Do you have a comprehensive end to end process in place that is being consistently followed?
Review of HR Processes
Review of HR processes for the management of staff from application to exit across a multi-sited healthcare organisation, supported by review of personnel files for 10% of the workforce.
Providing a comprehensive, up to date picture of regulatory and policy compliance, underpinned by recommendations on how to fix current issues and avoid falling into the same situation in future.
Scope
A healthcare company were looking for assurance that effective processes were in place across the duration of a staff member’s employment. The objectives were:
- ensuring that a strong workforce is in place to provide the best service to patients and meet their strategic objectives
- compliance with HR regulation and legislation to cover off risks such as a £20,000 fine for the employment of illegal workers and CQC censure for not investigating gaps in CVs and reasons applicants left previous employer(s)
To do this the audit considered:
Recruitment
Appropriately skilled staff are recruited in line with regulation
On-going employment
Staff are effectively managed during their employment
Leavers
Staff leaving are processed on a timely and accurate basis
Success
The audit provided:
- A comprehensive and clear snapshot of compliance in key areas. These included fit and proper person documentation, right to work and professional registration documentation, completeness of CVs, sickness records and leaver records
- A toolkit of recommendations for the organisation to take forward in correcting and improving processes:
- Operational recommendations proposing solutions to improve the effectiveness of current controls
- Strategic recommendations looking outside the box to suggest ways of improving existing processes to enable the organisation to meet their objectives more easily
Our approach
Audit
Our approach was one of:
Impact
The impact of our approach is to allow staff to take a step back and consider how processes can improve in the long term in addition to providing an immediate snapshot. This is a result of Elsiarc:
- providing resource so that the client had results to review quickly and without losing internal resource
- asking the right questions
- working collaboratively to combine our audit experience with the client’s organisational knowledge
- tailoring the work to address the client’s key risks
- seeking to empower staff to take recommendations forward through their engagement in and understanding of recommendations made
The result is, with the on-going commitment of the client’s management, the on-going improvement of processes by the report being a launch pad rather than the end result.
Recommendations
Recommendations were made in a formal report which was discussed with management during a debrief. Data was provided at an overview and segmental level to provide information to all levels of the business and full testing records were available for the client to use in rectifying issues raised.
A RAG assurance rating was given for each area reviewed to provide a snapshot of compliance in each area.
Key questions for HR functions
Our audit findings suggest that key questions for HR functions to ask are:
Do you have clear roles and responsibilities in place and communicated for the process?
Do you have fit for purpose HR systems which support an efficient, accurate process?
Do you have quality data available which allows you to identify issues and exceptions?
Do staff know the regulative and legislative requirements that they must comply with, including changes?
Asking these questions and taking steps to ensure that the answer is yes (if it isn't already) can help move from firefighting to a strategic view of how objectives can be achieved efficiently and effectively.
If you would like further information on how Elsiarc can provide an independent audit of HR processes, please contact us to discuss the provision of a tailored approach to meet your individual requirements. We can also support your organisation in introducing or strengthening a self-audit and peer review process, which can upskill staff and increase their understanding of processes as well as provide on-going assurance.