YOUR HR COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST

– KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK

Regardless of whether your business has five, 500 or even 5,000 employees, it’s
important to remain compliant across all HR areas. This self-audit checklist has been
developed to assist organisations to undertake a self-assessment of their existing HR
systems, policies and procedures, to help ensure compliance obligations are met.

Circle your responses accordingly below, and see how you fared at the end of your self-audit checklist.

Industrial instruments
Are you aware of which of the current instruments (if any) applies to your employees?
Yes No For example, modern award, state award, enterprise agreement, agreement-based
transitional instrument.

Have your employment contracts been reviewed to ensure compliance with workplace
Yes No
law changes?

Are you aware of your obligations with respect to the following:

Yes No Requests for flexible (modified) working arrangements

Yes No Notice of termination

Yes No Redundancy pay

Minimum work standards

Do your employment contracts, agreements or other industrial instruments meet or exceed minimum
standards as outlined in Australia’s Fair Work Act (National Employment Standards) or New Zealand’s
Minimum Employment Standards in relation to:

Yes No Pay

Yes No Overtime and penalty rates

Yes No Allowances

Yes No Work conditions

Leave entitlements

Yes No Do you maintain accurate records of employee leave entitlements?

Do you have processes in place for employees to apply for:

Yes No Annual leave

Yes No Personal (sick)/carer’s leave

Yes No Parental leave

Yes No Community service leave

Yes No Long service leave

Yes No Domestic Violence leave

Hiring and onboarding

Yes No Does your organisation have a recruitment policy?

Do you have position descriptions with detailed information that clearly outline tasks,
Yes No
duties, skills, experience, qualifications, along with the required behaviours?

Are compliant employment contracts in place, which include employment expectations,

Yes No
duties, probation and notice period clauses?

Yes No Are independent contractors accurately identified?

Yes No Are applicant references checked?

Yes No Are pre-employment clearances in place for all roles?

Yes No Are all applicants required to fill out and sign an application form?

Do all employment applications refrain from requesting prohibited information,

Yes No
such as religion?

Yes No Are regular meetings are held with all employees until they complete probation?

Yes No Is the employee’s employment confirmed in writing at the end of probation?

Is there a clearly defined orientation/onboarding program in place to welcome new

Yes No
employees and familiarise them with the business’s basic management practices?

Note: In Australia, based on the structure of your business and industrial instruments used, the National
Employment Standards (NES) fact sheet or Fair Work Information Statement must be issued as required.
Employee pay
Are employee pay periods (weekly, fortnightly, monthly) in line with relevant awards or
Yes No
industrial instruments?

Yes No Are all your employees properly classified?

Yes No Are annual leave balances clearly displayed on payslips?

Yes No Are your superannuation obligations as an employer being met?

Yes No Are you meeting tax reporting obligations?

Yes No Are you meeting your pay record keeping requirements? (also see below)

Time and wages record keeping

The Fair Work Ombudsman in Australia requires employers to keep employee records for 7 years.
Employee records in New Zealand must also be held for 7 years. Also be aware of privacy-related laws in
relation to all employee data – see the Privacy Act in Australia and New Zealand.

Are you maintaining the following information on your employee records:

Yes No Legal and/or trading name of employer

Yes No Employee name

Yes No Date the employee commenced work with the employer

Employee status - whether the employee is engaged as a permanent (full-time or

Yes No
part-time) or casual employee

Yes No Number of hours worked; number of overtime hours worked

Yes No Rate of pay

Yes No Gross and net amount of pay

Yes No Monetary allowances; deduction details; leave accrued/taken

Yes No Superannuation details

Yes No Termination details

Note: Read more about pay record keeping obligations in Australia and New Zealand.
Employee policies & procedures

Do you have an appropriate Workplace Policy Manual in place? A Policy and Procedures
Manual, distributed to all staff, should cover critical areas such as: discrimination/
Yes No
bullying/harassment, WHS, social media use, drug/alcohol use, performance
management and termination.

Are all policies regularly refreshed and employees updated on a regular and systematic
Yes No
basis?

Is every employee provided with a detailed policy induction explaining the business’s
Yes No policies and procedures related to standards of conduct and benefits, and are these
signed off by the employee?

Do employees receive necessary training, including safety, bullying, discrimination and

Yes No
harassment?

Yes No Does your organisation have an equal opportunity policy?

