Compliant
Fully aligned with current Irish employment legislation.
Know exactly where you stand
An HR audit that finds the gaps first
Ensuring your business complies with Irish employment law and HR best practice is fundamental. An HR audit is a detailed, practical review of your policies, procedures, and documentation, designed to spot risks and highlight improvements so your HR is in good shape before an employee or a WRC inspector ever finds the gap first.
A thorough health check for your business.
What is an HR Audit?
Think of an HR audit as a comprehensive health check for your human resources function. We cover compliance, employee relations, payroll, performance management, and HR administration. The process includes a thorough compliance review of your HR documents, contracts, and systems against current Irish legal requirements, a detailed check of your policies and procedures, and clear risk identification with an actionable report and improvement plan. It is the same review we run before taking on an outsourced HR client, because you cannot fix what you have not measured.
Not ready for the full review yet? Start with the free 5-minute HR Health Check for an instant read on your WRC exposure, then bring us in for the in-depth audit on whatever it flags.
Risk aware
Clear on any HR risks or weak spots before they bite.
Efficient
Running effective, streamlined HR processes.
Positive experience
Delivering an employee experience aligned with your goals.
Complete coverage, so nothing slips through.
What we review
We conduct HR audits tailored for Irish SMEs, ensuring your practices are legally sound and support your business strategy. Our audit covers every area that matters, from the written terms each employee is owed to the working time records a WRC inspector asks for first. We pay particular attention to the areas that most often turn into claims, including contract mistakes, working time and leave records, and unlawful deductions under the Payment of Wages Act.
- ComplianceReview of contracts, policies, working time, pay, leave, health and safety, and GDPR for Irish law adherence.
- Recruitment and OnboardingEvaluation of job descriptions, hiring processes, and induction for fairness and effectiveness.
- Performance ManagementAssessment of appraisal systems, feedback processes, and training initiatives.
- Employee Relations and CultureReview of grievance and disciplinary procedures, communication, and workplace culture.
The biggest risks, while still cheap to fix.
What you get out of it
An HR audit offers tangible advantages that go beyond simple compliance. It gives you a clear picture of where your business stands and what needs attention, and it puts the highest-risk items in front of you while they are still cheap to fix. The cost of correcting a missing contract or an outdated procedure is a fraction of the cost of defending the WRC claim that the same gap can produce.
- Stay Legally CompliantReduce the risk of breaching complex Irish employment laws.
- Manage Risks EffectivelyIdentify and address potential HR problems before they escalate.
- Improve Operational EfficiencyStreamline HR processes, freeing up resources for core business.
- Boost Employee SatisfactionFair HR management contributes to a positive culture and better engagement.
Catch the common gaps before they cost you.
Who Benefits and What We Typically Find
An HR audit is especially valuable for businesses undergoing growth, experiencing workplace disputes, or preparing for WRC inspections. Our audits frequently highlight critical areas that need attention, and catching these issues early can save your business significant time, cost, and legal exposure. Many of the gaps we find map directly onto the biggest HR challenges facing Irish SMEs: a disciplinary procedure that would not survive scrutiny, or sick leave handling that has drifted out of line with the law.
- Outdated or missing employment contracts (a key Irish legal requirement).
- Non-compliant disciplinary and grievance procedures (WRC Code of Practice).
- Inconsistent leave tracking and absence management.
- Lack of clear employee training and development plans.
- Poor record-keeping and documentation gaps.
Clear and straightforward at every stage.
From first call to final report
We make the HR audit process straightforward. From initial discussion through to implementation, you will know exactly what to expect at every stage, and the audit is run as a confidential management exercise, not a fault-finding exercise put on a file somewhere.
- Initial ConsultationDiscuss your HR concerns and audit goals with our team.
- Information GatheringWe review your existing policies, contracts, and procedures.
- Detailed AnalysisOur team identifies compliance gaps and risks against current Irish law.
- Clear Report and RecommendationsYou receive a comprehensive report with practical, prioritised improvement steps.
