A Guide to Human Resources Self-Audits
Each week, on the highly rated HR Stories Podcast, The Team at HR Stories highlights a business that failed to protect itself. Some of these stories are due to hubris, but most are due to ignorance of employment law and human resources best practices. Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, and Non-Profit Leaders can protect their organizations by doing simple audits to ensure they stay compliant with Federal, State, and Local laws.
In this primer, we discuss the self-audits that will help small businesses and non-profits better understand how their organization is doing and what changes must be made to comply with legal standards. Over the past five years, more and more companies have contacted us to audit and assess their HR department. The following is based on our experience auditing small businesses in various industries, locations, and the number of employees.
An HR Audit, sometimes called an HR Assessment, is the systematic process of reviewing the variety of functions under the Human Resources or Workforce Management part of your business. The goal is to measure the organization for compliance with employment laws at all levels of the government.
It can cover many different areas, but for this primer, we will discuss the following areas:
- Compliance with Employment Law
- Poster and Posting Requirements
- Employee Handbook and Policies
- Employee Job Descriptions
- Recruitment and Hiring Process
- New Employee Paperwork
- Orientation and Onboarding
- Employee Record Keeping
- FLSA Classification
- Performance Management
- Compensation and Benefits
- Workplace Safety
- Termination Procedures
This book aims to provide the tools business leaders need to audit their company’s Human Resources functions. For more information on how to get HR right, check out The Small Business Guide to Human Resources and The Ultimate Book of HR Checklist: Your Step-by-Step Reference Guide to Getting HR Right.
John and Chuck