Audit of hr processes. HR Audit

I recently joined the company as a HR director, but I already see that there is no order in the personnel documentation. How can I make sure, given that there was no transfer of cases from the previous HR director and no one ever checked the personnel officers?

Solution

When is a HR audit needed?

• in the company, a personnel audit is carried out regularly (for example, once a year), and only the documentation of the current (past) year is subject to verification;
• the company carried out a “problematic dismissal” of a specific employee, and a check is possible related to the correctness of the dismissal of this particular employee - in this case, all documentation related to him is checked;
• when bringing personnel documentation in line with the changed legislation, documents are subject to verification, which will need to be amended.

Even if the HR audit is initiated by the HR director, to give “weight” to this procedure, an appropriate order is needed, which defines the goals and objectives of this event, forms a commission, and also indicates the timing of the audit.

Depending on the situation in which the company starts the audit, the scope of the audited documentation may be different.

There are two types of audit of personnel documentation: overview and general.

Target review (selective) audit- identification of typical errors in the maintenance of personnel documentation and development of ways to eliminate them. The information is checked on a sample basis, that is, they check that part of the documents, the analysis of which will provide a current picture of the state of personnel documentation.

Target general (complete) audit- Identification of all committed violations in the conduct of personnel documentation. All personnel documents in the company are checked individually, the violation of which can cause penalties from the Tax Inspectorate, the Labor Inspectorate and other inspection bodies.

Dictionary

HR audit– a procedure for analyzing HR documentation for compliance with labor legislation, as well as internal requirements of the company.

It is such a check that it is advisable to carry out in a company in cases where it is necessary to restore complete order in the documents. But it must be remembered that a general audit requires a lot of labor (mainly in time), so the HR manager must make a choice about how complete the verification of the documentation is needed and whether the company is able to do it at the moment.

External consultants can be both employees of a specialized company (usually firms providing consulting services on personnel management issues also offer personnel audits), or a freelancer working independently.

In the case of an internal audit, a working group is created from them, which is responsible for the result of the audit, in the case of an external audit, they are responsible for providing the consultants with the necessary information, as well as comprehensive support for the audit.

If a company conducts an audit on its own, it is necessary to issue an order to conduct a personnel audit in the organization, determine the goals and objectives of this event, form an appropriate commission, and determine the timing of the audit.

If the company's management decided to involve a third-party organization for the audit, the customer needs to select a provider (after carefully analyzing the market for such services) and conclude an agreement that defines the goals, objectives, powers and obligations of the parties, deadlines, etc., and issue an order for the organization indicating the goals tasks, as well as a working group assisting external consultants.

Conducting an audit

Determining the package of required documents

Note!

Depending on the objectives, the planned depth and the time allotted for the audit, the company must decide whether the audit will be carried out with the help of invited consultants (external audit) or by its own employees (internal audit).

First of all, you need to make a list of documents that must be in the personnel service. The obligation of some documents is directly defined in the Labor Code. For example, the binding nature of employment contracts is provided for in Art. 56 and 67, work books - Art. 66, internal labor regulations - Art. 189, vacation schedule - Art. 123, provisions on the protection of personal data - Chapter 14 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Many local regulations are mentioned indirectly in the Labor Code (for example, the staffing table is mentioned in Articles 15, 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). However, this does not mean that it is not necessary to have them in the personnel service. In addition to the Labor Code, the need for many documents is enshrined in other regulations, for example, the Book of Accounting for the Movement of Labor Books and Inserts to them is mentioned in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 16, 2003 No. 225.

Participants of the personnel audit:

• the first person of the company;
• employees of the personnel department or the personnel management department;
• lawyers;
• employees of the planning and economic department (often it is they who develop the staffing table, shift schedules and are engaged in the calculation of salaries and other payments);
• employees responsible for labor protection in the organization.

