An HRIS, or human resources information system, is the software that holds employee records in one place: personal details, job and pay history, documents, and often time off and onboarding. It replaces the filing cabinet and the spreadsheet.
| Record | Keep for |
|---|---|
| Payroll records (FLSA) | 3 years |
| Time cards and wage rate tables (FLSA) | 2 years |
| Form I-9 | 3 years after hire or 1 year after termination, whichever is later |
| OSHA 300 log, 301 reports, 300A summary | 5 years after the end of the year covered |
State rules can be longer. Keep medical information in a separate, restricted file, not in the general employee record. See time record retention requirements.
EZTime digital HR forms let you send, sign and file employee documents online.
A landscaping company has 70 employees, 30 of them seasonal. Records live in three spreadsheets and a filing cabinet. Each spring, the office manager re-enters returning seasonal workers by hand.
In April, a crew lead notices that one of the 14 drivers has a license that expired in February. Nobody had tracked it. The company moves every employee into a digital employee file, uploads licenses and certifications with their expiry dates, and turns on reminders 30 days before each one expires.
The next spring, returning workers update their own phone numbers and addresses, and the system flags three driver licenses due to expire in May before anyone drives on one.
Scan or upload key documents with their expiry dates as part of the move, not later. Licenses, certifications and signed policy acknowledgments are the records most often needed in a hurry.
A home care agency imports 210 caregiver records from three spreadsheets. The first check finds 23 duplicates, people entered once by the office and once by a coordinator with slightly different spellings, and 31 records with no emergency contact.
The agency merges the duplicates by Social Security number and start date, then asks all caregivers to confirm their details. Within 10 days, 196 have confirmed, and only 4 records still lack an emergency contact, which coordinators collect at the next visit.
Human resources information system: software that stores and manages employee records.
Payroll calculates and pays wages. An HRIS stores the employee record, including the pay rate history payroll uses.
Once records live in several spreadsheets, or documents expire without anyone noticing, a simple system of record usually saves time and risk.
Employee self-service on a phone, document storage with expiry reminders, clear access controls and reports you will actually use.
Employees see and update their own record, managers see what they need for their team, and HR sees the rest. Medical information belongs in a separate restricted file.
Often a few weeks, most of it spent cleaning data and collecting documents rather than configuring the software.
Digital HR forms, e-signatures and a digital employee file with expiry reminders, plus announcements by location, department or role.