ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES FOR HR
Certified HR Electronic Signatures for Employment Contracts and Employee Onboarding
Accelerate the signing of employment agreements, onboarding documents, and HR decrees with certified electronic signatures issued under a government-recognized Certificate Authority (PSrE). Signer identities are verified, document integrity is protected, and legal validity rests on Indonesia's ITE Law and Government Regulation 71/2019.
HR electronic signatures have become an operational necessity rather than a nice-to-have. HR teams handle an ever-growing volume of documents: fixed-term (PKWT) and permanent (PKWTT) employment agreements, offer letters, non-disclosure agreements, transfer and promotion decrees, and onboarding forms. When candidates and employees are spread across cities — or working hybrid and remote — wet-ink signatures on paper become a real bottleneck: documents travel back and forth, onboarding stalls, and strong candidates may accept offers from faster-moving companies.
Legally, Indonesia has long had a clear foundation. Article 11 of the ITE Law (Law No. 11 of 2008 as amended) recognizes electronic signatures as having lawful force and legal effect provided certain requirements are met, including that the signature-creation data is linked only to the signatory and that any alteration after signing is detectable. Government Regulation 71/2019 then distinguishes certified electronic signatures — created using electronic certificates from a recognized Certificate Authority (PSrE) — from uncertified ones. For HR, this distinction matters: certified signatures provide far stronger evidence of signer identity and document integrity should an employment agreement ever be disputed.
Tilaka is a certified PSrE providing electronic signatures with e-KYC identity verification, ready to integrate directly into HRIS platforms via API. This page explains why certified electronic signatures are relevant to the HR function, how their validity stands under Indonesian law, how the workflow operates, and how employee personal data is handled in line with the Personal Data Protection Law No. 27 of 2022.
The Cost of Paper-Based HR Documents and Unverified Signatures
Onboarding delayed by physical paperwork
Employment contracts that must be printed, couriered, wet-signed, and returned can take days. Start dates slip, and the employee's first experience of your company is a poor one.
Scanned signatures are easy to challenge
A signature image pasted into a PDF proves neither who signed nor whether the document was altered. In an employment dispute, this leaves the company in a weak evidentiary position.
Employees spread across many locations
Cross-city recruitment, field workers, and remote arrangements make collecting wet signatures costly and hard to coordinate, especially during high-volume hiring.
Archives that are hard to audit and easy to leak
Physical contracts pile up in filing cabinets, are hard to retrieve during audits or inspections, and contain employee personal data that the PDP Law requires you to protect with adequate measures.
Tilaka's Certified Electronic Signature Solution for HR
PSrE-certified electronic signatures
Every signature is created with an electronic certificate issued by a certified PSrE, meeting the criteria for certified electronic signatures under GR 71/2019 and the validity requirements of Article 11 of the ITE Law.
e-KYC identity verification at onboarding
Employee identity is verified digitally through national ID (KTP) data and facial biometrics before a certificate is issued. HR gains assurance that the person signing the contract is genuinely who they claim to be.
API integration with HRIS and recruitment systems
Documents can be generated from your HRIS, sent for signing, and tracked without leaving the systems your HR team already uses. APIs and technical documentation are available for your developers.
Multi-party and high-volume signing workflows
Set signing order across the candidate, their manager, and the authorized HR officer, including bulk sends during batch hiring. Automatic reminders reduce documents left hanging.
Audit trail and document verification
Each document records the signers, timestamps, and certificates used, and its integrity can be verified at any time. Any change made after signing is detectable.
Tilaka is used by organizations across finance, healthcare, and large corporate sectors in Indonesia to digitize the signing of legally sensitive documents.
How Electronic Signing Works for HR Documents
Identity verification and certificate issuance
The employee or candidate registers once: uploading their national ID and completing facial biometric verification. Once identity is verified, the PSrE issues an electronic certificate in their name — typically completed within minutes from their own device.
Prepare and send documents
The HR team uploads the employment agreement or generates it directly from the HRIS via API, defines the signers and their order, then sends signing invitations by email or link.
Signing with authentication
Each signer reviews the document and confirms consent by authenticating into their certified account. The signature is applied cryptographically using their personal electronic certificate — not merely an image.
Sealed, archived, and verifiable documents
The final document is sealed so that even the smallest alteration is detectable, comes with a full audit trail, and is ready for digital archiving. Validity and integrity can be verified at any time, including during audits or legal proceedings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are electronically signed employment agreements legally valid in Indonesia?
Yes. Article 11 of the ITE Law states that electronic signatures have lawful force and legal effect provided requirements are met, including that signature-creation data is linked only to the signatory and post-signing alterations are detectable. Articles 5 and 6 of the ITE Law also recognize electronic information and documents as lawful evidence provided they are accessible, displayable, and their integrity is assured.
What is the difference between certified and uncertified electronic signatures?
GR 71/2019 distinguishes the two: certified signatures are created using electronic certificates from a recognized PSrE, with the signer's identity already verified. Uncertified signatures — such as a pasted signature image — carry no equivalent guarantee of identity or integrity, leaving them weaker as evidence if an employment contract is disputed.
Can fixed-term contracts (PKWT) be signed electronically?
PKWT agreements must indeed be made in writing, and the ITE Law recognizes electronic documents as a valid form of information provided their integrity is assured and they can be re-displayed. Many companies in Indonesia already use certified electronic signatures for both PKWT and PKWTT agreements; for internal policy, involve your legal team in defining the signing procedure.
How does Tilaka verify that the signer is really the employee in question?
Before a certificate is issued, identity is verified through an e-KYC process: matching national ID data and facial biometrics against population records. At signing time, the user must authenticate into their account, binding the signature to an individual whose identity has been verified.
Can it integrate with the HRIS or recruitment system we already use?
Yes. Tilaka provides APIs so document creation, signing invitations, and status tracking can run directly from your HRIS, ATS, or employee portal. HR teams don't need to switch between applications, and final documents can be pulled back into your internal archive systems.
How is employee personal data protected in this process?
Employee identity data processed for verification and signing is personal data governed by the Personal Data Protection Law No. 27 of 2022, requiring a lawful basis and adequate safeguards. As a certified PSrE, Tilaka operates under government supervision with the security standards required of electronic certification providers, and data processing follows Indonesian laws and regulations.
ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES FOR HR
Digitize Your Employment Contracts and Onboarding Now
Discuss your HR electronic signature needs with our team — from piloting a signing workflow to full HRIS integration. We'll help you map the process, the legal validity considerations, and the implementation plan.