Some documents are advisory in nature, such as unified forms of personnel orders. But, despite this, personnel documentation is required to be kept precisely according to unified forms, since many documents go to the accounting department of the organization (for example, for payroll) and in this case we can already talk about their obligation. Then you need to add documents to this list that may become mandatory in certain situations (for example, if the company has a shift work schedule or if there are positions with harmful working conditions).

As a result, auditors receive a list of documents that must be present in the company's personnel department.

Reconciliation of documents

After the members of the commission have compiled a list of documents required for the personnel service, it is necessary to reconcile what is and what should be in order to restore all the necessary personnel documents in the future. To do this, they check not only the presence / absence of documents, but also carefully study their content, since even in the existing document there are violations of the law.

The reconciliation results should preferably be summarized in a table. It will clearly show which local regulations need to be improved, and which need to be created again.

The next step will be to analyze the presence in the personnel department of documents that require processing or additions. Very often, organizations, using the right of “internal rule-making” granted to them by the legislator, violate the Basic Rule (Article 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) - the norms of local regulations that worsen the position of employees in comparison with the established labor legislation or adopted without complying with the established Art. 372 of this Code of the procedure for taking into account the opinion of the representative body of employees are not subject to application. In such cases, labor legislation and other normative legal acts containing labor law norms, a collective agreement, agreements are applied.

If there are few such violations, it is possible to include them in a previously compiled table, otherwise it is more convenient to make a separate table containing a list of identified violations in specific documents.

Checking other HR documentation

Looking through administrative documents, you need to check that orders for core activities are stored separately from orders for personnel. They also check how correctly the orders for the appointment of managers to a new position (general director, directors of structural divisions, chief accountant, head of production, etc.) are executed.

All personnel documents have different storage periods, so documents after execution should be formed into cases in accordance with the nomenclature of cases (inside the case, documents are also systematized according to certain criteria), this allows you to store documents, ensure their safety, systematization, accounting, quickly find the necessary document, quickly transfer cases to archival storage.

Particular attention should be paid to the order of maintaining work books. First of all, you need to check the availability of a certified copy of the order for the main activity on the appointment of a person responsible for maintaining work books.

When auditing work books and inserts to them, you need to make sure that they are all registered in the Book of Accounting for the Movement of Work Books and Inserts to them, all books are available and all entries have been made in them (based on the relevant orders).

In the personal cards of employees, entries from work books (inserts) on hiring, transfers to another permanent job and dismissal should be duplicated, and the employee’s signature should be next to him stating that he is familiar with these records. Employment books and inserts to them must be kept together in a safe. Work with work books should be carried out in accordance with the Rules for maintaining and storing work books and the Instructions for filling out work books.

A moment to smile

An excerpt from the applicant's resume for the position of "advertising manager"

Key skills:

• non-standard thinking (.--. .-.....- -.. . .-.....--. ---);
• readiness to work in a team (including football);
• erudition (Hegel, Gogol, Babel, Bebel stand before my inner eye);
• purposefulness (without fanaticism - alas, Savonarola, I'm not on my way with you);
• work for the result (the question is, what results do you want?).

Report generation

In conclusion, the commission for conducting a personnel audit draws up a report on the current state of personnel records management, analyzes whether the goals of the audit have been achieved, fixes the identified shortcomings, prescribes measures to be taken, and draws conclusions.

The more complete and substantive the report, the easier it is for the personnel department to correct the mistakes made.

The report may include:

• analysis of the availability of all documents required by labor legislation;
• analysis of the compliance of paperwork with the requirements of the Labor legislation;
• assessment of the content of internal local regulations of the organization;
• analysis of personnel procedures for compliance with legal requirements;
• analysis of the compliance of documents with the requirements of archival legislation;
• links to specific articles of regulations, according to which the company has violations;
• risk assessment: what violations can lead to labor disputes or penalties from inspection bodies;
• recommendations for correcting errors in personnel records management;
• setting priorities in further work with personnel documents.

Usually it is presented in the form of a document containing both descriptive parts and a table with violations and recommendations for their elimination, which is drawn up as an Appendix to the report.

