Penney's personnel paperwork goes online

The department store chain has virtually eliminated the need for vast piles of paper.

By MARK ALBRIGHT

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

The personnel operations of a big company usually require vast storehouses of paperwork -- employment records and benefits requests and worker evaluations.

But after a three-year effort, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. has virtually eliminated paperwork for most of its human resources files.

Employees of the department store chain can make changes or view any forms in their personnel files, which are now kept online. In 2,000 JCPenney stores, break rooms have been outfitted with personal computer work stations where employees can type in questions, apply for direct deposit of paychecks, file vacation and time-off requests and see their work schedule. Most printed company policies are posted online rather than printed and stuck in employee mailboxes.

Access to the personnel file information is restricted to managers and employees who use PIN numbers similar to those for ATM machines.

"We've gotten the paperwork requiring a real signature down to 10 documents, most of which the government requires," said James Sciano, manager of human resources systems for Plano, Texas-based JCPenney. "But we throw most of them away after scanning them in."

Many employees balked at using the system, but over time resistance dropped.

All JCPenney job seekers, too, now must key in their applications on PCs. Staffers will volunteer to help applicants unfamiliar with computers, but an inability to figure it out would not bode well for job seekers expected to use a cash register.

Applicants also must type in the answers to a 40-question quiz that includes work history, career aspirations, simple math and attitudes about waiting on customers. The quiz is a screening tool that weeds out 55 percent of all applicants who once would have been interviewed for a job.

Some JCPenney managers complained the system wipes out too many job prospects. Sciano said it doesn't eliminate anybody: It simply rates the likelihood of an applicant being a good hire. JCPenney's 100 percent annual employee turnover dropped 30 percent after the applicant test was deployed.

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