Why contract workflows need more than e-sign

Most HR teams already have an e-sign tool.

That’s usually not the problem.

The real challenge starts before the document is signed and continues long after it lands in someone’s inbox. Approvals, templates, missing information, legal reviews, reporting, storage, version control, follow-ups, exceptions… suddenly a “simple contract process” turns into a patchwork of emails, spreadsheets, Slack messages and manual admin.

E-sign tools solve signatures.

They don’t solve workflows.

Where contract processes start to break

A basic contract process might work fine when you have:

• One entity
• One template
• One approver
• Low hiring volume

But as organisations grow, things get messy quickly.

Different departments need different agreements. Legal wants approved wording. HR needs visibility. Managers need approvals. Finance wants reporting. Employees forget to sign. Someone uploads the wrong version. Another person stores the signed copy in the wrong place. Three months later, nobody knows which spreadsheet is accurate anymore.

This is where workflow automation becomes more important than the signature itself.

What a modern contract workflow looks like

Instead of manually coordinating every step, organisations can automate the process around the document.

For example:

1. A legally approved template is created
2. Employee or contract data is pulled from an HRIS, collected through a form, or uploaded in bulk
3. Approval steps are triggered automatically if something falls outside standard criteria
4. The correct information is automatically added into the approved contract template
5. The contract is sent through the organisation’s preferred e-sign tool
6. Automatic reminders are sent if documents haven’t been reviewed or signed
7. Signed documents are automatically stored in the correct system
8. Reports update automatically so teams can track progress, signatures and status

The signature still matters.

But it becomes just one step in a much larger workflow.

What this looks like in practice

Festi, one of Iceland’s largest retail groups, used 50skills to automate a complex employee stock option process across six subsidiaries. The workflow included contract generation, approvals, e-signing, reminders, document uploads and reporting.

The challenge wasn’t simply sending contracts for signature.

The company needed a consistent process that could:

• Handle different subsidiaries
• Manage large employee volumes
• Track who had and hadn’t responded
• Send reminders automatically
• Support additional approval steps for employees under 18
• Integrate signed documents into payroll systems

Managing this manually would have created a huge amount of administrative work and increased the risk of delays and inconsistencies.

Using workflow automation, Festi streamlined the entire process and saved more than 200 hours of manual work.

Why this matters for HR teams

HR teams are often stuck managing processes that span multiple systems and departments.

A contract workflow might involve:

• HR
• Legal
• Finance
• Line managers
• External e-sign tools
• Document storage platforms

Without automation, people end up manually moving information between systems, chasing approvals and updating spreadsheets just to keep things moving.

The painful part usually isn’t creating the contract. It’s chasing humans.

That creates:

• Delays
• Inconsistent processes
• Compliance risks
• Poor employee experiences
• Unnecessary admin work

Workflow automation reduces the operational chaos around contracts while still keeping humans involved where needed.

Because not every contract should be fully automated.

Sometimes approvals matter. Sometimes legal review matters. Sometimes someone needs to step in because a request is unusual.

Good automation supports those decisions rather than removing them.

It’s not about replacing your existing tools

One of the biggest misconceptions around workflow automation is that companies need to replace everything they already use.

In reality, most organisations already have tools they like for:

• E-sign
• Document storage
• HR systems
• Communication

The goal is not to rip those out.

The goal is to connect them into a process that actually works.

That’s where workflow automation becomes valuable. It helps organisations coordinate the entire contract journey instead of treating signing as the finish line.

Contract automation is really process automation

When people talk about “contract automation”, they often focus on the document itself.

But the real value is in automating the operational process around it:

• Collecting information
• Routing approvals
• Generating documents from approved templates
• Triggering actions
• Sending reminders
• Tracking progress
• Maintaining visibility

Because the biggest delays in HR processes rarely come from the signature itself.

They come from everything around it.

Want to simplify contract workflows like Festi?

Festi used 50skills to automate a complex employee stock option process across six subsidiaries, saving more than 200 hours of manual admin along the way.

If you’re looking to reduce the back-and-forth around contracts, approvals, reminders and document handling, book a demo with the 50skills team to see how workflow automation can help.

‍