknowledge receipt, online or on paper. Every version is kept, outstanding acknowledgements show on Home, and the register can be printed.
What problem does this solve?
The handbook is a PDF on a shared drive, and people were asked to read it once. When a policy changes, nobody can say who has seen the new version. When someone asks "did you give me this?", you cannot show it. Chasing signatures by email takes longer than writing the policy did.
What HRHive does
- Keeps each policy as a series of versions. Upload a document (PDF, Word, OpenDocument or text) or write the text, and give the version a label, an effective date, an optional review date and a summary of what has changed.
- Lets you choose who a version applies to: everyone, a department, a location, a position or selected people.
- Asks each person to acknowledge receipt, online or on paper, and records who did, when and how.
- Archives the previous version when you publish a new one. It stays readable, and anyone who had not yet acknowledged it is asked about the new version instead.
- Asks new employees to acknowledge the policies that apply to them when they become active. This is on by default, and onboarding includes the same step.
- Shows what is outstanding. Home says how many employees have not acknowledged a policy, and which one.
- Reminds you when a review date is coming up.
- Prints the acknowledgement register, with a signature column if you collect signatures on paper, and records paper acknowledgements from the signed register.
- Offers a list of common policy names to start from, such as Employee Handbook, Holiday Policy and Sickness Policy.
How it works
- Add the policy. Give it a name, such as Health & Safety, and a category.
- Publish a version. Upload the document or write the text. Set the effective date, an optional review date and what has changed. Say who it applies to. Keep "People must acknowledge receipt" ticked unless the policy is only for reference.
- People are asked. Each person gets an email with a secure link, and the request appears on their portal Home. By default it is due in 14 days. They read the policy and confirm they have received and read it.
- Track and chase. The "Who has read it" list shows each person's date, whether it was online or on paper, or that they are outstanding. The Remind outstanding button asks anyone who has not yet been asked.
- Record paper acknowledgements. If you collect signatures on a printed register, tick the people who signed, enter the date and attach a scan.
- Review on time. A review date puts the policy in your reminders, and "Review due" appears against it on the list.
What you see
The Policies page lists each policy with its category, current version, effective date and how many people have acknowledged it, with a badge when a draft version is waiting or a review is due. Open a policy to see who has read it, its versions and what changed in each. On a person's record, the Policies tab shows the policies that need acknowledging and whether they have acknowledged each one.
The record it creates
Each acknowledgement is stored against the person and the version, with the date and whether it was made online or on paper. Acknowledgements are added, never overwritten, so earlier ones stay on file when a policy changes. Older versions stay readable. The acknowledgement register can be printed, for one policy or for all of them, and each acknowledgement goes on the person's timeline. A person's acknowledgements are a section of their personnel file.
Who can do what
HR decides which policies exist and who they apply to. Managers can see how their own team is doing, and employees see only what applies to them.
What happens next
Outstanding acknowledgements appear on Home for HR and are reported in the Policy acknowledgement status report. People who have not acknowledged are reminded as the due date approaches. When you archive a policy, outstanding requests are withdrawn and past acknowledgements are kept. Employees do all of this from the employee portal, and new starters meet it during onboarding.