This article covers requesting electronic signatures from employees on documents shared companywide or individually, tracking signing status and audit trails, and what employees see and do to sign. For general (non-signature) document sharing, see How to Add Companywide or Employee Documents.
Available on: Patriot HR Software
Required: The employee must have employee portal access to sign a document electronically. Employees without portal access will show as pending until they register.
Patriot's electronic signature (e-signature) feature lets you request a legally binding signature from your employees on documents you upload, such as an employee handbook, a policy acknowledgment, or an offer letter. You can request a signature from all employees at once (Shared Companywide) or from specific employees (Shared Individually), track who has signed, and download the completed document once signing is finished.
One-Time E-Signature Acknowledgment
The first time you check the Request E-Signature checkbox, you'll see a one-time E-Signature Acknowledgment box. You must check "I acknowledge and agree to the above" before you can continue.
This acknowledgment confirms that:
Patriot provides the e-signature feature as a tool only and isn't responsible for the legal validity or enforceability of any electronically signed document
You're solely responsible for ensuring electronic signatures are legally permissible for the documents you upload, in every jurisdiction where your employees are located
Patriot has no visibility into the documents you upload
You'll comply with all applicable laws governing electronic signatures and document retention
Electronic signatures are only available to employees with employee portal access
This acknowledgment is tied to your individual user login, not your company account. If your company has multiple users who request e-signatures, each user sees and completes this acknowledgment once, the first time they use the e-signature feature. The acknowledgment does not carry over between users.
Requesting a Signature from All Employees (Shared Companywide)
Go to Payroll > Human Resources > Document Library
Select the Shared Companywide tab
Click + Add Document
Choose Add File or URL
You can also choose From Template or Create New Template if you've already built a reusable e-signature template. If you plan to request the same document and signature fields repeatedly, for example, an annual policy acknowledgment, save the document as a template instead of uploading and placing fields each time. Choose From Template to reuse a saved template, or Create New Template to build and save a new one. See How to Create and Manage E-Signature Templates for the full process, including editing, duplicating, and deleting templates.
Upload a PDF file
The Request E-Signature checkbox is disabled until you upload a PDF. Other file types (.doc, .docx, .jpg, .png, etc.) can still be uploaded for general document sharing, but they can't be used for e-signature requests.
Check Request E-Signature
Enter a Document Name (required, 70 characters max) and an optional Description (200 characters max)
Click the Place Fields button
On the field placement screen, drag Signature, Initials, or Date fields from the right panel onto the document to mark where employees need to sign, initial, or date the document
You can place as many fields as needed. Resize or reposition a placed field by dragging the field, or remove the field with the X on the field or in the Placed Fields panel.
At least one field must be placed before you can continue.
Click the Next button
On the Share Companywide modal, choose how to share the document:
Display in employee portal (on by default) makes the document visible to employees with portal access. 💡 Turn this option off to save the document without sharing the document yet.
Send email notification (on by default, only shown when Display in employee portal is on) emails employees with portal access when the document is shared. Turn this option off to share the document to the portal without an email.
If you keep email notifications on, an Email Subject (auto-populated as "Please sign: [Document Name]") and optional Email Message appear.
Click the button (the button label changes based on the sharing choices selected above):
Send to Recipients — shares to the portal and sends an email
Share Document — shares to the portal without an email
Save Document — saves the document without sharing or requesting signatures yet
Once shared, the document appears on the Shared Companywide tab with an E-Signature column showing 0 of X signed and a progress percentage. The document also appears on the Signature Status tab with an In Progress status.
Note: If no employees at your company have portal access yet, the Send email notification option is hidden and you'll only see the Share Document option.
Requesting a Signature from Specific Employees (Shared Individually)
Go to Payroll > Human Resources > Document Library
Select the Shared Individually tab
Click + Add Document
On the Select Employees module, check the box next to each employee you want to share the document with and request a signature from.
