Top 5 HR Audit Tips for SME's
There are more but here are 5 Top HR Audit Tips for Small Businesses
Recruiting and Hiring Processes – Questions need to go beyond the basics, like “is our hiring process good and legal,”. Are your application forms up-to-date and exclude illegal questions that may be putting your business at risk of possible discrimination? This also applies to your interview process and the questions asked during interviews. Do have properly documented job descriptions? Do you have a systematic and documented promotion and compensation process.
Reward and Benefits – Reward and Benefits are an extension of your management belief system. Are you aware of your Equal Pay Gap? Does your reward and benefits strategy aligned with your business structure? Do you have a clear policy stating your company position on employee compensation? Having the right and fair reward strategy is a huge influence on staff productivity.
Legal compliance – Is your filing and HR Information System protecting or jeopardising your employees’ privacy rights? Please don’t assume your employees are in the dark. They probably know more about their rights and employment laws than you think they do. That said, is non-compliance a chance worth taking. Are you terms and conditions of employment up to date?
Policies and Procedures (including the Employee Handbook) – Have you created or updated your policies and procedures handbook within the last couple of years? Did you know that nearly every few months, new laws, legislations and mandatory policy revisions and updates are required of all businesses? What steps are you taking to ensure that you are compliant? By creating a policies and procedures handbook, you provide your employees with uniform and consistent procedures to follow. When everyone follows the same rules, you can help minimise your risk of favouritism and/or seemingly unfair business practices which can lead to possible discrimination and harassment claims.
Employee Relations & Terminations – Do you use a consistent method to coach/discipline and terminate poor performers? If not, once again, you could be putting your business at risk. Ensuring that all negative performances receive consistent, honest, yet respectful “documented” equal treatment can significantly reduce – if not eliminate – employee complaints and post employment challenges, including retaliation for terminations and the difference between winning or losing unemployment claims.
Most of the above are quick fixes and only require minor shifts in the way you operate your business; however they will yield a great deal of positive returns for your company. First and foremost, by limiting your risk and liabilities against frivolous lawsuits or possible fines, you save your business thousands – if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.