Have you ever wondered whether your human resources department is functioning as it should be? Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to assess because HR is hands-on in literally every process and every function within the entire company. Even so, with an annual assessment it is possible to keep track of those details that may have caused issues the last time around. Not only are you striving to improve all areas within the workplace, but you are trying to avoid violating any federal or state laws which could have a huge impact on your bottom line. When it comes to government regulations and the potential for hefty fines for each and every violation, this is something you don’t want to deal with. So then, in terms of those rules and regulations, let’s take a quick look at how you should be grading your company’s human resources functions.
Is Everything Documented Properly?
If Uncle Sam is going to snag you anywhere whatsoever, it would probably be because your documents aren’t in order. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t always consider that even minor changes mid-year can have an impact on small to midsized companies. Most often directors look for changes at the end of a fiscal year and would probably not have ordered that new I-9 or updated W-4 simply because they missed it as a midterm ruling. Some company managers have even let it slide before ordering those newly approved forms because they saw nothing tangible to worry about. Unfortunately, that can be a serious violation and this is why teams like G&A Partnership have compiled a list of HR assessment questions, more than one of which deals with document compliance issues.
Is the Company Policy Up to Date?
Another of the major areas of focus when being audited or assessed by government entities is regarding company policy. Within recent years there has been a huge emphasis on transparency and if your company should fall short of the mark, a huge fine could be assessed. Unfortunately, that find might be just the beginning of your legal issues.
Are Employee Communications Up to Date?
This is probably an issue only dealt with in larger companies. With over 1,000 employees some of the time, it becomes quite difficult to find the time to go through each and every document to make sure every employee was issued a company handbook and that there weren’t any forms missing at an annual review. Bear in mind that the fine is just the beginning of your worries if you terminated someone who wasn’t given the proper documents. Litigation could be held up in courts for months on end!
The bottom line is that it is your responsibility to ensure every document is available and every T is crossed, and I is dotted. There is no time like the present to begin an internal audit of your HR department and all functions within. If you need to contract an outsourced team to do the assessment, then that is what you need to do. Just don’t get caught violating company policy or government regulations. This can have severe consequences you want to avoid at all costs.
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