---
id: KB-CO-017
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/consigne/documents-that-must-be-signed-every-year
idioma: en
categoria: consigne
subcategoria: enviar
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CO-014, KB-CF-012]
citadoPor: [KB-CO-011]
---

# Documents that must be signed every year

_Renewals, codes of conduct and annexes: what repeats is best repeated by itself._

**Responde a:** signatures that repeat every year · renewing acceptance of a code of conduct · sending the same document for signature annually · annual signature campaign

Some documents are not signed once: they are signed every year. Codes of conduct, internal policies, confidentiality clauses, collaboration terms, authorisations that expire. And because they come round once a year, they always catch someone on holiday.

## How to run the annual campaign

1. **A list of who must sign this year** — Not last year's: people change, and that lag is the number one cause of gaps.
2. **A single send to everyone** — The same document to two hundred people counts as one action, not two hundred.
3. **Automatic, spaced chasing** — Most sign within 48 hours; the rest with reminders.
4. **And a visible list of who is missing** — It enables a targeted final push instead of an email to everybody.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Keep each year's signed version, not just the latest. If the document changes — and it usually does — what that person accepted was that year's text, and that is what you must be able to show if it is ever disputed.

## The three usual gaps

| Gap | Why it happens | How to close it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Someone who joined after the campaign | The list was January's and they arrived in March | Include it in onboarding, do not wait a year |
| Someone on leave or holiday | They missed the send and nobody reviewed after | The outstanding list when the campaign closes |
| Someone who changed role | A different document applied to them | Review the list by role, not the whole headcount |

> [!WARNING]
> The first is the commonest and looks worst in an audit: half the workforce with the policy signed and a cluster of people without it because they joined in the wrong month. If onboarding includes whatever applies, it stops happening.

## When to run it in waves

**En corto**

- Over two hundred people, so the review stays manageable.
- With several languages, to send each version to the right people.
- And when the document differs by group, so texts do not get mixed.

> [!NOTE]
> Scheduling the send for a specific time helps more than it seems: Monday morning gets noticeably better response than Friday afternoon, and that is decided when scheduling, not when sending.

**What about someone who never signs?**

By the third reminder it stops being chasing and becomes a company decision.

**Can we tell who read it?**

You can see who opened it and who signed, with date and time.

**Does it work for suppliers?**

Yes, it is the same mechanism as annual documentation renewal.

## Ejemplos

**A company sends its code of conduct every January and gaps always remain.**

- Builds the current year's list, not last year's
- Adds the document to onboarding for later joiners

→ The campaign closes at 100% and nobody is left unsigned because of their start month.

**The annual renewal happens whenever somebody remembers.**

- Schedules the send in advance

→ It goes out by itself each year.

**It is sent to a hundred people one by one.**

- Launches the same document to everyone at once

→ The campaign is prepared in an afternoon.

**It is renewed with somebody who already signed this year.**

- Excludes those with a current signature

→ Nobody signs the same thing twice.

**Nobody knows who is still to sign.**

- Checks the campaign's progress

→ Only those outstanding are chased.

**The document changes from one year to the next.**

- Keeps each version with its year

→ You know what each person signed and when.