Yes No Do you have a formal investigation policy if someone submits a bullying complaint?

Do your HR policies and procedures apply equally to all employees, and are they applied
Yes No
fairly and consistently throughout the business?

Performance management

Are all policies regularly refreshed and employees updated on a regular and systematic
Yes No
basis?

Are job expectations and responsibilities clearly communicated to employees, including

Yes No the conduct and results required and the performance standards by which they will be
measured?

Are systems for measuring performance in place (e.g. number of sales or customer
Yes No satisfaction), based on specific job-related functions and criteria set out in the employee’s
job description?

Yes No Are employee job descriptions reviewed and updated at least annually?

Is accurate documentation kept regarding performance for each employee, and is that
Yes No documentation factual and detail-oriented to support any disciplinary or other personnel
decisions?

Yes No Is performance compared against job descriptions and goals to offer ongoing feedback?

Yes No Do your review process and systems for measuring performance treat employees fairly?
Employee discipline & termination

Are all policies and procedures for handling poor performance, employee disciplinary
Yes No actions and investigations clearly defined, written, and communicated to employees as
appropriate?

Are all matters involving employee discipline warnings, investigations, and terminations
Yes No
carefully and accurately documented, with related notes saved in the employee’s file?

Are policies in place for collecting keys and other company property from any terminated
Yes No employee and confirming that access to computer systems, email, and voicemail are
deactivated?

Yes No Are accurate separation certificates issued?

Are neutral references confirming a former employee’s position held and dates of
Yes No
employment available upon request?

Are discipline, investigation, and termination procedures regularly reviewed for

Yes No
compliance with applicable laws, and are they are enforced fairly and consistently?

Training and development

Yes No Is there a professional development program in place?

Yes No Do you have a formal system by which you identify individual training needs?

Do you have a formal system in place to keep track of compliance-related training

Yes No
obligations?

Workplace health & safety (WHS) and workers’ compensation

Yes No Do you conduct a WHS risk assessment of the workplace?

Yes No Do you train staff on WHS issues?

Yes No Do you have first aiders and fire wardens trained and in place?

Yes No Are return-to-work programs checked for effectiveness?

Are workers’ compensation insurance premiums and competitive quotes reviewed on a

Yes No
periodic basis?
How did you score?
In order to reduce your compliance risk and any potential damage that non-compliance could
cause to your organisation, you should be aiming to answer “YES” to all of the items in the
checklist above. If you are not compliant or not as compliant as you need to be, we recommend
you take steps to improve your processes in any area(s) that you answered “NO” to. Seek expert
advice where required. Legislation and compliance requirements are constantly changing, so
even if you answered “YES” to most or all items, you’ll need to remain vigilant and ensure your
processes remain up-to-date.

“YES” to Well done, your HR processes appear to be in excellent shape. Stay vigilant
67 – 71 questions for future legal or compliance-related changes.

“YES” to Your HR processes are very good. With some fine-tuning or minor additions
53 – 66 questions you can further minimise your compliance risk.

Your HR processes are solid. Identify your “quick wins” from your longer
“YES” to
term action items and prioritise which tweaks or process additions will most
43 – 52 questions improve your compliance level.

You have the foundations to build a compliant HR department, but there is

certainly more work to be done. Focus on the compliance categories where
“YES” to you answered “no” the most, and determine the “quick wins” that you can
29 – 42 questions resolve in the short term. Then, identify the mid- to long-term focus areas,
the stakeholders who may be impacted and/or need to be involved, and start
setting achievable milestones.

Your organisation is at high risk of non-compliance. Identify your “quick wins”,

“YES” to
as well as the areas that are the most business-critical from a compliance
0 – 28 questions perspective to determine your starting point; and build a longer term plan to
ensure the less critical areas will be addressed over time.

How can ELMO help?

ELMO Cloud HR & Payroll provides an integrated, end-to-end suite of HR solutions covering all
stages of an employee’s lifecycle with an organisation, including recruitment and onboarding,
payroll, rostering / time & attendance, learning & development, performance management, and
more. ELMO solutions can provide automatic alerts to legislation changes and updates to any
affected employment contracts, policies and procedures. Read this blog about how
technology can help employers meet their compliance obligations or contact us for further
information about ELMO’s solutions.

Please note that the above checklist is not all-inclusive and is intended for general information purposes only.
It does not constitute legal or other advice. Always seek professional legal advice.