The report is submitted to the audit customer (the first person of the company) for approval and further actions (issuing an order to correct the identified violations, distributing this work among personnel officers, etc.)

As a rule, the auditor personally presents the report, since explanations and additional information are often necessary.

results

The result of a personnel audit is usually a work plan for the personnel department to eliminate identified shortcomings in record keeping, indicating the timing of their correction and the officials responsible for this.

In addition, often immediately following the results of the first audit, a second audit is appointed - in order to verify the correction of the identified violations.

This audit applies to the state of Virginia. It allows you to check the organization's policies in HR areas such as recruiting, training, pay, benefits, labor relations, etc.

I. Questionnaire: Structure of the Division

Do all HR functions in the organization belong to one department that is responsible and accountable for planning, approving, overseeing and coordinating all human resource policies, systems and services?

Does the senior HR manager report at the same horizontal level as all other senior personnel in the organization, including direct action departments?

Does the senior HR manager participate in strategic, tactical, and overall organizational policy decisions?

Does the senior HR manager align all HR activities with the strategic business plan of the organization?

Does the HR department clearly understand the needs of the organization, employer and employees?

Are HR functions focused on the needs of the organization, employer and employees, are there priorities?

Has the mission of the HR department been formulated, explaining its role in the organization?

1. Does the management staff know about the mission of the HR department?

   Do others in the organization know about the mission?

   If yes, then who?

   How did they know?

Does HR lead the way for employees to be more entrepreneurial (as well as increasing productivity, reducing costs, improving product quality and labor relations programs)?

Was the HR department's organogram printed and distributed?

1. If yes, among whom?

   Does the organogram clearly delineate functional responsibilities, and to whom can the employer and employees turn for help?

Has a job description been approved for each employee of the HR department, explaining the main objectives of the work, responsibilities and accountability?

Does each HR person understand their role and working relationships with others?

Are HR employees additionally qualified to perform duties outside of their primary area of ​​responsibility?

Do they work on special team and departmental projects?

Are the HR staff competent in their professional and industry areas?

Do they advise management and employees on HR matters?

Can HR staff work as a team?

Are they easily accessible to the employer and all employees?

Do HR staff provide training and development that meets organizational requirements and objectives?

Are participation in professional or industry groups encouraged?

1. Is the department subscribed to major professional and trade journals?

Is there a reliable measurement of the performance of HR employees that clearly sets out their goals and objectives?

Are HR employees paid according to market standards?

1. Do they receive the same salary as employees in comparable positions in the organization?

Are HR people able to align organizational needs with the needs of employees, and do they act as an intermediary for both parties?

Is the HR department results-oriented (that is, does it consider the cost-effectiveness and practical results of HR programs)?

1. If yes, does it pay attention to the balance of profit and loss, is it business-oriented?

What is the limit on the responsibility of department heads (that is, how many and which officials report to them)?

1. Are lower-level managers accountable to other middle managers?

   How many employees are in the HR department?

   What is the ratio of HR employees to all other working employees?

   How does this compare to the number of staff in other organizations offering similar services?

Are HR needs and programs taken into account in the budgeting process?

Does the organization plan for its future needs to meet future HR needs?

Questionnaire Explanations: Department Structure

In all sections, the self-audit questions are designed to assess how well the HR department achieves the goal stated at the very beginning of each questionnaire: is the HR department formed, structured and equipped in such a way as to provide a comprehensive strategy, control and effective managing human resources to achieve organizational goals?

Questions 1 through 9 look at how department leaders achieve organizational goals and the extent to which they are involved in managing strategic planning activities and in making decisions that affect bottom lines. These questions help track whether HR activities are meeting the needs of the employer and employees, and when the HR team, by taking the initiative, can help them use the organization's workforce to the maximum.

Questions 10 to 26 draw attention to the department's related responsibilities towards the employer and all employees, job tasks and internal relationships, the dual role of HR staff as internal consultants for management and employees, its competence and flexibility, versatile qualifications, matching the needs of employees with business requirements and focus on practical results.

