Improving HR Practices with an Annual Self-Audit

This blog was written by Brandon White, Director of Human Resources at Helpside. Brandon has more than a decade of experience, allowing him to make complicated employment situations and regulations approachable for small businesses.

Conducting an annual self-audit can be a great way to identify human resources areas that might need your attention. The good news is, Helpside has tools to help clients address all of these human resources challenges. For example, we offer a free checklist to get you started with your self-audit. You can download the checklist by clicking the button below.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get started:

• Are there any urgent employee relations issues that need to be addressed?
• Do you have an employee handbook? If so, when was the last time it was updated?
• Do you have a good system in place for organizing and housing employee files?
• Do you have up-to-date job descriptions for each of your positions? If so, are employees receiving copies and acknowledging those descriptions upon hire and when changing roles?
• Are you using offer letters when you hire employees?
• Are you currently conducting Harassment and Discrimination Prevention training? Are there other HR or manager trainings that would be helpful for your organization?
• Do you have up-to-date Federal and State employment posters?
• Do you have positions you are currently classifying as exempt from overtime? If so, have you completed an overtime exemption justification form for them?
• Do you have any independent contractors (paid by 1099)? If so, have you confirmed that they are not required to be W-2 employees?
• If you have 15 or more employees, do you understand employer requirements in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) including how to handle request for reasonable accommodations?
• If you have 50 or more employees, are you aware of the federal obligation to offer Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave to employees? If so, do you have a process in place to handle FMLA requests?
• Are there additional employee policies or forms that would be helpful for your organization?

Having good human resources practices in place can make it easier to run your businesses and protect your company from unnecessary legal challenges. It can be overwhelming if you try to tackle everything at once. Reach out to our HR team at humanresources@helpside.com for help prioritizing and putting together an action plan for improving your human resource processes over the next 12 months. We can do in-person trainings or web-based live trainings you help improve your HR processes.