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HR Audit Overview

Insurance for Businesses

what is an HR audit?

HR audits are a proactive measure to identify risks within your HR best practices; the audit will determine any legal and regulatory liability. Audits are focused on ensuring policies, practices and procedures are up-to-date with legal and compliance requirements while meeting the needs of employees and maintaining standards. The goal is to recognize deficiencies and correct them before they become unmanageable.

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At Univest, we utilize a custom assessment tool designed to highlight many key elements of an effective human resource practice. This tool is used as a means to discuss both compliance issues and best practices. The results of the audit are helpful in developing improvements to departmental functions and the overall workforce.
  1. Training & Development – assess employee development and training programs
  2. Compensation & Benefits – address a number of areas such as compliance with required benefit offerings, confirm compensation aligns with business objectives and make sure confidential information is indeed confidential
  3. Compliance – ensure legal compliance with reporting needs and regulations to understand if and how well a company complies with laws and regulations
  4. Organizational – a simple review to make sure things are orderly and being managed correctly
  5. Recruitment & Retention – confirm processes in place for hiring, pre-screening, onboarding, etc. as well as creating and retaining job descriptions
  6. Recordkeeping – confirm business is meeting legal and regulatory requirements
Best practices suggest conducting an HR audit every year to maintain the discipline of an HR department. It is also important to consider completing an audit after major changes to make sure the impact is monitored and does not generate concern.
HR audits are likely to be more objective and beneficial to a company when an outside HR consulting firm or independent consultant is utilized. However, HR professionals can conduct in-house audits as long as they have the expertise and can remain objective while performing an adequate review.
  1. Determine the type of audit.
    Somewhat dependent on whether an HR audit has been previously conducted or if the company recently engaged in significant changes, a full audit may be required otherwise a specific type(s) of audit will be effective.
  2. Develop the questionnaire.
    If internal staff is conducting the audit, a series of questions needs to be crafted specific to the areas under review. If soliciting outside counsel, such as Univest HR Consulting, our experts have created a detailed assessment tool intended to address all areas within a company.
  3. Collect the data.
    Auditors will use the questionnaire to guide them through reviewing the areas identified within the scope of the audit.
  4. Evaluate the findings.
    Internally compare the audit findings against HR benchmarks of similar size companies. As the external auditor, Univest would evaluate the answers to ascertain numerical results that will identify gaps and opportunities by area.
  5. Provide feedback.
    As your HR partner, we will prepare an HR analysis with recommendations and review the feedback/observations with you in detail.
  6. Create action plans.
    The intent of the audit is to enact change where necessary. Based on the findings, we will help you develop a plan of action to resolve areas of concern.


Let Univest HR Consulting help standardize processes, identify areas of risk and align HR practices with your company’s overall strategy and goals. Contact us today to get started.


Insurance products are offered through Univest Insurance, LLC. and are obligations of the issuing insurance companies, are not obligations or deposits of or guaranteed by any bank and are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency of the United States. Insurance products are not a condition to any bank loan, product or service. Univest Insurance, LLC. is a licensed subsidiary of Univest Financial Corporation.
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