The subparagraphs of question 24 deal with the number of staff, the structure and the limit of responsibility. Specialized headcount standards for any industry are available from a variety of professional publications as well as national and regional statistics. Research specific to your type of organization will make these baseline data more reliable.

Questions 25 and 26 draw attention to resources and planning to ensure that the work is done.

II. Questionnaire: Human Resource Planning/Organizational Development

The questionnaire is designed to explore the process of identifying and providing the means to meet an organization's development and human resource needs.

Is there a single person responsible for keeping track of the organization's human resource needs?

How is such a review carried out? Formal/informal? (please describe)

How often is the analysis updated (eg annually, every two years, three years, or less frequently)?

Do your planned needs include the following types of analysis:

Analysis of the external demographic data of the labor force (age, gender, population distribution by minorities, education, skill level, occupation, etc.)

Analysis of expected organizational changes in technologies, processes, products/services and markets.

Analysis of the needs of employees, such changes will require, for example, new qualifications, education, knowledge and skills.

What external sources provide such demographic data?

What internal sources within the organization provide this information?

To whom are these forecasts communicated? How often? Long-term such forecasts?

Is one person responsible for reviewing and evaluating the skills, education, interests, and needs of the HR department?

How is this assessment carried out (formally or informally)? (Please describe.)

How often is this assessment updated (eg every two years, three years, or less frequently)?

To whom are these estimates and forecasts communicated? How often? How long term?

Are such assessments and predictions used in learning and development?

Is such an assessment and forecasts (need for employees) used for professional orientation (alignment of organizational and individual needs, skills and abilities)?

Is there a formal career guidance process in place?

Is there a career counseling system to identify individual skills, interests and needs that provides a new position and/or development assistance?

Are promising employees identified for key positions? If so, is there a consistent plan to identify high potential employees?

Are HR projections in terms of recruitment (i.e., number, job classification, skills, knowledge, and education level) outlined? How long term?

If the workforce plan requires restructuring or layoffs, are there specific strategies for dealing with laid-off employees?

Is there help for those who have been laid off to find a job?

Are there strategies to support the remaining employees?

Are HR forecasts part of the organization's budgeting process?

Is the organization planning to meet its human resource and development needs?

Questionnaire Explanations: Human Resource Planning/Organizational Development

Positive answers to all questions in this section mean that all organizational development and human resource needs are being met. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the development of the organization and the predicted need for labor force with the physical and intellectual data of employees.

Questions one through seven look at what might affect the planning process (changes in the workforce, markets and consumers, products, services, technology/skills, and external supply).

Questions eight through seventeen describe the process of internally evaluating and reviewing organizational activities for leadership development, training, career guidance, and successive planning to meet the organization's demand for employees. If the domestic supply of labor is greater than the demand, then resources should be reallocated (questions 18 and 19).

HR planning is very important for a young, fast growing and high-tech business. In the process of constant competition, a mature business also, in need of new products, services, markets, procurement or implementation, must plan to identify, attract or redistribute the talented employees necessary to give it new strength.

Now a little about the technical revolution. In 1980, a Worldwatch Institute research article began: It appears that microelectronics will bring rapid change to the industry. Of course, this is old news about the future, but we returned to this story to remind us that we were told about what was to happen. Most of us just didn't pay attention.

Auditing… For accountants and employees of financial departments, this topic causes a feeling of slight anxiety, and for people in creative professions, it brings downright boredom. But for every manager it is very important to know what is actually happening in the area of ​​work entrusted to him. In addition, if you approach this issue “with a soul”, then sincere interest will take the place of boredom.

Imagine a three-dimensional figure, for example, a cube. Dividing it by vertical and horizontal planes into a certain number of cells, we get n equal cubes. By placing hinges at the cube's vertices, we can, keeping the base in one place, tilt it in a vertical plane - left / right or forward / backward. We got a flexible structure that, with all changes, retains all the main parameters: height, width, depth ( rice. 1).

