With spring just around the corner, now is the perfect time to assess your HR practices, policies, and systems and make adjustments to improve them. If you have multiple areas that need fine-tuning, you may not know where to begin.
Conducting an HR audit in any capacity requires a strategy that involves aligning with current regulations and business goals, identifying focus areas, and conducting surveys. Then, you can identify areas for improvement by analyzing and benchmarking your data and developing an action plan for moving forward.
If you’re looking for an HR checklist plan of action, the following checklist can help you take the necessary steps toward streamlining processes, improving efficiency, addressing compliance gaps, and creating an engaged, high-performing workforce.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Assessing Current HR Processes
Assessing and adjusting your HR practices rarely begins with the processes themselves. Here’s an HR checklist for conducting a comprehensive audit to ensure your entire HR function operates efficiently and complies with all applicable laws.
Step 1: Align With Current Laws and Business Strategy
Before you can analyze your current policies and processes, you need to understand your current compliance obligations and the direction in which senior leadership plans to move the business. This will ensure your practices are fully aligned with both.
Step 2: Identify Focus Areas
It is challenging to take on every area of your practice at once. Instead, you may want to identify a few areas for improvement this spring by thinking about which processes would likely make the most significant impact on your department and organization.
Start with the issues most affected by upcoming compliance changes and most critical to achieving the business’s current mission.
Step 3: Conduct Audits and Surveys
Review your existing policies in each of your chosen areas to ensure they align with upcoming compliance obligations and changes in the company mission. Additionally, seek employee feedback through surveys to help you improve processes that affect company culture.
A negative culture is 10.4 times more likely to contribute to employee departures than pay. Feedback can help you get to the root of issues and inefficiencies (such as outdated systems and unclear policies) and develop targeted solutions to prevent this and other issues.
Step 4: Develop an Action Plan
Take an inventory of the compliance and strategy gaps you have identified and create a plan to address them. This may include developing new employee training, leveraging technology, adjusting your budget, or launching a new initiative.
As you create your HR checklist for your action plan, consider including metrics that can help you measure and monitor your results during and after implementation.
Key HR Tools and Platforms to Automate Processes and Improve Productivity
Gartner recently found that only 24% of HR functions are maximizing the business value of technology, underscoring a need for more digital transformation. If you’re not using technology to streamline your HR checklist, the following tools and platforms can help you achieve that goal:
- Applicant Tracking Systems: Automates job postings and resume screenings to find and deliver applications from qualified candidates
- Employee Self-Service Portals: Allows employees to enroll in benefits, get pay stubs, and make time off requests without HR’s help
- Onboarding Software: Manages and automates paperwork submission, onboarding tasks, compliance tracking, and training requirements
- Time and Attendance Systems: Automatically tracks employees’ working hours to ensure compliance with all labor and tax laws
- Performance Management Platforms: Tracks notes and data related to employee performance for accurate assessment and recordkeeping
- Learning Management Systems: Provides employees with access to virtual training and professional development opportunities
Keep in mind that your human resources information system may take care of all or some of these functions, so you’ll want to check with your vendor before making decisions about which applications and systems to purchase or use.
How to Prepare for Upcoming Compliance Changes
Each new year brings new laws and regulations that affect employers of all sizes. Here’s an HR checklist to help you make sure you’re ready for the changes coming your way:
- Actively monitor for new rules and regulations at the federal, state, and local level
- Conduct regular compliance audits by reviewing your current policies and practices to identify areas in need of re-alignment
- Update your employee handbook and clearly communicate these changes to all employees
- Provide employees with any relevant training to ensure understanding of key compliance areas like safety and anti-harassment
- Consult with HR experts and legal counsel to help you interpret any unclear regulations and ensure your policies are sound
These tips can help you reduce your risk and build a culture of compliance throughout your organization.
Use Your HR Checklist to Help You Stay Compliant and Efficient
Auditing and refreshing your HR processes is a necessary part of ensuring peak efficiency and performance. When it comes to creating compliant practices, VirgilHR offers an automated platform that does the heavy lifting for you.
With key features like a chatbot to help you determine legal requirements, a handbook builder that allows you to update your policies easily, and automatic legal update notifications, you can rest assured that your policies are always in line with the latest regulations.
Schedule a demo to learn more about how VirgilHR can streamline your HR tasks and keep you compliant.
Sources:
1.https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/toxic-culture-is-driving-the-great-resignation/
