Seeking Guidance on HR Audits: Recommended Study Materials and Conducting Tips

Dear seniors,

I am an HR executive and would like to learn more about HR audit. Could anyone recommend study materials for HR audit and provide guidance on how to conduct an HR audit?

Regards,
Aruna R. Devar

Hi,

Every department has a role to play and responsibilities. The HR department, mainly considered as the pillar of the organization, is to design various policies and practices to make the organization. The HR Audit normally takes place at the end of the final quarter, typically in November and December, to identify discrepancies that have occurred throughout the year in the implementation of various policies.

Normally, the HR Policy concentrates on recruitment, training, promotion, welfare, and various policies on these subjects. A questionnaire will be prepared on this subject and issued to all department heads or individual employees to ascertain whether there is any deviation from the fixed pattern or any difficulty in following the rules and procedures.

After analyzing all the feedback forms, the management will be in a position to identify how effective the company policy is and where corrections need to be made, guiding the management in a progressive way.

In short, HR Audit is nothing but analyzing the effectiveness and removing the bottlenecks in the implementation of HR policies.

Regards,
R. Sudhakar

Hi Aruna,

HR Audit is a process of reviewing and evaluating procedures, policies, documentation, systems, and practices with respect to a company's HR functions. The aim of H.R audit is to reveal the strengths and weaknesses in human resources system, and any matters needing resolution. The notion that prevails generally is that the audit works best when the focus is on analyzing and improving the HR function in the companywhich is usually in checklist fashion.

The audit itself is a diagnostic tool, a means and not a prescriptive instrument. It will help you identify what you need to improve, but it can't tell you what you need to do to resolve these issues. It is most useful when an organization is ready to act on the findings, and to evolve its HR function to a level where it can support the organization's mission and objectives.

An Audit team should symbolize cross section of a company including middle management, upper management, people holding jobs at lower end in company's herirarchy and H.R people.

A series of questions covering eight most important functions of H.R is made. That includes: Recruitment, Legal Issues and personnel policies, Documentation, HRIS, Compensation and benefits, Performance evaluation and management, termination and transition, training and development. The main and important step is to collect relevant information on these aspects. This process by itself could turn into an informative piece. After this, the irregularities between what is mentioned in paper (written form) and what is implemented are compared. Based on the findings, follow up and corrective steps are taken.

Hope this would help you.

Take care & Regards

Shalini