Rice. 1. An illustration of the flexibility of matrix structures

The matrix structure of the Atlant-M holding can be likened to such a moving cube: it has branches - commercial And budgetary(in our company, a branch is an independent company code).

To the main functions of budget offices (for example, the branch personnel management, branch business development) include the development, implementation and control of the execution of management decisions, policies, regulations, procedures, etc. It is these units that create the framework of the "cube", their activities ensure the strength of the entire structure, since they:

• describe the accumulated experience; optimize existing business processes;
• transfer best practices to other departments;
• organize the work of new enterprises;
• optimize business processes using an ERP system and control the activities of commercial departments.

The components of the "cube" of our company are commercial departments - separate auto centers. Under the pressure of external influences, its axes can shift, adapting to ongoing events (for example, to the global financial crisis). The management system created and protected by the budgetary departments does not allow the whole structure of the holding to crumble under the influence of "displacements" into separate cubes. Audits are among such tools with which the integrity of the system is maintained.

Audit allows you to solve the following tasks:

• monitor the activities of departments in all business processes;
• collect information on areas of activity that can be optimized;
• analyze the effectiveness of introducing innovations in the field;
• conduct benchmarking studies of the success of the activities of departments operating in different markets with different brands of cars.

Audits are carried out for each business process (based on the relevant Regulations) using checklist (check-list- a checklist, a list of questions, an audit plan), which sequentially describes which processes and operations are mandatory for a particular department. The checklist is made in the form of a table with indicators (program file excel with several "sheets" - rice. 2, 3).

Rice. 2. General view of the checklist

Click image for a larger view

Rice. 3. Single sheet view

The technology of audits was introduced into the management practice of our company by employees of the business development department. Our best specialists work here - aces in the sale of cars and spare parts, service and warranty service, disposition and logistics, finance. I note that our working groups are constantly used to solve new problems or create new technologies. The group that developed the audit methodology included HR specialists from Minsk, Moscow and Kyiv (8–10 people, the composition varied depending on the stage of work). The training was carried out on a specially created virtual platform, using the Internet.

At the initial stage, the initiatives of the group members were collected - proposals regarding the procedure for conducting inspections and proposals for the content of the checklist. This information was consolidated, structured and presented to the group members for study and correction. In total, several such iterations were carried out in the process of developing methods.

When developing the checklist, we sought to:

1. Minimize the time required to complete it.
2. Use important and measurable(!) criteria, do not overload it with excessive detail.

Several pilot projects were implemented to test the performance of the checklists before the start of scheduled audits.

How do we benefit from audit data?

• Employees of subdivisions with a high integral performance assessment receive a bonus at the end of the year. (The integral score is equal to the sum of the audit scores for the functions of the main and end-to-end (supporting) business processes that have a certain weight.)
• Expert opinion and recommendations show the possibilities for optimizing business processes.
• Based on the results of the audit report, each department receives an action plan that will help optimize its work.

Paying a lot of attention to the main business processes, we do not forget about the budget departments (finance, information technology, marketing, personnel management), we regularly improve their activities.

The personnel management system in Atlant-M can be schematically represented as a star with five main beams - areas of activity ( rice. 4): selection and use of human resources; development; grade; motivation; safety.

Click image for a larger view

Rice. 4. Scheme of personnel management in the holding "Atlant-M"

* "Personnel ballast" - maladjusted employees who systematically make serious mistakes and mistakes in their work; people with low motivation who do not perform their functions effectively for a long time; unwilling or incapable of learning/re-profiling their activities. If the manager considers their further work inappropriate, he either initiates the dismissal procedure, or (if appropriate) transfers the lists of such employees to the personnel management department for retraining.

For young managers and specialists with no experience in personnel management, the Zvezda scheme helps to master the basics of people management, and for young HR professionals to prepare for licensing. In our company, licensing is an internal exam that confirms the availability of the necessary amount of knowledge to conduct certain activities.