- Implementation SupportWe help you put the recommendations into practice.
Stay ahead as the law keeps changing.
Staying compliant after the audit
An audit is a snapshot in time, and Irish employment law continues to evolve. We offer ongoing outsourced HR support, legislation updates, and training to maintain compliance long after the audit is complete. We can also schedule periodic health check audits so you stay ahead of any regulatory changes, and pair the review with WRC compliance work for employers who want proactive protection rather than a one-off snapshot. To get the most from the process, we recommend communicating its positive purpose to your team and encouraging openness with our auditors.
- Ongoing compliance monitoring and retained HR support.
- Assistance implementing HR software for better record management.
- Communicate the audit's positive aims to your team.
- Organise relevant HR documentation beforehand for a smooth process.
Book Your Audit
Need a straightforward HR check-up? See how we price HR support, then contact us for a no-jargon conversation about where your business stands on HR compliance. Whether you are preparing for growth, dealing with staff changes, or simply want peace of mind, an audit is the smartest first step.
Free 5-minute HR Health Check
See where your business stands before the WRC does
Answer 40 straightforward questions on contracts, working time, pay, leave and policies, and get a clear read on where your compliance gaps sit and what to fix first.
Common questions from employers
An HR audit is a structured review of your people documentation, policies and processes against current Irish employment law and good practice. We examine your employment contracts, staff handbook and HR policies, working time and leave records, disciplinary and grievance procedures, recruitment and onboarding, performance management, and how you handle employee data under GDPR. You receive a written report that sets out where you are compliant, where you are exposed, and a prioritised list of what to fix first.
For most Irish SMEs an HR audit every twelve to eighteen months is sensible, with an additional review whenever something material changes. Taking on staff quickly, a change in ownership or management, a WRC claim or inspection, or significant new legislation are all good reasons to bring the audit forward. Irish employment law moves steadily, so a compliance position that was sound two years ago is rarely fully current today.
An HR audit is a private, internal review carried out for you, on your terms, to find and fix problems before they become claims. A WRC inspection is carried out by a Workplace Relations Commission inspector who can call to your premises, demand records such as working time and pay documentation, and issue compliance notices or refer matters for prosecution. The purpose of an audit is to make sure that if an inspector ever does call, the records they ask for are already in order. If you want to prepare specifically for that scenario, see our WRC inspection readiness service.
No. The audit report is prepared for you and stays with you. It is a confidential management document, not something filed with any authority. Its purpose is the opposite of creating risk: it identifies gaps quietly so you can correct them before an employee or an inspector ever raises them. Acting on what an audit finds is precisely how employers reduce the kind of exposure that surfaces during a WRC complaint.
Yes, and often more so. Irish employment law obligations apply from the first employee, not the fiftieth, so a five-person business carries the same duties on written terms, working time records and fair procedures as a large one, usually without anyone whose job is to track them. Smaller employers are also less able to absorb the cost of a single WRC award, which makes catching issues early more valuable rather than less.
Before we start we ask for your current employment contracts, your staff handbook and HR policies, your working time and annual leave records, and details of any live or recent issues such as disciplinaries, grievances or absence cases. Having those organised in advance makes the process quicker and the report sharper. If some of those documents do not exist yet, that is useful information in itself, and we flag it in the report with a plan to put it right.
The audit ends with a written report and a prioritised action plan, not a list of problems left at your door. We set out each gap, why it matters under Irish law, and what to do about it, with the highest-risk items first. From there you can implement the changes yourself, or we can do the work with you: drafting compliant contracts and policies, correcting record-keeping, and putting fair procedures in place. Many employers move onto ongoing outsourced HR support so the position stays current after the audit.
An HR audit is scoped to the size of your business and the state of your current documentation, then quoted in advance, so you know the cost before any work begins and there is no open-ended hourly billing. For employers on an outsourced HR retainer, a periodic health check audit is built into the ongoing support. See how we price HR support, then talk to us for a figure tailored to your headcount.