Use the search box to find an employee by name
Turn on Show Inactives to include inactive employees in the list
Employees currently completing self-onboarding show a "Self-Onboarding" badge, and employees without employee portal access show a "No Portal Access" badge
The employee count updates below the list as you make selections
Click the Continue button
Choose Add File to choose a PDF from your computer (or From Template / Create New Template)
Check the box that reads Request E-Signature
Enter a Document Name and optional Description
Click the Place Fields button
Drag the Signature, Initials, or Date fields onto the document to their desired spots
Click the Next button
Click the appropriate button to choose your desired sharing options:
Send to Recipients — shares to the portal and sends an email
Share Document — shares to the portal without an email
Save Document — saves the document without sharing or requesting signatures yet
Once shared, each selected employee's row on the Shared Individually tab shows an updated E-Signature status, and the document appears on their individual Documents tab with a Signature Required badge. The document also appears on the Signature Status tab.
Tracking Signature Status
To see the progress of any document you've requested employee signatures on:
Go to Payroll > Human Resources > Document Library
Select the Signature Status tab
The Signature Status tab lists every document with an active signature request, the number of employees who signed (out of the total requested), and a completion percentage.
Click the X/Y signed link on any document to open its Document Signature Status page. This page shows:
A summary bar with total signature requests, number signed, number pending, and a completion progress bar
A table of every employee the document was sent to, with their Date Sent and an E-Signature status of Signed (green, with the date signed) or Pending (grey)
For employees without employee portal access, the Pending badge includes "No Portal Access" as the reason their signature is still outstanding
A Download button for the unsigned document with fields placed
For each signed employee, an Audit Trail link and a Download button for that employee's completed, signed copy
How to View the E-Signature Audit Trail on a Document
Click Audit Trail next to any signed employee's row to see the full signing record for that employee, including:
A read-only copy of the signed document with an "Electronically signed & verified" banner and the exact signing timestamp
A chronological event log showing when the document was Sent, Viewed (the first time the employee opened the document), and Signed
A SHA-256 hash of the final signed PDF, generated at the moment signing completed, which you can use to verify the signed document hasn't been altered. 💡 A SHA-256 hash is a unique digital fingerprint of the final signed PDF, which can be used to confirm the document hasn't been altered since signing.
Click Download PDF in the Audit Trail modal to save a copy of the full audit record, including the event log and hash
What the Employee Sees in the Portal When an E-Sign Document Has Been Shared
When you request a signature, the employee sees the document in the Shared With You section of their employee portal under Documents, with a Review & Sign button. Documents shared companywide show as "Companywide" in the Shared With column; documents shared with them individually show as "You."
If you turned on email notifications, the employee also receives an email with the subject "Please sign: [Document Name]" and a Review & Sign Document button linking to their Documents page.
To sign, the employee clicks Review & Sign and:
Reviews the PDF with the fields you placed
Clicks each Signature or Initials field to type, draw, or upload their signature
Clicks each Date field to confirm or update the date (defaults to the current date)
Clicks Submit Signature once all fields are complete
If the employee tries to leave the signing page with fields still incomplete, they'll see a "Leave without signing?" warning, and any in-progress entries are lost if they leave without submitting.
Once the employee submits, their status updates to Signed everywhere in your account — the Shared Companywide or Shared Individually tab, their individual Documents tab, and the Signature Status tab — and they can download their own signed copy from the portal.
Notifications
Employees receive an email when you share a document with email notifications turned on. The subject line is auto-populated as "Please sign: [Document Name]" and can be edited before sending.
Employers receive an email at the account's primary contact email address once every employee the document was sent to has signed, confirming the document is fully executed and linking to the Signature Status tab.
Editing, Hiding, or Deleting a Signed Document
Once at least one employee has signed a document, Patriot locks two things to protect that employee's signed record:
The Display in Portal toggle can no longer be turned off for that document — this prevents a signed document from disappearing from the employee's portal
The Delete option is replaced with a lock icon and can no longer be used to remove the document
For Shared Companywide documents, both locks apply to the whole document once any employee has signed. For Shared Individually documents, the locks only apply per employee — you can still hide or delete the document for employees who haven't signed yet.