The new company of the 21st century demands the need to implement an integrated management of human resources that makes it possible to adapt to the changes originated in the environment where they carry out their activity and that fosters a new strategy and business philosophy based on the basis of participation in the actions and practice of the organization's human resources.
Like any integrated process, it needs a tool and control for its effective development, due to this need, the conception of conducting an audit of human resources management arises as an effective mechanism, not only for diagnosis but also for perfecting or orienting new Human resources policies capable of raising awareness among workers of high levels of job satisfaction and motivation and of achieving positioning of the organization by comparing it with patterns of competence established in the environment.
The following publication provides a theoretical arsenal that will allow you to delve into the concept and importance of conducting human resource audits for modern companies. At the end of your reading, you will find a new concept contributed in the definition of auditing in the field of human resources.
Introduction
A new era has invaded modern business structures, and has led to the flourishing of social thought, the conception of new structures of business management, which brings about a change in the vision of human resources (HR) within the organization, which it overcomes the perspective of seeing them as an attributable expense, on the other where it is considered an essential and even irreplaceable productive factor that is its main asset for many organizations, and as such, it must be considered cost-effectively.
Changes in human resources are considered to be decisive for changes in all business management. Therefore, the transition from Personnel Management to Human Resources Management (HRM) is becoming a necessity for many organizations. This new trend of HRM generalized and applied in successful companies, constitutes the treatment of human resources in an integral way, concentrating what was traditionally managed separately in areas such as personnel, training, work organization, salaries, job security, Among others, in a system where the center is man and the plans and actions interact coherently with each other and the rest of the existing systems in the organization. The most notable results of this approach are associated with productivity, efficiency, satisfaction,degree of commitment and involvement of the worker with the work they perform.
The gradual changes demanded by the market have caused many organizations to adjust their strategies and reformulate their structures, to continuously adapt to them. This step from a technical vision (Personnel Management), to a managerial vision (HR Management), brings with it a greater range of records of actions and a variety of activities and, therefore, a greater need for control. Faced with such a situation, the so-called HRM audit arises as an element of management and control of human resources, and an analytical instrument that facilitates continuous feedback for process change.
The audit as a control tool. Concepts, objectives and importance
A Human Resources department cannot assume that everything it does is correct, as it can make mistakes. The policies assumed in a given period may become obsolete and by evaluating itself the department detects problems before they become serious for the organization.
Such a situation demands the need for strict control of all processes and policies, which a specific company assumes in a defined time frame and it is precisely in this environment where auditing as a control tool and an effective way to obtain the necessary feedback, comes into play. play your true role.
The term audit comes from the Latin »audio«, to hear and is born as a consequence of the depersonalization of the property of the company, that is, as a result of the separation between the property and the administration of the company, the obligation of the same to render accounts periodically, generally annually, to shareholders on the situation they present and the results obtained.
The concept of auditing comes from the economic world and is a process of independent investigation and evaluation, on the information contained in the financial statements of an entity, this is specified with the following characters:
- It is the expression of an opinion.
- It is the application of established rules and procedures.
- It is carried out by specialized personnel: auditor.
- Contains: Objectives, Programs, Execution and Organization.
- The purpose is threefold:
• Determine what has been done, • Appreciate what is being done and
• Recommend possible future actions.
Therefore, auditing is not just diagnosing the past, but appreciating the present and advising on future developments.
This union implies a cyclical dynamic development of the business reality and more than the X-ray it is a follow-up video (Cantera 1995).
The concept of human resources auditing as an analysis of HRM practices, from a strategic perspective, arises in the middle of the 80s, where two basic functions are conceived:
1. HR audit as a management information system, know the objective status, to facilitate the development of the management process and / or HR development.
2. HR audit as a control system and evolution of the application of the established policies and processes.
The evolution of the concept from accounting audit to management audit has the meaning of changing the accounting data (economic assessment of reality). It is within this current vision that the concept of the management ratio arises as a system for assessing reality from an objective point of view.
There are two characteristics of the audit to examine:
Voluntary and mandatory audits: the evolution of the audit as a reliable system for assessing reality, led to the mandatory nature of its application as a profitability control system, developing a meticulous application system to standardize its validity.
Internal and external audits: taking into account the audit agent and the focus / origin of the application, two different but complementary forms of assessment were established: the internal, as a continuous system of change and the external, as a guaranteeing system of independence in the appreciation.
The concept of auditing evolves from the accounting audit first followed by the management audit and culminates with the functional audit (Commercial, Technical, Financial, Business Management, System and Human Resources).
Why is an audit necessary?
