How do you ensure that, in these chaotic times, employees don't have to pay attention to peripheral issues and can continue to do what they do best? The answer to this question lies in innovation and standardization with the help of the right software. We helped an academic hospital in the Netherlands with this step.

The legal department of the hospital in question draws up about eight hundred contracts per month. This takes an average of two hours per contract. To ensure that the documents meet all requirements, a specific procedure is followed. We scrutinized this approach and devised a new setup.

Fewer steps

We reduced the six steps to four. For example, we said goodbye to a control step: the legal department checked the documents, then signaled that they were not in order and sent them back to step one. The four hundred rejected documents then had to be adjusted and re-entered into the process. With the help of our software, many building blocks in the document are now standard and in order, eliminating this control step. Staff no longer have to worry about it. Compare it to manufacturing a chair: you don't repeatedly check whether the dimensions of the legs or the seat are correct. That happens once, after which the measurements are recorded. Then, every chair is produced based on the standardized measurements. That saves a lot of work.

What kind of documents do you want to create or not create?

We also looked at the complexity of the documents. You can all work hard on a certain piece and at the end of the day think: that went well. While, in fact, you've spent hours on it, without it generating any money for the organization. To prevent this, we work with a scheme that highlights the different characteristics of the documents. You can see at a glance whether documents are simple or complex, whether they need to be created individually or in multiples, and finally, whether they are valuable to the organization or not. This way, as an organization, you discover which pieces you definitely do not want to create. In the case of the hospital: you don't want to draw up a hundred different contracts, but a basic contract that contains all the building blocks.

Result: from fourteen to one FTE

The result of our support: it now only takes five minutes to draw up a contract. The legal department does not perform an extra check, and the administrative department does not perform unnecessary work. Previously, fourteen FTEs were needed to draw up employment contracts, now only one FTE. This means that thirteen FTEs are freed up for core tasks. These people can therefore do what they are really good at.

The lesson

From this practical example, a general lesson can be distilled that is not only useful for the hospital but also comes in handy for various organizations: no matter how skilled the staff is, it does not necessarily mean that an organization as a whole achieves better results. These results only come when the talent on board can focus its attention on the most important work. And that is what standardization of document creation with the help of software makes possible. The lawyer devises a strong plea, the accountant delves into an annual report, and the HR specialist thinks about a new personnel strategy instead of losing themselves in drawing up contracts. So, gain an advantage by using innovative software.

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