The Human Resources Audit is a functional type of audit, it is not only to diagnose the past, but to appreciate the present and to advise on the evolution of the company in order to achieve its objectives and improve its competitiveness in relation to other companies.
In this essay we will define the concept of human resources audit, we will also describe its functions, the techniques used to carry it out, the observations it makes, how it is evaluated and its different concepts. All this in order to understand the importance of this tool for companies, as well as for our training and future work as professionals.
In this process of globalization in which we live, we urgently need to appeal to the effective and efficient management of our organizational systems and the administration of our human resources. This reality requires adequate business responses that make it possible for companies to survive, and logistics tries to respond to the needs of this new environment. That is why it is timely and appropriate, practically an imperative need for the company's management to ensure that the management of the human talent department performs within appropriate levels in meeting the needs of employees, generating welfare and quality of life.
There is no doubt that the human resources management must allow to prepare and readapt the personnel to the new work demands, to the new organizational models, based on a new work culture characterized by: the spirit of solidarity and cooperation at work, improved performance and collective efforts, participation in decision making, promotion of horizontal and vertical communications, reduction of intermediate levels and middle managers, integration of functions and creation of new ones, decentralization of controls, collective responsibility and commitment to the objectives of the organization, among others, aspects that can only be verified if they are fulfilled as established, performing audits of modern human resources management.
In this sense Harper and Lynch (1992) define HR audit as an analysis of the policies and practices of an organization's personnel and evaluation of its current performance, in order to reach a professional opinion on the actions carried out in human resources, in a specific period of time, justify the costs. In addition to suggesting actions and measures for management improvement.
This means that the personnel audit is considered, as a procedure that aims to review and check under a special method all the functions and activities that in personnel matters are carried out in the various departments, to determine whether they conform to the established programs, and evaluate whether the objectives and policies set in the matter are met, suggesting, where appropriate, changes and improvements to be made for the better fulfillment of the purposes of personnel management.
Benefits of the Human Resources Audit
The benefits of the human resources audit are many, such as the following:
a) It identifies the contributions of the personnel department to the company.
b) Clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the human resources department.
c) Identifies critical issues.
d) Encourages uniformity of policies and practices; and
e) Ensures compliance with various legal provisions.
It should be noted that the problems in organizations related to personnel or human talent are not strictly confined to the area of the human resources department but are broad. Therefore, it is also necessary to evaluate the use of personnel procedures by managers and the effect that these activities have on personnel, as well as to evaluate corporate strategies and the way in which they relate to society in general, given that in any case the decisions made at the top directly affect the personnel department.
In accordance with the above, the members of the personnel department can become thoroughly familiar with the corporate strategy through interviews and direct talks wThe above leads us to verify then that there is a series of steps that must be followed for the HR audit to be effective and organized, therefore the audit team must take into account all aspects of personnel management, and make sure to identify who is responsible for carrying out each activity; determine the objectives pursued by each activity, review the policies and procedures used to achieve those objectives, develop an action plan to correct errors in the objectives, policies and procedures and last but not least formulate a follow-up for the action plan.
Areas covered by a Human Resources Audit.
a) Personnel management information system.
b) Human resources plans, compensation administration (Substitution and replacement plans, salary levels, salaries and incentives).
c) Job analysis (Job descriptions and specifications).
d) Staff recruitment and development recruitment and selection (External sources of personnel, selection procedures, etc.).
e) Training and orientation and professional development (Learning effectiveness rate, promotion plans).
f) Organizational control and evaluation (Performance evaluation techniques, evaluation interviews).
g) Personnel audits (role of the human resources department and evaluation of line managers).
In my opinion among the reasons that give rise to a management audit is the need to control the management of the company at different levels. In this case, the objective is to establish a control of effectiveness, efficiency and economy. Hence it is also called a 3E audit.
The effectiveness of an organization is measured by the degree of fulfillment of the objectives contained in its action programs, i.e., by comparing the results actually obtained with the expected results and, therefore, effectiveness exists when a given activity or service obtains the expected results, regardless of the resources that have been used for it, so it is a comparison of outputs with other outputs.
The evaluation of effectiveness always requires the existence of clear, concrete and defined objectives, being able to measure the level of effectiveness on the facts and on the results. This evaluation allows us to:
a) To know whether the completed programs have achieved the proposed purposes.
b) Provide information to decide whether a program should be continued, modified or suspended -effectiveness controls carried out during the program's development, measurement of intermediate outputs, if applicable.
c) To provide empirical bases for the evaluation of future programs.
d) To discover the possible existence of alternative solutions with greater effectiveness.
e) To encourage the establishment by the company's top management of its own internal management controls.
Efficiency is measured by the relationship between the goods acquired or produced or the services rendered on the one hand (outputs) and the resources used on the other (inputs), i.e. it is measured by comparing inputs with outputs. The evaluation of efficiency levels requires the existence of certain information and a sufficiently prepared organization.
In order to assess both inputs and outputs, these must be clearly defined. This evaluation can be carried out in quantitative or qualitative terms, and allows us to know:
a) The performance of the service provided or the good acquired or sold, in relation to its cost.
b) The comparison of such performance with a previously established standard.
c) Recommendations for improving the performance studied and, where appropriate, criticisms of the performance obtained.ith the leaders in order to determine whether the personnel are doing their job, as well as the degree of acceptance and adherence of the personnel to the human resources policies in relation to the company's strategic plans.