Human Resource Management

How Apave accelerated onboarding and improved employee retention

Apave, an international risk assessment specialist, used AODocs’ third-generation Document Management platform to automate recruitment and onboarding workflows. The solution helped reduce employee churn by four percentage points while ensuring compliance. According to Apave’s HR Project Development Manager, over a thousand managers worldwide rely on AODocs today.

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Challenges

Siloed hiring, slowed growth

Recruiting 2,000 people a year, three years running, Apave hit the limits of its processes: hiring, onboarding, and training ran differently in every silo.

Every agency its own way, every hire a variation

With each worldwide agency improvising its own practices, recruitment and integration lacked consistency, shrinking the candidate pool and eroding candidate quality.

Solutions

Managers shape their own workflows

A step-by-step interface lets Apave's managers define recruitment and onboarding processes themselves, no specialist required.

The right action, at the right moment

Targeted notifications tell each manager what to do and when, along a clearly defined process: precision without follow-up emails.

Candidate data behind strict rights

Granular admin and user rights keep sensitive information to authorized personnel, employee privacy and data protection, enforced by the platform.

Rolled out to 1,000 managers, fast

Auto-upgrades keep maintenance out of daily work, and the platform's clarity made introducing it to a thousand managers quick and straightforward.

Wins and results

Ramp time cut short

New hires reach full productivity sooner. A shorter path from first day to ready-for-action that saves time and money for Apave and its clients.

Churn down four points

Employee turnover fell by up to four percentage points, retention that pays in time, money, and work culture.

One integration path for every candidate

HR consolidated the candidate experience around a clearly defined journey — the same quality of welcome, everywhere.

Managers' time back where it counts

With recruitment and onboarding running faster and safer, managers reinvest their hours in added value like training.

A thousand managers, dozens of countries, one platform

The third-generation DMS is in daily use company-wide, carrying communication and collaboration across teams and risk assessment projects.

Next: generative AI on the right documents

Apave is now exploring AODocs' generative AI. A smart assistant scoped to the right documents, processing unstructured data sources intelligently.

Before AODocs: Apave’s need for clarity and consistency in HR processes

Apave, a global leader in risk assessment, faced a major hurdle: its HR processes were all over the map. With 2,000 new hires annually, the recruitment and onboarding process saw each department following its own playbook. The result? A candidate experience that was neither smooth and efficient for the company’s managers nor simple and engaging for new hires.

The fragmented approach didn’t just slow things down—it impacted the quality of candidates. Without a unified process, HR juggled inconsistent practices.

Solutions

New-found flexibility and control with an intuitive and actionable DMS

Enter AODocs, the third-generation document management platform. From the get-go, it was clear this wasn’t just another tool. Setting it up was quick, and introducing it to 1,000 managers felt seamless. Why? Its intuitive, user-friendly interface.

Managers could easily map out each hiring process step, from posting jobs to onboarding new team members. Automated notifications meant no more guesswork—everyone knew what to do and when to do it. Plus, with robust access controls, only the right people could view sensitive data, ensuring compliance and peace of mind.

On top of that, continuous updates and auto-upgrades removed the need for lengthy IT interventions.

Wins and results

Streamlined success and future potential

With AODocs in place, Apave’s HR team hit their stride. Processes were no longer scattered but unified. Candidates now enjoyed a smoother, faster and better-defined onboarding experience, which led to more content hires. Ramp time decreased and employees became fully productive faster. Ultimately, employee churn rate was down by four percentage points, saving the company invaluable resources such as time and money.

Géraldine Vincent, Apave’s HR Project Development Manager, summed it up perfectly:

We harmonized our process. Users are alerted at the right time and know exactly where they stand. Above all, AODocs has enabled us to streamline, secure, and communicate.

The benefits didn’t stop there. Company-wide adoption boosted collaboration across teams and regions. Managers, freed from the burden of administrative tedium, focused on value-added activities like training. Looking ahead, Apave is exploring AODocs’ Gen AI capabilities to extract and summarize unstructured data and the use of smart assistants deployed only on the right information.

About Apave

Apave is an international group specializing in risk management with more than 150 years of experience. Our 14,000 employees work on regulatory and non-regulatory assignments related to risk management. Apave offers services and expertise in five areas: inspection, training, tests-measurements, certification and labelling, consulting and technical support. Whether it relates to personal safety, site safety and compliance, environmental safety or digital security, Apave’s mission is to be a trusted third party for its customers at all times.