Business process implementation audit "Personnel Management" (PM) in the departments we carry out in the form of performance evaluation. The grounds for it are:

• verification (viewing documentation, collecting oral information);
• comparison of the collected data with the regulatory and basic requirements of the Regulations / Standards for activities in the field of PM.

The purpose of the audit is to obtain reliable information on the compliance of the activities performed with corporate standards of work, if necessary, to develop measures to eliminate shortcomings in the work with personnel. The audit process is described in the relevant Regulation, which is a guide for the members of the commission. The regulation helps department heads and commission members to determine the requirements for each criterion and consider contentious issues.

Each direction of HR activity - the "star" beam - consists of several blocks and is reflected on a separate sheet of the checklist ( rice. 3). The verification program includes:

• calculation and evaluation of economic indicators of UE;
• verification of compliance with regulations;
• verification of personnel documents.

We evaluate the economic results in UE by the ratio plan / fact: we check the deviation of current indicators from the planned ones - productivity, profitability and staff turnover. Staff turnover, in turn, is assessed by two groups of indicators - general staff turnover and staff turnover in key positions. The assessment is carried out on a three-point scale, where:

"1" - the work fully complies with the requirements described in the documentation;

"0.5" - the work is not carried out in full, there are comments;

"0" - work is carried out to a minimum extent or not carried out at all.

The audit is carried out by a commission consisting of at least two people. The checklist contains two groups of criteria:

• to check the availability of documents and the correctness of their execution;
• to conduct an interview.

Representatives of three groups of personnel are interviewed: managers; specialists; workers. The number of employees interviewed should be necessary and sufficient for auditors to get a clear picture of the criteria group being assessed. As our experience shows, for this it is enough to interview 10-20% of the department's staff.

On a separate sheet of the checklist is presented evaluation model (rice. 5): each criterion is assigned a certain weight, the calculation of the indicator is based on the possible maximum score. Thus, the calculation clearly shows the deviation from the best possible result.

Click image for a larger view

Rice. 5. Model for assessing the business process "Personnel Management"

The results of the evaluation are not only recorded in digital form, but also illustrated - using “smiley” drawings ( rice. 6). Such a “visibility” of the data presentation allows the verifier to quickly evaluate the result.

Rice. 6. Visualization of grades

Giving marks, each member of the commission works individually. At the end of the work, the commission meets to discuss the results, develop a common decision and prepare recommendations. Based on the results of the assessment, a report is drawn up. Within a month after the audit, the personnel manager of the audited department prepares a plan for further work indicating specific activities (in accordance with the list of recommendations).

All our enterprises are engaged in one line of business and have standard structures. At the same time, management is structured in such a way that department heads enjoy a sufficient degree of freedom in strategic and operational management (in order to take into account the specifics of the market as flexibly as possible). The organizational structures of the holding divisions differ from each other, since enterprises, like their leaders, are at different stages of development. Such unevenness often masked the difficulties inherent in each individual department, did not allow assessing (and comparing) the effectiveness of managerial decisions made by their directors.

The audits helped us to identify inefficient top managers, as well as those who "pursues subjective interests." For example, using the opportunities available within the framework of the provided independence, some of them make adjustments to the organizational structure that lead to the appearance redundant levels of control And duplication of functions. On the other hand, it became clear to us that in each department it is necessary to introduce the position of deputy director who would manage cross-cutting functions (back office). All these problems became apparent from the results of the inspections.

The ratings obtained also showed how important for the effective management of people is the qualified and stable work of the personnel manager himself, his loyalty to the company, and in addition - the consistency and continuity in this activity at the level of the department and the holding as a whole.

The results of the HR audit convincingly demonstrated:

• reducing the percentage of staff turnover is possible only with systematic work with personnel;
• the adopted strategy of personnel management directly affects the results of the work of the department as a whole.

