The Importance of Human Resources Audits

By Barrie Gross, Esq.

Most employers have gone to tremendous expense and effort to create scores of human resources

policies, practices, and procedures that comply with the law and are consistent with their organization's corporate culture. This can include, for example, employee handbooks, administrative guides for managers, performance management systems and guidebooks, succession planning systems, severance plans, and "behind the scenes" processes for onboarding new hires, disciplining or terminating employees, promotion guidelines, and making bonus determinations.

Not all human resources policies, practices, and procedures are committed to writing. But they are used nonetheless. Whether they are written or not, it is vitally important that companies also have a process to ensure that everything stays up-to-date with legal and compliance requirements, and actually works as intended. Conducting human resources audits is one way to do that.