Policy acknowledgments
Everybody read it. Now show which everybody, and when.
The handbook went out in an email. Ninety people opened it, some of them read it, and the only record you have is that the email was sent.
What this document is
A signature confirming that a named person has read a specific version of a policy — the version, not the policy, which is the part that matters.
Also called: handbook acknowledgment · rules acknowledgment · code of conduct · policy sign-off · terms acknowledgment
Where it goes wrong
Not a feature list. These are the three moments this exists for.
Sent is not read, and read is not agreed
An email open rate is not an acknowledgment. The question anybody asks afterwards is whether this specific person accepted this specific wording, and a mailing list cannot answer it.
The version nobody can pin down
The policy changed in March. Somebody signed something in January. Which text they actually accepted is, at that point, unknowable — which is the same as having nothing.
The annual that quietly stops happening
It is on somebody's list every year until the year it is not, and the gap is invisible until an auditor or an insurer looks for it.
What happens instead
The version is part of the record
Templates are versioned, and the signed document carries the exact text that was shown along with its hash. What the person accepted can be produced, word for word, years later.
One list of who has not
By name, not by a count. A reminder goes to the people it is for rather than to everybody, which is the difference between a nudge and noise.
A new version asks again, on purpose
Changing a policy creates a new version and a new round of acknowledgments, so the record never quietly drifts out of date.
This is not an HR system
Employment policies come with rules about what must be provided, in what language, and how long records are kept, and the answer differs by state and by the size of the employer. We hold signatures against versions and we do that well. Whether your handbook says the right things is between you and your employment counsel.
Who sends this one
The same document, sent by businesses that have nothing else in common.
Questions
Can we see exactly what somebody agreed to?
Yes — the signed document holds the text as it was when they signed it, with a hash that shows it has not changed since. That is the point of versioning rather than editing.
What about an annual re-acknowledgment?
The document carries the period it covers, and the list shows whose has run out. Sending the next round is one action rather than a project.
Can members acknowledge on a tablet at the desk?
Yes. The tablet app locks to one workflow, resets between people and reaches nothing else in the account.
Ready when the next guest is.
Free for the first 25 agreements a month. No card to start.