The scores in the checklist helped us in our work with line managers. For example, we constantly tell them about the importance of the adaptation period: the less attention is paid to a new employee in the first days at the workplace, the more likely it is that he will leave the enterprise or work with low productivity. An objective assessment of the commission, based on the results of interviews with 10% of employees, turned out to be much more convincing for line managers than words.

How did the employees themselves react to the audits? At first, people were worried, asking members of the inspection team questions: “Are we being tested? Is there something wrong?" During the interview, I once again told people about the general management system at Atlant-M, of which audits are a part - systemic monitoring of the correctness of business processes. When conducting them, we do not pursue any "repressive" goals ("verification" - punishment"), the results of the assessments are used only to improve the organizational structure and activities of the departments.

One of my colleagues printed out the texts of the Corporate Code and the Internal Labor Regulations and gave them to employees on the eve of the audits, along with wages. This information helped to clarify the essence of what was happening to employees, as a result, they became more relaxed about the audit procedure. Since the questions asked during the interviews were not about the results of the work of an individual, but about the personnel management system as a whole, people willingly and frankly talked about problems and achievements. As a result, we received feedback from employees on the quality of the work of the HR department, as well as an assessment of the work of their immediate supervisors and the department's HR manager. I recommend to HRs to improve their interviewing skills on a regular basis!

Conducting audits (including HR audits) in our company has proven to be excellent; its results helped to identify shortcomings and find hidden reserves for further improvement and development

Auditing… For accountants and employees of financial departments, this topic causes a feeling of slight anxiety, and for people in creative professions, it brings downright boredom. But for every manager it is very important to know what is actually happening in the area of ​​work entrusted to him. In addition, if you approach this issue “with a soul”, then sincere interest will take the place of boredom.

Imagine a three-dimensional figure, for example, a cube. Dividing it by vertical and horizontal planes into a certain number of cells, we get n equal cubes. By placing hinges at the cube's vertices, we can, keeping the base in one place, tilt it in a vertical plane - left / right or forward / backward. We got a flexible structure that, with all changes, retains all the main parameters: height, width, depth (rice. 1).

Rice. 1. An illustration of the flexibility of matrix structures

To the main functions of budget offices (for example, the branchpersonnel management , branch business development ) include the development, implementation and control of the execution of management decisions, policies, regulations, procedures, etc. It is these units that create the framework of the "cube", their activities ensure the strength of the entire structure, since they:

• How does an audit of internal systems and assessment tools help HR determine what is working and what is not?
• How to seamlessly make the transition from some assessment tools (outdated, ineffective) to others?
• How to deal with resistance?
• How to plan internal PR for new tools?

HR audits typically focus on how and to what extent HR professionals help the business.

If a request for such an audit has arisen, this means that either the company already has a culture of continuous improvement, striving for the quality of work, or the business has some dissatisfaction with the work of the HR service, or a new leader has headed the HR service team.

In all these cases, it is necessary to collect information on how HR:
– examines the condition of the company’s employees and identifies needs for its services
— satisfies the stated needs and anticipates new areas of work with personnel
— solves difficult situations with teams and individuals.
To do this, it is important to communicate with both sides of the process - both with HR employees and with their internal customers - employees and company leaders.

Failures in work are detected when analyzing the collected information and often relate to issues of interaction in the adoption and implementation of joint decisions.
Fulfilling the will of management, HR employees can find themselves between two fires - on the one hand, the requirements for greater transparency, consistency and efficiency of work on the part of management, on the other hand, the unwillingness of managers and employees "in the field" to understand problems, learn new tools, apply them in their practice and make decisions based on new information.

A typical situation is the issue of allocating a personnel reserve and appointing successors. What to rely on when resolving this issue? In most organizations, the opinion of the immediate supervisor of the employee and the manager one level above is taken into account. Is it decisive, or is HR trying to collect other information to make an objective decision? Who makes such a decision?

