Seamlessly manage and sign documents natively within Breathe.
Our integrated e-signature solution empowers you to streamline critical administrative tasks by allowing you to send, sign, and manage important documents like employment contracts and offer letters entirely within the Breathe platform.
Eliminate paper-based processes, automate tracking, and centralise signed documents to improve efficiency and enhance the employee onboarding experience.
Key Features
✅ Document Sending & Preparation
Upload PDF documents, such as employment contracts and offer letters to send for signature
Select recipients directly from the Breathe employee database
Request up to two signatures (an employee and a counter-signer)
Place designated fields for the signee’s full name, signature, and date on multiple pages
Add custom messages for each recipient and preview the document before sending
✅ Document Management & Tracking
View the real-time status of documents (e.g., draft, sent, viewed, signed, declined)
Automatically store completed documents in the employee’s document section within Breathe
Maintain a clear audit trail of all sending and signing activities, which includes the user’s IP address
Signed documents cannot be deleted, ensuring a secure record is kept
Search for documents based on their signing status, employee, or document name
✅ Automated Notifications & Reporting
Recipients receive email notifications when a document requires their signature
Automatic reminder emails are sent to recipients if a document hasn’t been signed after 3, 5, and 7 days, and then weekly thereafter
Senders receive email notifications when a document is viewed, signed, or declined
HR users can access a new report to view the status of all documents across the business
✅ Integrated User Experience
The e-signature module is included and available across all plans
Employees and counter-signers are alerted to documents needing their signature on their dashboards
Benefits of E-signatures
✅ Improve Efficiency and Save Costs
By removing the need for printing, manual signing, and scanning, you can significantly reduce paper-based administrative tasks and associated costs
✅ Streamline Onboarding
Enhance the new hire experience by allowing employees to sign contracts and policy documents electronically from any device, creating a modern and efficient onboarding process
✅ Centralise Document Management
Automatically store and organise all signed documents within the relevant employee’s profile in Breathe, eliminating the risk of lost paperwork and creating a single source of truth
✅ Enhance Visibility and Control:
Gain complete oversight of your document workflows with real-time status tracking and a comprehensive audit trail for every document sent. This ensures you always know the precise stage of any signing process.
✅ Automate Tedious Follow-ups
The system automatically sends reminders for outstanding signatures, freeing up HR users from having to manually chase employees and counter-signers
Interactive E-signatures video guide
Click here for an interactive video guide to e-signatures
How to enable E-signatures
To turn on e-signature, head to your menu options...
Configure > Settings > Modules > Included modules
Tick the E-Signatures box
Creating an E-signature document
Step 1
Navigate to the profile of the employee you would like to create an e-signature document for.
Click the More tab and select Documents from the drop-down list
Step 2
Click on the signable documents tab and press the blue circle + button
Step 3
Select "Yes" in the signature required box and press Submit
Step 4
Add the name of the document and upload the PDF document
E-signatures require the document to be uploaded in a PDF format only.
You are not able to edit a PDF document.
Select the expiry date of the document.
Tick the "counter signature required box if you require this document to be countersigned and select the counter signer's name from the drop-down list...
You can add a message to the employee and the counter signer by ticking the box in the Signatories box.
Press the Green Next button
Step 5
The signable document and now been created.
Drag and drop all the fields (Signature, Name & Date) in yellow onto the document. This will show the recipient where to sign and add their details.
When you are happy with the location, press Save and Preview.
You are required to add all three fields to the PDF to progress and send the document. If you miss a field, the system will display a message letting you know which field is missing
Step 6
You will be presented with a preview of the three fields you have added.
If you are unhappy with the placement of signature, name or date fields on your document, you can press back to re-place the fields...
Once you are happy with the placement, you can send your document by pressing the blue send button
Document progress flow
After you have sent the e-signature document to your signatories, you will be able to view the progress of the document in their profile.
The signatories will be sent an email to let them know that they have a new document to sign. They will also receive a notification on their To Do's dashboard.
When employees receive documents to sign, they will see a dashboard notification and can electronically sign, with options to draw signatures or decline with reasons. The system pre-populates names and dates using the employee's full name rather than their "known as" name
Your people sign the document by clicking on the blue signature, name and date fields in the document.
They have the option to draw or type by clicking the Draw or Type tabs. Once they have added their signature, they press Submit.
If the employee wishes to decline signing the document, they can press the red decline button. This will send a decline notification to the sender.
They will then be able to view their signature and have the option to change it by pressing the change signature button.
When they are satisfied with their signature, all they need to do is press submit, and their e-signature document is completed.
Once signed, the system triggers email notifications to the document sender and updates the document status. HR users can countersign documents from their dashboard, completing the workflow
The document status in their signable documents tab will now change to complete, and you will be able to view or download their signed PDF document by pressing the icons under the actions header.
If you select counter-signatories for a document, it will be sent to all people who are required to sign in order, and the progress will only display as complete once all signatories have electronically signed it.
Email Notifications
When you send a signable document to your people, this is the email that they will receive, letting them know they have a document to sign, along with your written message...
They simply click here to view and sign it in their Breathe account.
Automatic reminder emails are sent to recipients if a document hasn’t been signed after 3, 5, and 7 days, and then weekly thereafter.
Senders receive email notifications when a document is viewed, signed, or declined.
Email notifications will be sent to senders when documents are viewed, signed, or declined.
Reporting on E-signatures
A comprehensive report on all signable documents is available in our reporting area.
Head to Reports > People Records > Signable documents
Here you can view a full list of all the signable documents that you have created for your people, including all document drafts you have made.
To view a full audit trail of the document progress flow for a specific document, press the arrow icon under the actions header.
Here, you will be provided with a list of when the document flow started and each step along the way until it is completed, with key information including the date, time, and the signer's IP address.
FAQ's
Q. Will line managers be able to see signed documents for their direct reports?
A. No, Line managers will not be able to view signed documents for their people at this stage.
Q. How can I test this functionality?
A. We have attached two test PDF's to this article. Please scroll to the bottom of this article page to download them.
Q. Within the audit, you can see the IP addresses of computers that have signed the documents. Who can see this information? Is it just HR admins?
A. Yes, it's just Admin and HR users who will be able to access the audit trail
Q. Can you upload multiple documents and send them to an employee or multiple employees at the same time?
A. You cannot currently upload documents in bulk. Signable documents do require an individual upload per employee.
Q. Can you add multiple signatures to a document for the same person?
A. Yes, you can do this; simply drag and drop the signature box to the relevant areas in the document. (You can only add a maximum of two people's signatures: the employee and the countersigner.)
Q: What type of electronic signature technology is used for your e-signatures feature?
A. We use Simple Electronic Signature technology (SES).
Q. Will e-signatures appear on the Breathe People Portal mobile app?
A. At this stage, employees will only be able to sign documents on the web app version of Breathe.
Q. Can signed documents be deleted?
A. No, signed documents cannot be deleted from Breathe, ensuring a secure record is kept.
Q. How do the notifications work?
A.
Email notifications are sent to the recipients when documents are sent for signature. If a countersigner is selected, the email will be sent to the employee first. When the employee signs the document, a notification will be sent to the countersigner.
Email notifications are sent to recipients if a document hasn’t been signed. This will be sent 3,5,7 days and then weekly after the document is first sent.
Email notifications will be sent to senders when documents are viewed, signed, or declined.
Employees can view documents that need to be signed on their dashboard.
Counter signers can view documents that need to be signed in their To-dos section on the dashboard.
Click here for the interactive video guide to E-signatures
We're here to help
Any questions? Contact support by using the messaging feature at the bottom right of your screen 💬