The Human Resources (HR) Audit is a process of examining policies, procedures, documentation, systems, and practices with respect to an organization’s HR functions. The purpose of the audit is to reveal the strengths and weaknesses in the organisation’s human resources system, and any issues needing resolution. The audit works best when the focus is on analyzing and improving the HR function in the organization.
The audit itself is a diagnostic tool, not a prescriptive instrument. It will helps to identify what you are missing or need to improve, and it may even tell you what you need to do to address 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 its full potential to support the organization’s mission and objectives can be realized.
How should the HR audit be conducted?
The audit process consists of a series of questions covering the eight primary components of the HR function:
Roles, head count, and HR information systems (HRIS)
Recruitment
Documentation
Training, development, and career management
Compensation and benefits
Performance measurement and evaluation
Termination and transition
Legal issues and personnel policies
The team works to collect information to answer the HR audit questions in each of these categories. The focus is on how these activities and tasks are actually performed in the organization. The first step is to collect all the pertinent information. The process of getting information, in and of itself, can be quite informative.
For auditing the HRIS, the questioning begins from the organisation of HR department and how information flows inside the department. It must be remembered that HRIS exists in the department, evenif it is not automated using computers. Hence the overall information management system must be studied thoroughly. Hence, the audit is divided into three components:
Part I. Human Resource organisation/ administration
Part II. Information management through Documentation
Part III. Computerized HRIS
Each part has to be audited by asking certain questions which follow shortly.
Insights
