• What is an HR Audit?

The first step of conducting an HR audit is to determine the scope of the audit.

An HR Audit is often used to assess the working, execution and maintenance of the human resource department. Managing HR tasks are generally nerve wrecking, ranging from processes, documentation, policies and other time consuming systems. An HR audit reviews these HR aspects and finds the areas that are going well and the areas that need tweaking.

The HR audit’s goals are to determine whether your policies are being applied consistently, whether they are the norm for your industry and geographic location, and whether they are consistently communicated to all employees. The audit should also provide insight as to which individuals are responsible for the implementation and enforcement of policies. Finally, it should distinguish between policies that are applicable to nonunion employees, and the terms and conditions of employment for employees who are represented by a labour organization.

HR audits allows you to understand that all human resources tasks contribute to the overall business success. The human resource audit examines the internal HR processes as well as how well the HR department is performing and if all the related policies & HR implementation strategies align with the company’s goals.

Having a clear understanding of the types of HR Audits keeps you aligned with the Labour Relations Act as well as the CCMA obediences for both the Employer and Employee.

Most lawsuits can be traced to four distinct stages of the employment relationship: hiring, employee evaluation, employee discipline or termination, and post-employment. Therefore, your self-audit should target these areas. Sample audit questions from each of these four areas appear below.  In addition to these four areas, your employment audit should also target South African Labour Law regulations. Here are a few examples.

1. Review all your labour contract provisions for their impact on employees with disabilities.
2. Review all job specifications for hiring and placement of employees.
3. Review all employment applications for illegal questions dealing with employees
4. Review and prepare all current job descriptions setting forth essential job elements.
5. Review current facilities to ensure accessibility for individuals with disabilities.
6. Review all pre- employment tests.
7. Review all company or organization policies and procedures, in line with any statutory regulations or Acts, any applicable code of good practice in line with the Labour Relations Act 66 of 95 as amended, the Basic Conditions of Employment
8. Act and the Employment Equity Act.

Let’s look at the various HR Audits:-

• Company Culture
• Legal Compliance Audit
• Policies & Procedures 

An HR Policies Audit allows to inspect the existing policies and SOPs. It ensures that all the critical policies & procedures are working and in place. Audit of policies also throws light on the entire procedure of making the policies including the names of all stakeholders involved in making such policies. Statistics indicate that a safe work culture with no bullying or harassment attracts 90% of employees.

Uncertainty of the scope of your current policies, if they can work in your favour, and if further improvements are needed, the HR Audit is the perfect solution. Outsourcing the best HR audit team helps get adequate awareness about your prevailing systems, furthermore, it helps to know what policies are best or not working for your company.

• Health & Safety
• Strategic Plan

HR Audit Checklist 2023

We know how hectic an HR Department can be so we have given you an HR Audit Checklist to ease the stress.

Employee Documentation

Employee documentation, HR audit checklist, personal files and relevant forms must be placed systematically. An HR audit checks these forms to ensure they exist and are timely filed.

It safeguards each employee’s confidential data as per the POPI Act, relating to education, background verifications, as well as career history, financial stabilities, pre-employment medical checks, psychometric testing and references.

Policies and Procedures Handbook 

Ensuring that company laws adhere to the employment laws of South Africa. Assisting to make sure that there are no loopholes for misinterpretation in the system. Here are some guidelines to determine if your employee handbook is passing the HR Audit test:-

• Does your employee handbook contain a general disclaimer?
• Does your handbook contain a statement indicating that it is intended to provide employment related information only, does it include that it is not a binding contract of employment, and can be modified at any time?
• Do you have employees sign acknowledgement forms stating that they have received the handbook and understand it or been given in writing instructions on where and how to obtain a copy for perusal?
• Are your disclaimers in large type and placed in prominent positions?
  • Does your handbook indicate that serious offenses can circumvent your progressive discipline policy and result in immediate termination through disciplinary action?
  • Does your handbook contain statements promising or promoting a promotion – from-within policy?
  • Can your employee handbook be used as an induction session for newly appointed employees?
  • Does your employee handbook / contract of employment clearly state what procedure is available to employees who wish to refer a dispute to a bargaining council or any other form of dispute resolution mechanism?
  • Does your employee handbook state that performance appraisals are held together with the employee and briefly stating the procedure that will be followed during such session.
  • Does your employee handbook make mention of the general employer rules and regulations and state that detailed information on these policies and procedures are available to all employees?

Employee Training and Development

HR audits the irrelevant content from the training portfolio and also removes it.

The T&D program HR Audit checklist analyzes the employee development programs. It also searches for all the existing training gaps, statutory training competition and whether the relevant training is proceeding at the right time.

The training portfolio audit focuses on the following criteria:-

1. What is the employee feedback (whether positive or negative) over the learning assets?
2. What is the total time consumed by these training sessions or courses?
3. What is the overall impact of the training on employee performance?

Selection and Onboarding Processes

HR audits keeps track of all applicants and selected employees’ data, furthermore, it ensures the smooth selection and onboarding processes that’s as per the cultural needs of the company.

Analysis of all the current recruiting tools utilized by the company for hiring. It ensures that all devices are capable enough to meet organizational needs.

Labour Laws

The labour law HR audit appears into the picture due to its complacency to the various laws made for workers.

The overall motive of the Labor law audit is to maintain the relevant awareness, examination as well as track it.

Labour & Employment law Audit has proven to be a valuable tool for various companies. It’s highly effective for keeping the compliance related to employment, industrial,corporate and labour laws in South Africa.

HR auditing also highlights all those fields where the employees are not getting enough benefits from labour laws, causing Companies to pay huge penalties.

Maintaining and Tracking of Documents

You are required to maintain each employee’s data in/on a well-structured documented platform. Each employee has dozens of files kept on record. Imagine how problematic it is for HR if the company has more than 50 employees. Should an HR auditor visit the office and demands a random employee file, then you’ll get all puzzled about finding it offline.

A well structured filing system needs to kept in relevant filters to track and find any random file. Also, it smoothes conversation between employees, HR, and the auditor. An HR audit quickly finds the missing file, data incompletion, as well as other system errors.

Keeping Certifications Updated

HR departments needs to ensure that all employees’ certifications are up to date and have not expired. Employees’ professional accreditation and periodic training should be kept up to date to avoid any penalties.

How Often Should You Conduct an HR Audit?

It is recommended that an HR audit should be conducted every two years.  More concise audits of particular areas can be done every six months or as often as your HR department deems necessary.

What Should You Do After an HR Audit?

After an HR audit has been performed and the data has been collected and compiled, the findings should be compared to the predetermined HR benchmarks. Feedback regarding the results should then be provided to the interested parties in a timely manner. Finally, action plans need to be created, prioritized, and begun.