A company may have a whole range of people assessment tools, but when opening a position, the results of the assessment do not affect the decision. This may mean, depending on other data collected:
— insufficient authority of HR employees in the eyes of business representatives,
- the presence in the organization of a culture in which personal connections and relationships are more important than the effectiveness and potential of the employee,
- the presence of "double standards" in the company, when some values ​​are declared, and the real choice of successors is carried out according to others,
- undeveloped for evaluation, not reflecting the real set of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for success in this company.

An audit helps determine what the role of HR is in an organization

What do its employees do - collect and systematize important information about the effectiveness and potential of people to make the most accurate decisions, to create objective and transparent career paths, or just perform the functions of internal PR to create the appearance of all this? Depending on the answer to this question, you can make plans to improve the efficiency of HR or improve its communication with the business.

The audit can also detect errors in the use of assessment tools.

For example, an organization conducts a staff satisfaction survey. The purpose of the survey is to collect information about how the employees of the organization feel. It is expected that the obtained data will be used to develop ideas for improving staff satisfaction and reducing staff turnover. However, an analysis of the survey procedure reveals that the information received can hardly be considered reliable and objective. The rules of anonymity and confidentiality of obtaining data are not observed, the length of service of respondents in the organization is not taken into account, people turn out to be completely unprepared for the survey - or, on the contrary, over-prepared and incorrectly configured, the questionnaire includes uninformative or ambiguous questions, the results of the survey are used as a rationale for conducting a survey. sanctions against teams or individuals. Common polling errors reduce the value of the information obtained when people knowingly hide or distort information, and can even lead to wrong decisions. Auditors must carefully understand how a survey is initiated, prepared, conducted, and how its results are processed and used.

In one of the large Russian retail companies, the head called on an independent consultant to look into the situation when the internal system for evaluating communication between departments stopped working. If at first people reported problems with interaction, then for the last year and a half of using the system, everyone gave each other only the highest scores, despite the fact that problems in collaboration still existed. In order to understand the situation, it was necessary to understand not only how the results of the assessment were used, but also to analyze the way the data was collected, and even the scale by which the assessments were made. The changes introduced to the procedure and the rating scale allowed to start receiving reliable and important information about both failures of cross-functional interaction and best practices for working with internal clients.

Another example is the use of tests when hiring or when assessing a talent pool.

It would never occur to anyone to put an unprepared person in the place of the machine operator. And access to the use of psychological tests and tests of ability assessment is sometimes given to untrained or only partially trained people. The auditor may then find that the organization is using tests that are inappropriate for the purposes of the assessment, that the testing and data handling procedures are flawed, that the results are drawing incorrect conclusions, that the findings are presented to management in a manner that excludes equal dialogue and is understandable to both sides communication.

It also happens that “psychologists” grown up in non-professional communities give such feedback on testing to company employees that the latter find themselves confused, feel humiliated and lose hope for an objective assessment of their abilities in this company. “I’m unlikely to be taken to, it’s not even worth trying,” says an employee who received the following conclusion from the company’s “psychologist” a couple of years ago: “Impulsive, often unable to cope with surging feelings, unable to restrain them even where they are unacceptable. Under the influence of feelings, he loses his critical perception of reality, he can succumb to any persuasion of others. He prefers to defend his position, conflicts arise because of intractability. (spelling, punctuation and style preserved - M.T.).

Often, the actions of internal employees that are blatant and alienate the company from its goals go unnoticed and are not analyzed, primarily because the head of the HR service himself is not particularly versed in assessment tools, trusting those who promoted them to the organization, or does not consider it necessary to check the obvious to everyone like things. An audit helps to detect such “blind spots”, to understand what is happening and to change the situation, if the main “stakeholders” wish.

Dealing with resistance can be relatively easy if the company does not already have people who have set processes in a certain way. If they continue to work and are adherents of dubious practices, the task becomes more difficult. They need to be handled separately or isolated from a relatively new process, and the amount of positive coverage of new practices from people in authority in the company should exceed the possible number of negative comments.