Did you know that at Achievant we don’t just have a technology solution, but we do a great deal of consulting as well on a wide variety of topics?
Over my next few blogs, I will talk about what some of these topics are. One of the things we are often engaged to consult on are human resources vulnerability assessments.
What is an HR Vulnerability Assessment?
HR vulnerability assessments are designed to assess company policies and practices, identify areas of non-compliance or weakness, uncover issues, and determine how to strategically align HR practices with business objectives.
According to Watson Wyatt's landmark Human Capital Index research study, "companies that adopt and combine superior HR practices can increase shareholder value by up to 47 percent". HR and its related practices should therefore be a key strategic factor in a company's plan for success and growth.
Objectives of an HR Vulnerability Assessment
• Keep the HR department’s mission and goals in sync with the organization’s needs and business strategy.
• Ensure legal compliance (which should decrease settlement expenses and legal fees).
• Identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement, as well as areas of potential future risk.
• Improve efficiency and productivity so that the department can better serve employees and customers.
• Identify “root” problem areas and fix them before they become more widespread.
• Find cost reduction opportunities.
• Improve employee communications and morale and establish better credibility.
• Implement and stay current with world-class practices by comparing results with other businesses.
• Measure and improve performance across the organization.
• Identify and correct any gaps between what is intended and what is actually being delivered.
• Increase the commitment of professionals within the HR department to seek change and focus on continuous improvement in all aspects of their work.
Types of Assessments Offered
HR General —These audits focus on an assessment of the general areas of the HR function with an eye toward court decisions that are being used to determine law or administrative systems that reduce errors and omissions, such as hiring and termination processes, training and development of employees, performance evaluation processes, sexual harassment policies, compensation practices, disciplinary process and documentation, and litigation or investigation issues.
Strategic—These types of audits focus on strengths and weaknesses of systems and processes to determine whether or not they are in line with the strategic plan of the HR department and/or the company as a whole (e.g., diversity, employee turnover, length of time to fill an open position, number of employee complaints to assess the employee relations climate, communication with employees, etc.).
Affirmative Action —These types of audits focus on the OFCCP regulations requiring specific recordkeeping of job jackets, review of affirmative action plan and statistics, notifications and exhibits.
If you are interested in this type of assessment, please contact me.
