HR Self- Assessment: Setting the Example

December 3, 2018

INTRODUCTION

People make the world go ‘round, and auditors are people too! Audit departments should represent the same diversity as our organizations and our community. But with diversity comes the potential for increased conflict, misunderstandings, or down-right rude, unprofessional, and inappropriate behavior. While we are tuned into human resources (HR) issues within our organizations, often that is not enough to truly understand the workplace culture or environment. We may create or ignore HR issues within our own audit departments, whether it is purposeful or we are just blind to our own role amongst colleagues and peers.

As auditors, we are under the microscope. Other employees, department management, and organizational executive leadership are watching us, and there is an expectation for us to model the behaviors that we “preach” to the department heads and leadership teams who are subject to our audits and reviews.

We may create or ignore HR issues within our own audit departments, whether it is purposeful or we are just blind to our own role amongst colleagues and peers.

Self-Assessment

The self-assessment below is designed for audit departments to take a hard, honest look within their organization as well as their own departments to determine if: a) the audits performed include some component of an HR review; and b) the audit department models HR best practices in its own processes, staffing, and work environment.

A. Audits

1. Does your audit plan include HR audits organizationwide? This could include reviews related to background checks, hiring practices, trends in types of grievances (harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, etc.), trends in workplace injury, turnover, and other personnel issues that potentially increase costs and litigation.

2. Have you considered reviewing HR investigations by type, cost, time to complete, and secondary strains on departments while an investigation is pending?

3. During an audit, do you ask how well staff, faculty and management get along with each other, and inquire about turnover, conflicts, strengths and weaknesses of management and the department as whole? Does the department have a negative reputation within the organization, subject to higher than normal gossip or rumor? Are there personnel trends within the department that could be a root cause of other issues identified within the department’s operations?

Depending on the answers to these questions, the audit work may not take a deep enough dive to identify root issues related to personnel. Combined, if a department has a lot of complaints, a bad reputation, and/or a high level of turnover, these could be red flags warning of other operational issues that have been overlooked for a long period of time.

B. Audit Department

1. What kind of manager or staff member are you? Do you mistreat your colleagues and peers? Do you put people down in front of others or in private? Do you have high turnover, a lot of grievances, or disgruntled employees? How often are you subject to personnel-related lawsuits due to your behavior or the work environment? Have you ever asked yourself, "what could I do differently?"

2. How do you allow managers to treat staff, and how do you allow staff to treat each other? Do you encourage staff to “tattle” on each other? Do you have favorites, and if so, is it obvious to others? Do you use the staff or managers to “gang up” on employees you do not like? Do you create an environment of fear?

3. How do you handle performance issues or conflict in the workplace?

4. What traits do you look for in the hiring process? For example, do you look for diversity or do you automatically “weed out” certain applicants?

5. Do some employees receive training and development, whereas others do not?

6. Are you threatened or intimidated by someone with more certifications or a higher education level
than you?

Depending on the answers to these questions, you could be creating or contributing to an unhealthy work environment. An audit department with a high degree of turnover or disgruntled employees may not have an opportunity to add value to the organization due to a loss of respect and credibility. Just like in audits, negative symptoms could indicate red flags and instability within a department whose primary mission is to help the organization identify red flags and improve organizational operations and processes.

Wrap Up

Audit work is somewhat easy to improve. If work is not being done, you simply start doing it. However, individual behaviors are harder to change. Some individuals refuse to see that they are the problem; others recognize the problem, but may not want to get involved or may not be empowered to get involved. Most people in this situation typically leave a department or the organization altogether.

Audit departments are subject to the same personnel-related lawsuits and grievances as any other department. As people, we are responsible for our own behaviors, especially in the workplace, but we need an environment that does not create or support personnel at any level who exhibit negative, disruptive behaviors.

It is important to the organization that Internal Audit reviews HR functions and processes. However, to add to our credibility and increase our value, we must first take an honest look at ourselves. Setting a good example is not just what any leader should do, it is what any person should do. It is imperative to the reputation of the department and its staff to set the example, be the example, and model appropriate behavior and practices.

About the Author

Rachel Snell

Rachel Snell is the Internal Audit Director for the Coast Community College District, a public, multi-college
district in Costa Mesa, CA. She offers work experience in internal investigations (retail), skip trace collections (banking), District office operations (US Congressman), and various departments in City government, prior to starting a career in audit with State and Local governments. Rachel is active in professional organizations, serves as a speaker at many events, and publishes articles in audit-related publications. She obtained her Master’s degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University, and she’s recognized as a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified in Risk Management Assurance, and Certified Internal Controls Auditor.

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HR Self- Assessment: Setting the Example