These tell us that, in general, an organization cannot change as quickly as the market demands; companies must be adjusting their strategy and reformulating their structure to continuously adapt, with Auditing being a vital auxiliary resource.
The objectives of a human resources audit are as broad as the field of human resource management itself. The audit is a collection and classification of the data corresponding to the functions of the personnel department, in all the breadth and depth necessary for the purposes of analysis, studies and forecasts.
Among its objectives we have:
• Knowledge of the human structure of the company, that is, the number of its components and their characteristics.
• Evaluation of the recruitment and selection processes carried out.
• Registration of promotions and transfers of employees within the organization.
• Administration of salaries and incentive plans.
• Statistics of accidents and sick leave.
• Personnel turnover rate and cost.
• Control of presence and rate of absenteeism.
• Evaluation of performance (or results) and potential and the actions consequent with them.
• Analysis and description of the existing jobs or positions in the company.
The control function is integrated into the philosophy of the audit as a basic instrument of HRM and its objective is to show failures and errors to rectify them and prevent their recurrence.
Therefore the procedure to follow would be:
• Observe human resource practices.
• Compare actions with patterns.
• Determine the corrective and preventive actions according to the causes detected.
Specialists dedicated to studying human resources in organizations have proposed various models where they assume auditing as one of the elements that make up a system and that is closely related to the rest of the key activities of HRM.
Harper and Lynch (1992) define HR auditing as an analysis of the policies and practices of the staff of an organization and an evaluation of its current operation, in order to arrive at a professional opinion on the actions carried out in the matter of human resources, in a specific period of time, justify the expenses. In addition to suggesting actions and measures to improve management.
Cantera defines as audit of human resources: The analysis of the policies and management systems and / or development of Human Resources of an organization and an evaluation of its current operation, with the mission of preparing a professional opinion if on the actions carried out in terms of HR, in a specific period of time, they justify the expenses and investments made. In addition to suggesting actions and measures to improve the management and development of profitability.
According to Ponce, the personnel audit is considered, as a procedure that aims to review and check under a special method all the functions and activities that are carried out in the different departments in terms of personnel, to determine if they conform to the established programs, and evaluate if the objectives and policies set in the matter are met, suggesting, where appropriate, the changes and improvements that should be made to better fulfill the purposes of personnel administration.
The audit is not just a data collection and a check on program compliance and if state budgets have been applied accurately. This implies that with that database a deep analysis is carried out or carried out that allows us to evaluate if what was done and even what was left to do or what had been obtained above the present, have served the purposes and objectives that the company has set for itself in terms of personnel.
The Human Resources audit can be defined as the analysis of the policies and practices of the personnel of an organization and evaluation of its current operation, followed by suggestions for its improvement. The main purpose of the HR audit is to show how the program works, locating practices and conditions that are detrimental to the organization or that are not offsetting its cost or even practices and conditions that should be increased.
The audit is a review and control system to inform the administration about the efficiency of the development program (Chiavenato 1993).
Werther and Davis (1992) argue that Personnel Departments cannot start on the basis that whatever they do is well done, they make mistakes and certain policies become anachronistic. By verifying your actions, the Personnel Department can detect problems before they become serious obstacles. An evaluation of past practices and current policies can also reveal approaches that no longer correspond to reality and that need to be changed to help the department better meet future challenges.
The HRM audit role should indicate how the systems are working, as well as allow us to identify inappropriate methods, with their costs and situations conducive to increasing their added value.
The function of the audit is, therefore, twofold since it consists not only of indicating faults and formulating problems, but also of recording suggestions and solutions. As can be seen, there are changes from a conception of external control, where the important thing is to know the failures but proposing ways of solutions.
There are several benefits from conducting an HRM audit, including:
• The contribution made by the human resources department to the organization is identified.
• The professional image of the human resources department is improved.
• Human resources staff are encouraged to take greater responsibility and act at a higher level of professionalism.
• The responsibilities and duties of the human resources department are clarified.
• Uniformity of human resources policies and practices is facilitated.
• Latent, potentially explosive problems stand out.
• Compliance with legal provisions is guaranteed.
• Human resource costs are reduced through improved practices.
• The necessary changes in the organization are promoted.
Conclusions
The analysis of the concepts discussed here contributed to defining a new definition:
The Human Resources Management Audit consists of the exhaustive diagnosis of the practices, methods, policies and treatment of human resources assumed by the organization in a certain period of time, which allows establishing and projecting policies aimed at the search for quality and the proper functioning and development of the actions of human resources within the organization, also makes it possible to establish a comparison process with the organizations that carry out their economic and social activity in their surroundings.
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